Preservation Pittsburgh endeavors to be stewards of Pittsburgh’s historical and architectural heritage and respond to community concern. In addition to other projects, Preservation Pittsburgh has been actively nominating buildings (the former Albright United Methodist and St. George churches) and structures (Roslyn Street, the stained glass windows of St. George church, and structures around historic springs) as local landmarks, often in conjunction with other groups and individuals. Preservation Pittsburgh is increasingly being asked for assistance from individuals and organizations to help nominate what matters in their community.
While a number of buildings, structures, and some neighborhoods in Pittsburgh have been designated as city landmarks (Allegheny County Courthouse and Mexican War Streets historic district for example), there are still a large number that have no local designation. Thus, we are taking steps to designate more historic buildings and structures (parks, streets, bridges). While many are not threatened today, interest, taste, and memories change, and places that we hold dear now could be in danger down the road. While buildings may have plaques, historic markers, and/or are on the National Register of Historic Places, and these honors are educational and important, they don’t provide enough protection, public process, and automatic review if ever threatened – only a city historic structure designation can do this.
To see some of our applications that have been submitted, go to our website’s “Resources” section, “Documents & Archives” page: http://www.preservationpgh.org/documents-archives/
To continue to expand the program, we need your help. Please consider making a contribution to our Landmarking Fund. With your contribution we can continue to hire researchers to conduct original research on buildings and sites and to use that research to nominate landmarks important to us all.
