The southwest side of a former Mellon Bank branch in East Liberty, as presented to the City Planning Commission on May 18, 2021.
by Rich Lord
An empty bank branch, which Citizens Bank is hoping to raze and replace, cleared a hurdle toward historic designation, which could thwart its proposed demolition.
Built by Mellon Bank 52 years ago on Penn Avenue in East Liberty, the branch became part of Citizens in 2001, but was shuttered last year.
At 11,000 square feet, it’s nearly four times as large as today’s typical branches, Citizens Head of Property, Strategy and Execution Jared Wallace told the commission. “It’s a very large, intimidating, dark building,” he told the commission. “It’s not welcoming and it’s not fit for [its] purpose any more for us.”
Brittany Reilly, of Preservation Pittsburgh, nominated the branch for historic status, and the city’s Historic Review Commission agreed. The City Planning Commission’s role in nominations is to review whether the designation would be good for the adjoining properties and surrounding neighborhood. Pittsburgh City Council then gets the final say.
Reilly told the commission that the unusual building, with its green glazed brick, vast windows and accordion-like shape, is “a welcome mat into East Liberty, which has undergone unfathomable change, transformation, resurgence and growth.”
Because it was a product of Mellon Bank’s exceptional architecture and design program, embraces the modernist period of architecture and reflects the era of urban redevelopment, it should be preserved, Reilly argued.
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https://www.publicsource.org/developpghbulletins-pittsburgh-allegheny-county/
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