This week our Preservation Month celebration of the 2021 Community Initiative Award winners takes us west to Allegheny County – specifically, the Borough of Wilkinsburg. The Wilkinsburg Train Station Restoration Project, led by the Wilkinsburg Community Development Corporation (WCDC), received … Continue reading
Category Archives: Economic Development
Celebrating Preservation Month with the 2021 Community Initiative Award Winners
What better time of year than National Historic Preservation Month to announce the latest round of PA SHPO’s Community Initiative Award winners. This year’s projects and recipients showcase a range of preservation success stories, demonstrating the power of perseverance, collaboration … Continue reading
Deindustrialized Communities Market Study: What We Learned
As we wrote about in a recent blog post, the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) has been working on a huge project in our western region, aimed at identifying the challenges and opportunities for historic preservation and economic … Continue reading
Deindustrialized Communities Market Study
The Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) has undertaken a project to investigate the economic development and community revitalization prospects in specific southwestern Pennsylvania communities that have experienced significant de-industrialization.
Preservation Planning in Beaver Borough
Beaver is a lovely community located on the Ohio River bluffs nearly directly across the river from the Shell petrochemical plant. Beaver boasts a large National Register of Historic Places historic district (PA-SHARE Resource #1994RE00048) that consists of large, stately … Continue reading
Rehabilitating Pittsburgh’s “First” Skyscraper with Historic Tax Credits
The Arrott Building, located at 401 Wood Street in Pittsburgh, PA, was designed by prominent Pittsburgh architect, Frederick J. Osterling in 1902 and is one of Pittsburgh’s first skyscrapers.
Historic Tax Credits + Artists + Braddock = Preservation Success
There are great examples throughout Pennsylvania – and the country – of historic buildings being repurposed to support, house, and celebrate local and regional arts communities. Two specifically come to mind in Pennsylvania, the GoggleWorks in Reading, Berks County and … Continue reading
Designing for Distance in Pennsylvania’s Historic Communities
To say that COVID-19 changed things about away we live our lives would be the understatement of the century. Virtually everything about the ways in which we live, work, learn, recreate, shop – everything – changed in an instant and … Continue reading
A New Year – Is a Keystone Grant Project A Resolution?
Happy New Year! As much as I would like to count 2021 as a fresh start and forget all about 2020, I first must share how impressed I am with the resilience of our museum and preservation community and its … Continue reading
2020 Blog in Review
In this crazy year, the PA SHPO’s blog is the one thing you could count on every week to bring you all sorts of current, relevant, fun and interesting information. I have actually won a trivia contest or two because … Continue reading