Preservation Pittsburgh’s Religious Architecture Heritage Committee (RAH) has been working in Wilkinsburg for a number of years to connect with the various sacred places there – both to help congregations as well as to let the general public know about Wilkinsburg’s sacred places and the good things that are happening there. Our work in Wilkinsburg has culminated in public events: the first being an architectural photography tour of the neighborhood’s historic religious structures and photo contest. Then we sponsored the fall tour/open house of participating religious institutions: The October 2018 tour was spearheaded by artist Jennifer Chenoweth and a number of groups. The October 12, 2019 tour was organized solely by RAH with twelve worship spaces participating, some with special performances. We also co-sponsored a community day in September 2021 with other partners including Center for Civic Arts.
In addition to the tour, RAH would like to make a further impact on Wilkinsburg and its sacred spaces by helping the religious groups to build a more sustainable future. By sustainable, we mean in terms of their buildings, congregations, new partnerships, and connection to other Wilkinsburg groups and religious organizations. This would help to prevent blight and vacancy and allow these buildings to continue their community outreach (many provide services to children, families, and people in need). Since 2020, we have been exploring various options and hope to be able to hire Partners for Sacred Places, based in Philadelphia, to work with a number of congregations. This training would enable these historic structures with still active congregations to explore new partnerships and ways to maintain their buildings and expand their community assistance .
In fall 2021 Preservation Pittsburgh’s Religious Architectural Heritage Committee launched a one hour virtual version of their Sacred Spaces Tour: https://vimeo.com/600268281 that featured 6 churches (segmented into 10 minute mini documentaries on each congregation).
