Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation

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The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF ) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

PHLF is known nation-wide for its pioneering work in restoring inner-city neighborhoods without dislocating the people who live there.^{[citation needed]} In 1966, PHLF established the Revolving Fund for Preservation with a $100,000 grant from the Sarah Scaife Foundation. PHLF used the grant to purchase, restore and renovate historic inner-city properties primarily in the North Side and South Side neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, which were rented or sold to low- and moderate-income families. PHLF’s Revolving Fund now provides loans to more than 30 Pittsburgh neighborhood organizations and technical assistance to preservation groups throughout the United States.^{[citation needed]}

PHLF was the first historic preservation group in the nation to undertake a countywide survey of architectural landmarks, which Co-Founders Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. and James D. Van Trump did in 1965.^{[citation needed]} As a result of a more comprehensive 1984 PHLF survey, more than 6,000 architecturally and historically significant sites in Allegheny County have been documented,and nearly 400 bear a PHLF historic landmark plaque.

The trustees, staff and members of PHLF have successfully campaigned to save such landmarks as the North Side Post Office (now the Pittsburgh’s Children’s Museum), the Union Station rotunda in downtown Pittsburgh, the Neill Log House in Schenley Park, the Burtner House in Harrison Township, the Rachel Carson Homestead in Springdale and the Neville House in Collier Township.^{[citation needed]}

With the help of a grant from the Allegheny Foundation in 1976, PHLF adapted five historic Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad buildings in Station Square for new use and built a hotel, a dock for the Gateway Clipper Fleet, and parking areas. Station Square is now Pittsburgh’s premiere attraction.^{[citation needed]} It reflects a $100 million investment from all sources, with the lowest public cost and highest taxpayer return of any major renewal project in the Pittsburgh region since the 1950s.^{[citation needed]}