| Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. | |
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Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. at Station Square (2006) |
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| Born | June 20, 1937 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | President, Landmarks Development Corporation, President, Landmarks Community Capital Corporation |
Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. is a leading American preservationist, urbanist, writer and activist. He is best known for the creation of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation , a non-profit preservation organization created in response to the destructive urban renewal policies of the 1950s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the United States.[1]
He has worked to promote historic preservation as an effective means to creating sustainable affordable housing, healthy neighborhoods and economic development. Arthur Ziegler is president the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and its subsidiaries Landmarks Financial, Landmarks Development Corporation, and Landmarks Community Capital Corporation.
Arthur Ziegler has authored 10 books on historic preservation and is the recipient of The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Crowninshield Award, the President of United States’ Private Sector Achievement Award, and the Preservation Pennsylvania Otto Haas Award. He is also a WQED Pittsburgher of the Year and Southside Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year.
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In the late 1950s, Urban Renewal plans in the late 1950s for Allegheny City, now the Pittsburgh's North Side, included complete demolition of all structures from and including East Street to the Ohio River Boulevard, which encompassed the historic and culturally important neighborhoods of Allegheny Center, Central Northside/Mexican War Streets, Chateau, Manchester, North Shore, and Deutschtown.
In 1964, at a time when vast sums of public money were spent to replace some of Pittsburgh’s most historic neighborhoods and commercial areas with characterless architecture, parking lots and roadways and in reaction to the massive demolition campaigns and the imminent threat to the Pittsburgh's North Side, Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. and James Van Trump co-founded the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF). PHLF advocated community development and revitalization through preservation instead of dislocation and demolition. This marked the birth of the national preservation movement that continues to this day.
The neighborhoods of Chateau and Allegheny City Center suffered significant damage from the wrecking ball. Most of the former Allegheny City Center was demolished, with the exception of a few buildings saved by PHLF: The Old Post Office, Buhl Planetarium, now both part of the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, and the Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny.
Preservation efforts by Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. and the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation along with community neighborhood groups, arrested this wholesale demolition scheme. The neighborhoods containing rich architectural heritage, including Central Northside/Mexican War Streets, Manchester, North Shore, Deutschtown. were spared.
In the mid-1970s, Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. and the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation wanted to demonstrate that historic preservation could be used to drive economic development without the use of eminent domain or public subsidies. Station Square gave PHLF the opportunity to put its urban planning principles into practice.
Funded by an initial grant from the Allegheny Foundation and begun in 1976, PHLF acquired the former terminal buildings and yards of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad , a 1 mile long property at the base of Mt. Washington facing the City of Pittsburgh and adapted and developed five historic Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad buildings as a mixed-use historic adaptive reuse development that gave the foundation the opportunity to put its urban planning principles into practice.
PHLF oversaw the addition of a hotel, a dock for the Gateway Clipper Fleet, and parking areas. Now shops, offices, restaurants and entertainment anchor the historic riverfront site on the south shore of the Monongahela River, opposite the Golden Triangle (Pittsburgh) . Station Square is Pittsburgh’s premiere attraction generating over 3,500,000 visitors a year. 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. In 1994, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation sold Station Square in to Forest City Enterprises which created an endowment to help support its restoration efforts and educational programs. Each year the staff and docents of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation introduce more than 10,000 people — teachers, students, adults and visitors — to the architectural heritage of the Pittsburgh region and to the value of historic preservation. (Source: Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation)
Most recently, PHLF accepted preservation easements on the Heinz Lofts and Armstrong Cork Buildings, a key ingredient in closing those deals. It also has a vigorous historic farm protection program. It stepped forward to fund and manage the Smithfield Street Bridge, Roberto Clemente Bridge, and Hot Metal Bridge decorative lighting projects and created a task force that aided the commissioners in South Fayette Township to developed a Smart Growth Plan and more preservation-friendly zoning strategy. In 2006, the National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference was held in Pittsburgh to share PHLF’s successes with other communities.
PHLF remains committed to its original mission of adapting architecturally significant buildings for reuse and deterring sprawl by giving people a reason to return to the inner city. After more than four decades of work in Pittsburgh's inner city neighborhoods and in communities in Allegheny County, PHLF has proven that architectural landmarks and historic neighborhoods are community assets and that historic preservation can be a catalyst for community renewal.