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72-635: Rev. Heather Schoenewolf East Liberty Presbyterian Church , sometimes referred to as the Cathedral of Hope , is in the East Liberty neighborhood of the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , United States. The current building is the fifth church building to occupy the site; the first was in 1819. The congregation of the East Liberty Presbyterian Church was founded in 1819. The land on which

144-473: A Google office as a sign of the neighborhood's success. In 2011, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published an article entitled "The trend toward shared working areas arrives" which describes the creation of The Beauty Shoppe, East Liberty's first Coworking space. The space is owned by East Liberty Development Inc and currently houses several start ups and small businesses. The first business tenant

216-472: A two-way street . These successes set the stage for a large and somewhat controversial series of developments in the late 1990s and 2000s. Between 1996 and 2006, ELDI and the City of Pittsburgh worked to attract new “big box” retailers to East Liberty and to remove the 20-story housing projects that surrounded the neighborhood. First, ELDI and the City used tax increment financing to lure two national retailers to

288-457: A degree." Architects Construction Engineers Sculptors and Modelers Stained Glass Stone Carvers Wood Workers Metal Workers The original pipe organ in the church was also a gift of Richard Mellon and was built as Opus #884 by the Boston firm of Æolian-Skinner . The organ comprised eight divisions, including a six-rank string organ. It contained 6,944 pipes, a harp, and chimes. In 1972–73,

360-472: A first-ring residential suburb for elite families looking to escape the industrial smoke and soot of the city. By the turn of the century, it was one of the richest suburbs in America, containing many of the wealthy industrialists’ mansions. However, East Liberty was not exclusively an elite, Anglo-American neighborhood. The East Liberty Station brought floods of European immigrants and African American migrants from

432-530: A four-manual console. By 1970, consideration was given whether to restore this instrument or purchase a new one. After much deliberation, a new pipe organ was purchased from the Austin Organ Company and installed in February 1973. The new, and current, Austin is a three manual instrument of 36 ranks and played by a three-manual console. Notably, the organ case predates the 1919 Austin organ and is likely that of

504-549: A market center, and arguably hastened the old neighborhood's demise. By routing cars away from Penn Avenue, the URA's new street plan seemed to send a message that the neighborhood's commercial center was not worth visiting. The housing authority's massive housing complexes quickly developed a reputation as centers for crime, and this reputation likely did as much as the confusing street plan to drive commerce away from East Liberty. Redlining had already driven away middle class homebuyers, and

576-501: A market center, and asked the City of Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to take action. The URA proposed creating an outdoor pedestrian mall on Penn Avenue, to be surrounded by car-friendly roads on which large stores, surrounded by parking lots, could serve shoppers just as the new suburban stores were doing. This plan required the demolition of roughly half of the 254 ac (103 ha) that comprised East Liberty. As noted previously,

648-736: A national contest that was sponsored by Verizon Wireless , and was designed to find the "Best Church Choir in America." Legendary actor and dancer Gene Kelly was born in East Liberty in 1912. David Tepper , a business man, owner of the NFL 's Carolina Panthers and the MLS 's Charlotte FC lived in East Liberty. Austin Organ Company The Austin Organ Company was formally organized in 1898 by John Turnell Austin in Boston, Massachusetts, although it traces its beginning to 1893 with

720-586: A new organ composed of approximately 60% new pipework and 40% from the original organ. The instrument now contains 120 ranks, with restoration work still to be done on the two antiphonal divisions in the rear gallery. The first organ in the chapel was built by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford, CT. This instrument had originally been installed in the fourth East Liberty building in 1919, a gift of Mrs. W.M. McKelvy, C. Lockhart McKelvy, and John E. McKelvy. The instrument consisted of sixty-three stops played by

792-474: A portion close to what is now East Liberty. Alexander Negley owned a farm called "Fertile Bottom" north of present-day East Liberty along the southern bank of the Allegheny River . Negley's land included some of present-day East Liberty and much of nearby Highland Park , Morningside , Larimer , and Stanton Heights . Alexander Negley's son Jacob married Barbara Winebiddle, built a manor house, and developed

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864-482: A transportation hub: Mellon convinced some of Pittsburgh's first trolley lines to pass through East Liberty. East Liberty developed more or less independently of Pittsburgh until the Pennsylvania Railroad opened the East Liberty station in the 1850s. This passenger depot served to connect East Liberty to the city; twenty-six trains transported people to and from downtown on a daily basis. The rail connection

936-563: A twenty-two-ton rectangular block of Hauteville marble. Elsewhere, the chancel features several types of marble. The red marble of the Communion Table was imported from Algeria. The chancel floor, formed into a geometrical design, is made of Hauteville marble from France, French Antique Rogue, Swiss Cipolin, Statuary White, Greek Verde Antique, Sarrancolin West, Campan Rubane, Red Levanto, Vermont Verde Antique and Swedish Green. The central tower of

1008-506: A vacant hotel (now 100 Sheridan Square); purchased the block that included the Regent Theater and Penn Highland Building; and worked with developers to bring the first market rate condo to the community and a new shopping center called East Liberty Station on Penn Avenue, east of Penn Circle. During the 1980s, the collection of small shops on Penn Circle South expanded, more than 200 businesses located in East Liberty, and more than $ 80 million

1080-469: A village that he called East Liberty after the old grazing commons. In 1816, Negley saw to it that the Pittsburgh - Greensburg turnpike was built through East Liberty, which made the area a trading center and ensured its future growth. East Liberty truly began to develop as a commercial area in 1843, when Jacob's daughter Sarah Jane Negley married the ambitious lawyer Thomas Mellon . Mellon had first visited

1152-616: Is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania 's East End. It is bordered by Highland Park , Morningside , Stanton Heights , Garfield , Friendship , Shadyside and Larimer , and falls largely within Pittsburgh City Council District 9, with a few areas in District 8. One of the most notable features in the East Liberty skyline is the East Liberty Presbyterian Church , which is an area landmark. Around

1224-416: Is both the lingering effects of urban renewal and redlining. A 2018 study of demographic changes in East Liberty suggests that abandonment due to poor property condition drove the bulk of population change in East Liberty. Evidence of previous widespread abandonment exists both in the form of vacant lots which once held homes and in the presence of new homes and apartments built on previously vacant lots. In

1296-469: Is mounted above the pulpit, which served, prior to modern microphone and speaker systems, to project the preacher's voice into the nave. The imposing reredos is constructed of Alabama limestone. The Last Supper, carved by John Angel , is regarded as one of the two outstanding achievements of his career (the other being the bronze doors of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City). The scene was carved from

1368-592: The 1888 organ built by Frank Roosevelt for the East Liberty Presbyterian congregation. The Penn Avenue main entrance carvings represent the City of God (left) and the Tower of David (right). The narthex ceiling is copied from a model found in Cambridge University, England. The inner doors from narthex to nave are English oak. The windows in the south wall depict angels holding instruments of praise and

1440-606: The Church is considering the removal of the Thomas Jonathan Jackson panel due to his Confederate infamy and affiliation. As of March 2023, the image of Stonewall Jackson has been removed from the American Presbyterian History Window. It has been replaced by deep blue glass. A single lancet panel, beneath the American Presbyterian History Window, is by Oliver Smith Studios. This window shows three scenes:

1512-684: The City of Pittsburgh annexed Collins and Liberty townships, which together included East Liberty. Thanks to its favorable location and Mellon's guiding hand, East Liberty became a thriving commercial center in the following years. East Liberty's merchants served many of Pittsburgh's industrial millionaires, who settled in nearby Shadyside and Point Breeze . Professionals in Highland Park and Friendship and laborers in Bloomfield and Garfield also shopped in East Liberty. There were four movie theaters. Actor-singer Dick Powell got his start singing at

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1584-601: The East Liberty congregation the plot of land on Whitfield Street. This final donation of land brought the entire square of East Liberty's center into church possession, which would later be filled with a fifth church, funded by Richard Beatty Mellon and Jennie King Mellon and in memory of their mothers. The current church, designed by Ralph Adams Cram , is the fifth on its site. Construction began in 1931 and completed in 1935, funded entirely by Richard Beatty Mellon and his wife, Jennie King Mellon, in memory of their mothers, Sarah Jane Negley Mellon and Sarah Cordelia Smith King. Cram

1656-670: The Enright Theater. By 1950, the area was a bustling and fully urban marketplace, anchored by Sears-Roebuck store on Highland Avenue and (Albert J )Mansmann's Department Store on Penn Avenue. It had become the largest, in terms of sales dollars, non-center-city business district in the country. East Liberty's decline was precipitated by a series of government policies relating to the underwriting of mortgages for homes commonly referred to as redlining . The residential areas immediately surrounding East Liberty's main business district consisted primarily of tightly packed wood frame homes built in

1728-638: The Haystack Prayer Meeting (considered the beginning of American Foreign Missions), John Eliot (Puritan Missionary), and Benjamin Franklin's Prayer in the Continental Congress. The Mellon coat-of-arms is mounted on the south wall of the east transept. A brief history of the East Liberty Presbyterian Church is also here inscribed, documenting the congregation's gratitude to the Mellons for their gift of

1800-528: The Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway that runs along the ravine where the Pennsylvania Railroad once ran. The busway connects Downtown with East End neighborhoods and eastern suburbs of Allegheny County. This $ 150 million project covers a total of 6 acres and added 3000 square feet of mixed-use commercial space. This project has been a catalyst for heated debates in the past three years about

1872-581: The Massaro Corporation recreated the Motor Square Garden building as an indoor mall in 1988, but consumers did not respond. The American Automobile Association bought the building in bankruptcy court in 1991 and now uses it as office space. In addition to its moderately successful property rehabilitation efforts during the 1980s, ELDI was able to remove the failed pedestrian mall on Penn Avenue and return that thoroughfare to its traditional use as

1944-490: The Scriptures. The windows, from the studios of Reynolds, Francis and Rohnstock, form a glass screen between the narthex and the nave. Within them is found the following symbols: chrysanthemum, thistle, star, fleur-de-lis, rose, and finally a budded cross. Th rose window above the west entrance is also by Reynolds, Francis and Rohnstock. The two windows on the north side of the narthex are by Howard G. Wilbert. The exterior doors of

2016-649: The South, who were drawn by Pittsburgh's manufacturing and industrial jobs. The neighborhood became home to an impressive number of churches for various religions and ethnicities by the late nineteenth century. There were separate places of worship for German and Italian Protestants, Irish, Italian and German Catholics, as well as a Presbyterian church for Anglo-Americans and an AME church for African Americans. East Liberty's diverse mix of Italian, Anglo-American, German, African-American, Jewish, Polish, Greek, and Irish residents stayed intact until after World War II. On June 30, 1868,

2088-664: The Wayfarers' Chapel did not fulfill its intended use until many years later. Three windows in the chapel's interior are designed by Howard G. Wilbert and depict the Great Seal of the United States of America, The Crucifixion, and an angel holding the Gospel. The term "garth" comes from the Old English word "heard," or "yard." In the chapel side wall of the garth can be seen the cornerstones of

2160-432: The area at competitive prices, causing an artificial collapse of demand and property value. Without capital to fund repairs and renovations, homes in poor repair deteriorated over time. Indeed, when urban renewal's blight remediation via demolition was undertaken in the 1960s, the areas redlined in 1937 were those designated as blighted, and razed. The residential neighborhoods north of the redlined areas were not immune to

2232-541: The area of modern-day East Liberty in 1823, when as a 10-year-old he saw the Negley mansion for the first time and decided he wanted something like it. He achieved this goal and much more: after first becoming a prosperous lawyer, he made his true fortune by marrying Sarah Jane Negley, selling or renting the land near East Liberty that she inherited, and using the proceeds to finance Pittsburgh's nascent industries. Like Jacob Negley before him, Thomas Mellon worked to make East Liberty

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2304-530: The area targeted for demolition roughly aligned with those parts of the neighborhood redlined in 1937. After some contentious debate, the plan was approved, and the URA stopped traffic on the busiest part of Penn Avenue (the old Greensburg-Pittsburgh turnpike of Jacob Negley's day) and routed it onto a series of new, one-way thoroughfares (called Penn Circle) that formed a ring around the central business district. Many small shops were destroyed—a million square feet of retail space in all. These demolitions destroyed

2376-444: The area. The result of this redlining was two-fold; first, it made accessing conventional forms of credit for home purchases and renovations difficult; and second, it fostered segregation of low income minorities in a neighborhood that was clearly racially diverse in 1937. Because most real estate is purchased with a mortgage, and banks would not lend against properties in redlined areas, most prospective buyers could not buy homes in

2448-482: The building. Five Christian virtues are carved as symbols on the west wall of the east transept on shields: Charity (a sheep), Wisdom (a serpent), Faith (a chalice and cross), Chastity (a phoenix), and Patience (a yoked ox). The shield of the Presbyterian Church is carved on the east wall of the nave. The chancel windows were designed by Wilbur Herbert Burnham of Boston, Massachusetts. The windows depict scenes of

2520-515: The captive audience that remained in what was now an urban ghetto. Steep population decline followed urban renewal. East Liberty became a segregated neighborhood with high poverty rates, low rates of homeownership, and a legacy of disinvestment that continued well after the Community Reinvestment Act eliminated redlining. In the past 20 years, the population fell from 7,973 in 1990 to 6,871 in 2000, and 5,698 in 2016. The reason for this

2592-586: The church is home to a bell cast by the Meneely Bell Foundry of Troy, NY. Weighing 2,760 pounds, it was donated by Barbara Negley in 1867. Its inscription reads: "Donated to the First Presbyterian Church of East Liberty by Mrs. B. A. Negley, in the 89th year of her age. Pastors - Rev. William B. McIlvaine, Rev. John Gillespie." Notable occasions on which the bell was rung include the Centennial of

2664-480: The church, spurring plans for a larger church building. In 1847 Mrs. Negley, now a widow, donated an additional tract of land that includes the current South Highland Avenue frontage. Three thousand dollars was raised and the second church, measuring 70 by 50 feet and seating about 400, was erected. The Pennsylvania Railroad extension into Pittsburgh in 1853 caused the Village of East Liberty's population to grow. Eventually,

2736-479: The company still builds instruments at the same four-story edifice located at 156 Woodland Street. In March 2005 the company closed when annual revenue fell below $ 150K per year after a payment dispute regarding an installation. Weeks later a business partnership was formed by the owner of an organ service and repair company and a long-time Austin employee. They purchased the company, restructured its operations, and recalled several company veterans. As of 2019 Austin

2808-586: The congregation's previous three church buildings from 1848, 1864, and 1887. The four sandstone columns, set in the northeast corner, are from the 1887 church. As a reminder that the land of the Garth was once used as graveyard, the tombstone of John Spahr is erected. The Garth includes a pulpit and is used frequently by the church for services and other events. 40°27′39.7″N 79°55′32.2″W  /  40.461028°N 79.925611°W  / 40.461028; -79.925611 East Liberty (Pittsburgh) East Liberty

2880-542: The deaths of Richard Beatty and Jennie King Mellon in 1942, the Church Session voted to construct to them a memorial which became Trinity Chapel. The entrance to the chapel is half-way down the east aisle and marked, above the doorway, with a carved shield of the Trinity. The doors are Siamese teak. The interior carvings are inspired by Peter Paul Rubens and the windows by Wilbur H. Burnham. The chapel, designed as well by Cram,

2952-424: The dense, walkable commercial district and replaced much of it with unattractive parking lots and vacant properties, hastening the decline of the businesses that remained. While the URA was remaking the street plan of East Liberty, the City of Pittsburgh's housing authority made a second set of changes to the neighborhood. Housing authority planners noted that the nearby African-American neighborhood of Homewood

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3024-596: The first instruments Austin built at the Clough & Warren Company in Detroit, Michigan . In 1899 the company moved to Hartford. Austin was from England and had come to the United States in 1889. Austin's father Jonathan had a hobby of organ building. When son John made his way to Detroit he found work at the Farrand & Votey Organ Company . While servicing organs for Farrand, Austin worked with tracker and slider chests and some of

3096-557: The greater East Liberty neighborhood, it was spared the greater destruction of Urban Renewal. Two decisions in the 1960s exacerbated the trends begun with redlining. The first was an attempt to halt a slow trickle of businesses from the City to the suburbs. In the early 1960s, a few of East Liberty's larger merchants saw that some residents of Pittsburgh's East End were moving to the suburbs, and that suburban shopping malls were consequently growing and expanding. These merchants feared that suburban development would harm East Liberty's status as

3168-471: The impact of redlining. The larger brick four-square homes built in the first 20 years of the 20th Century were interspersed with the estates of Pittsburgh's wealthy. However, the George F. Cram surveys noted "...negro encroachment threatening], calling it an obsolete, "...mediocre section of East Liberty."], and designated it as a higher risk for lenders. Though this area of the neighborhood declined in tandem with

3240-572: The instrument was cleaned, and improvements were made to the blowers. Over the following two years, revoicing work was done on several reed and principal stops by J. David Burger. Additions in the 1970s included two significant Memorial Stops. The first being the State Trumpet and the second being the Mounted Cornet. In 2007, the Indianapolis organ building firm of Goulding & Wood, Inc. installed

3312-476: The lack of affordable housing in East Liberty. The project's tax abatement program, which is meant to encourage development in the East Liberty transit district , has resulted in public funds being granted to private developers for high-end development, including hundreds of luxury apartments. In 2009, the Remnant Choir from East Liberty's Mt. Ararat Baptist Church won second place, and $ 20,000 in prize money, in

3384-433: The largely African-American population of East Liberty's housing projects and attracting several high-end retailers, ELDI and the City have been criticized for acting as agents of Gentrification . Some of these concerns have been assuaged by new mixed-income residential developments which have begun to replace the demolished housing projects, as the new developments provide arguably nicer and safer accommodations for some of

3456-491: The life of Christ from the entry into Jerusalem to the Ascension. These scenes are purposefully not placed chronologically so that they cannot be viewed within the sequence of events as found in Gospel accounts. Four small rose windows highlight the importance of music in worship and portray King David (Psalmist) , Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina , Pope Gregory I ( Gregorian chant ), and Johann Sebastian Bach . A "sounding board"

3528-404: The main entrance are English oak; the interior doors are Siamese teak and weigh four tons. The windows of the clerestory are by Charles J. Connick of Boston, Massachusetts. There are ten clerestory windows in two groups. The windows on the east side of the nave depict Old Testament scenes while the windows on the west side depict New Testament scenes. The large rose window in the east transept,

3600-462: The mid-to-late 1800s. . In 1937, The George F Cram Company undertook the creation of federally sponsored surveys and maps which ultimately became the 'redlined' maps used by banks for underwriting. The Cram Maps listed this housing stock as "obsolete," noted the "infiltration of Jews... and Negroes" , and the large number of people on relief (the New Deal version of Welfare) as justification for redlining

3672-431: The nascent electric mechanisms. He developed what would be named the "Universal Air Chest System". This is an airtight chamber with the chest action on the ceiling of the chamber. A feature of this system was that the chest could be entered from below while the organ was turned on; this allowed for servicing of the organ keying action. The modern (current) chest design was further developed in 1913, and has been refined over

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3744-487: The neighborhood: Home Depot and Whole Foods. Both of these stores thrived, and their success convinced small local merchants and other national retailers to invest in the neighborhood. Second, after a complex and time-consuming set of transactions, two of the three housing projects that visually barricaded the neighborhood were demolished in 2005, and the third was demolished in May 2009. Because these efforts involved resettling

3816-597: The nephew of the company founder and a long-term employee purchased what remained of the company and formed "Austin Organs, Inc." They re-established the factory in Hartford although in more modest facilities that were adjacent to their old plant. The first instrument produced by the re-organized company was given Opus 2000. During the Second World War , the company contributed to the war effort by constructing gliders. As of 2020

3888-538: The present church stands was donated by Jacob and Barbara Negley. An acre-and-a-half site, the congregation's first building was a brick school and meeting house of forty-four square feet. The first pastor of the congregation was the Reverend W.B. McIlvaine, who was called as pastor in 1829. His ministry of four decades began with his ordination and installation in April 1830. The pastorate of Rev. McIlvaine saw 622 members added to

3960-413: The projects’ former residents - but much fewer of them. By 2009, East Liberty more closely resembled the busy commercial neighborhood of 1959 than the struggling ghetto of 1979. Merchants continue to invest in the neighborhood, and outside observers consider it to be fully rehabilitated. In 2010, The New York Times published an article about the revival of East Liberty, and cited the presence of

4032-441: The public housing complexes were exclusively for low-income renters. This created population demographics that were severely poor and unable to support a healthy commercial sector. Urban renewal had devastating consequences for the neighborhood. There were some 575 businesses in East Liberty in 1959 but only 292 in 1970 and just 98 in 1979. The businesses that remained tended not to serve the majority of nearby Pittsburghers, but only

4104-557: The role of pastor. Gillespie's ministry lasted 12 years. In 1882, the Reverend Benjamin L. Agnew, of Philadelphia, was called to succeed Gillespie, but resigned after sixteen months to accept another call in Philadelphia. In 1884, the church called the Reverend J.P.E. Kumler, of Cincinnati. The congregation grew again under Kumler's leadership and the congregation began to consider a fourth, and larger, church building. The fourth church

4176-626: The second church proved too small and discussions began again on the construction of a third building. The building of the third church was delayed by the Civil War, but in 1862, $ 13,000 was raised and the new church completed by 1864 at a total cost of $ 23,000. In 1865, the church called an associate, the Rev. John Gillespie, a native of Scotland and graduate of the Western Theological Seminary. When Rev. McIlvaine retired in 1870, Gillespie assumed

4248-533: The signing of the Declaration of Independence, the passing of the funeral train of Resident McKinley, and during the World War as a call to prayer. As part of the church's 200th anniversary celebration , new exterior lighting was installed to highlight Ralph Adams Cram's architectural masterpiece. The final phase of this project was to illuminate the tower. The new tower lighting was debuted on May 4, 2019. Following

4320-433: The streets making up Penn Circle were renamed, removing a highly visible reminder of the failed urban renewal plans of the 1960s. Several historic street names were restored, and Centre Avenue was extended beyond its original (pre-1968) terminus at Penn Avenue to East Liberty Boulevard, affording visitors to the neighborhood a less confusing path toward the business district. In June 2014, USA Today named East Liberty one of

4392-666: The ten best up and coming neighborhoods around the USA. East Liberty is served by the East Liberty station, also called the East Liberty Transit Center, on the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway . This station was redeveloped in 2015. The publicly funded project aimed at transit-oriented development , placing residents and retail in close proximity to mass transit in order to encourage urban density and discourage automobile use. The transit center increases accessibility to

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4464-464: The three decades following 1980, East Liberty has slowly regained its status as a market destination for shoppers. In 1979, Mellon Bank, Pittsburgh National Bank, local property owners and other businesses created a nonprofit community development corporation, East Liberty Development, Inc. (ELDI). and hired an executive director, David Feehan. During the 1980s, a number of important developments occurred, spearheaded by ELDI, which acquired and renovated

4536-675: The time of the American Revolution , East Liberty was a free grazing area in Allegheny County located a few miles east of the young, growing town called Pittsburgh. (In older English usage, a "liberty" was a plot of common land on the outskirts of a town.) Two farming patriarchs owned much of the nearby land, and their descendants' names grace streets in and around East Liberty today. John Conrad Winebiddle owned land west of present-day East Liberty, in what are now Bloomfield , Garfield , and Friendship , and his daughter Barbara inherited

4608-834: The two small rose windows above the chancel organ cases, and the two small rose windows in each transept are by the D'Ascenzo Studios of Philadelphia. The large window depicts the Revelation 21; the figure of a woman representing the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. The American Presbyterian History Window was designed by Henry Lee Willett and touches on nearly three centuries of Presbyterian history. The portrayals include Frances Makemie , William Tennent , Samuel Davies , John Witherspoon , John Cameron Lowrie , David Brainerd , Sheldon Jackson , John Joyce, Samuel Findley, Charles Hodge , Thomas Jonathan Jackson , and Robert Elliott Speer . As of 2021,

4680-674: The years. In 1905 the company began building electric consoles; these have also been refined over the years. The Austin Organ Company reached its peak in the 1920s when it was delivering more than 80 instruments each year. In the Depression years the company struggled with high overhead, decreased new business, and cash flow. By 1935 the company announced that it would close after fulfilling existing contracts, with its last instrument as Opus 1885. The company vacated its factory building, sold some assets and put others into storage. In February 1937

4752-433: Was Thinktiv, Inc., a venture accelerator. Thinktiv was part of The Beauty Shoppe redevelopment effort alongside East Liberty Development Inc. and Edile, a real estate development firm. The Highland Building hi-rise, vacant for 20 years, has been converted into luxurious apartments, as has the adjacent Wallace Building, through Walnut Capital, a local real estate company that also owns part of Bakery Square. In April 2014,

4824-512: Was begun in 1887 and completed within a year. In 1902, the Rev. Frank W. Sneed succeeded Kumler and served until 1920, when he resigned citing failing health. A vacancy of a year occurred until the Reverend Stuart Nye Hutchison was called as pastor in April 1921. In 1918, when the congregation observed its one-hundredth anniversary, Andrew William Mellon and Richard Beatty Mellon, the grandsons of Jacob and Barbara Negley donated to

4896-467: Was erected at a cost of $ 120,000 and dedicated January 15, 1944. Desiring to be conscious of those suffering the economic repercussions of the 1929 Great Depression , the congregation intended to use the Wayfarers' Chapel (located at the corner of Baum and Whitfield) for a ministry of social service. However, by the time the church was completed in 1935, the worst of the Great Depression was over, and

4968-515: Was invested in real estate development. In the fifteen years following its founding, ELDI focused on rehabilitating some of the East Liberty's historic commercial spaces. These included the Regent Theater (now called the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater ) and Motor Square Garden . ELDI's rehabilitation projects were time-consuming, and they did not make the neighborhood the destination for shoppers that it had formerly been. For example, ELDI and

5040-452: Was most pleased with the result, calling it his Magnum Opus. Cram writes in 1935, "Seldom in the case of great churches are the architects permitted to see their highest ideals carried out after a complete and definitive fashion. Here the donors had a vision of adequacy and completeness...it is doubtful if there is anywhere in this country a church of similar magnitude where every detail of utility and artistic quality has been achieved in so full

5112-412: Was of crucial importance for the area's future development, because Pittsburgh was just about to enter its industrial boom period that would last between the end of the Civil War and World War I. As the city's population swelled to fuel the burgeoning iron and steel industry, East Liberty grew too. The neighborhood's population increased from under 1,000 in 1850 to over 46,000 by 1910. East Liberty acted as

5184-603: Was overcrowded, largely as a result of the URA's earlier demolition of the lower Hill District to create the Civic Arena , which had forced many of the Hill's African-Americans out and into the North Side and Homewood . The housing authority's solution was to build three large housing complexes, each close to 20 stories tall, in East Liberty along the new Penn Circle roads. These two measures ultimately failed to preserve East Liberty as

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