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Three area structures make Young Preservationists Association list

By Paul Paterra newsroom@heraldstandard.Com 6 min read
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Herald-Standard

The Union Station building in Brownsville is one of several dilapidated structures on Market Street that the Fayette County Redevelopment Authority moved to seize from Ernest and Marilyn Liggett in 2009. It’s not economically feasible to fully rehabilitate the Union Station building or neighboring structures, Fayette County Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Andrew French said.

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Courtesy of the Observer-Reporter

The former Fifth Avenue Hotel in Monessen

The Pittsburgh Young Preservationists Association has compiled its annual list of 10 structures on which it wants to focus its efforts in 2022.

Union Station in Brownsville, the former Monessen Savings and Trust Bank building on 500 Donner Ave. in the city and Fifth Avenue Hotel in Monessen made the list.

The Young Preservationists Association (YPA) began in 2003 to empower young people to participate in historic preservation through education and advocacy. Each year since a top 10 list has been revealed as a way of bringing attention to the potential of historic sites for reuse and development.

“The list is determined by nominations from local stakeholders in the community,” said Matthew Craig, executive director of the association for the past six years. “Since 2015, we’ve been trying to expand our impact to be more hands-on with the different projects in the community.”

The former Monessen Savings and Trust Bank on 500 Donner Ave., built in 1905, has been vacant for more than 20 years. The city of Monessen has already received a $199,000 grant for roof stabilization.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel in Monessen is the city’s oldest commercial structure. Completed in 1900, the building has been vacant since the 1990s, though the city continues to search for a new owner.

“They’re tied to our founders and our city’s history,” said Matt Shorraw, outgoing mayor of Monessen. “I’m really excited about the preservationists and their support of the buildings. I think they’re worth saving. I think you’re seeing across the country that there are younger people who love older buildings. If we’re going to attract younger families to move here, we should preserve these buildings, especially if you have people who are willing to invest their own money into them.”

Shorraw also has a personal connection to the Donner Avenue building. His grandmother worked there when it was an A&P grocery store in the 1940s.

Craig said Shorraw nominated these buildings for inclusion on the list.

“He is a stalwart champion of historic preservation in Monessen,” Craig said. “It was something we wanted to support. It reaches a point where you say, ‘We’re running out of time.’ Both of those buildings are on our list, because we’re running out of time. They could be significant anchors for that business district. They should be worked on in tandem.”

Craig pointed to the $199,000 grant already received for the building on Donner Ave as a positive step toward the preservation of the old bank building.

“It takes one bit of resources coming in that can be a foundation for everything else to follow,” he said. “We would just like to be able to work with the new mayor and continue our relationship with Monessen and be of service in any way that we can. We would hope this would be part of the long-term plan for the business district in Monessen.”

However, incoming Mayor Ron Moser said perhaps restoration of those buildings isn’t the way to go.

“For 30 years, those buildings have been neglected. They’ve gone downhill. They’re totally unsafe buildings.,” Moser said. “It’s my firm belief that it’s time for Monessen to move on. There are many opportunities for that block. That’s prime real estate in downtown Monessen. They need to be removed. You can’t even walk on the sidewalk with them. They are a serious hazard.”

Shorraw said the city does not have the money to tear the buildings down.

“It’s a waste of money when you have people who are interested in acquiring them,” he said. “They’re never going to see the money and the investment that it would take to tear them down. I think it’s really important to the preservation community to want to see (the buildings) preserved and saved.”

Union Station is an abandoned train station and office building that was used by the Monongahela Railway in downtown Brownsville. It was built in 1929 and has been vacant since the early 1990s.

“It really is a gateway into the town,” Craig said of Union Station. “We’re just beginning the process of exploring potential funding resources to start to clean it out and get it ready for development. It’s a heavy lift. It takes a lot of work to get it to the point of when you’re ready to bring a developer in there, so we want to make sure all of those pieces are taken care of.”

Brownsville Mayor Ross Swords feels the historical significance of Union Station leads it to being a building to be preserved.

“The Union Station building played an important role in Brownsville,” the mayor said. “The majority of people who lived in Brownsville worked on the railroad. The building is very important and special to the community. A lot of people in Brownsville want to see that building renovated. I would love to see anything go into it, just to get the doors open again.”

Students from the University of Pittsburgh found the building remains structurally sound. When Union Station was constructed, it did have the capacity to hold two additional floors.

Union Station is a building that is part of the Perennial Project in Brownsville, a revitalization organization that is utilizing 3D capability to transport people into the heyday of landmarks such as Union Station.

Joe Baratovich, Perennial Project founder, said students from Brownsville High School have taken photographs from Union Station in the 1940s and transposed them onto a 3D laser scan.

“Now people can actually put on Oculus (headsets) and walk through the Union Station building as it was in 1940,” Baratovich said. “It’s part of the tourism thing that we’re trying to develop. It’s the one niche we have. We have a lot of tourism in town. We’re just trying to maximize our tourist capability. “

“We’re trying to focus on the historical aspect of the (borough’s) properties,” Swords added. “There’s a lot of people involved in the commitment toward moving forward.”

The list also included signs at underground railroad sites in some Pittsburgh neighborhoods, Century III Mall in West Mifflin, Carlow University’s former St. Agnes Church, The former State Bank of Elizabeth, Tito-Mecca-Zizza House in Pittsburgh, Saints Peter and Paul Church in East Liberty and Mellon Bank in East Liberty.

Craig said each site on the list can serve a function in their community.

“Each one of the buildings on that list can be a great asset to their communities if they’re restored.,” Craig said. “We aren’t interested in sentimental preservation, because that won’t work. The buildings need to have a purpose and I think everyone on that list can have a renewed purpose and contribute to their communities.”

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