Sewickley cultural landscape survey still open, preliminary findings released

A cultural landscape inventory and public survey in Sewickley may result in the creation of three new historic districts, expansion of existing ones and the addition of more buildings and sites to the National Register of Historic Places.

Officials with Big Pine Consultants, the company tapped for the project, as well as members of the Sewickley Historic Review Commission shared their preliminary findings of their preservation efforts at a public meeting at the Sewickley Public Library on Jan. 18.

“This was a proactive study,” said Lisa Dugas, Big Pine senior lead archaeologist. “The borough is taking initiative to see what is out here now … and establish that as a baseline, a way of measuring what is here and what the resources are at their fingertips.

“As the community continues to grow and develop and change over time, it can have a way of measuring what those changes are and how it affects the different historic resources and even resources that may not be historic. That’s kind of where we’re going.”

Sewickley Historic Review Commission member Teresa Duff said the end goal is to create a community-led preservation plan and identify preservation partners to help balance future development and the preservation of existing architecture and features.

The project began in October. The group inventoried more than 1,400 parcels and identified more than 30 buildings/places that may be eligible for the national register.

Dugas said more research is needed before they could be added to the official list of the nation’s historic places.

Places reviewed for consideration included the Sewickley YMCA, the old Sewickley Academy, Sewickley Presbyterian Church; St. Matthews, Triumph and Antioch churches; Dickson and Nevin Roads and several properties along Pine Road.

The three areas identified as potentially new historic districts were the Riverfront district, Centennial Avenue district and Beaver Street commercial district.

Resident Chris Driscoll said he loved the idea of new historic districts, especially because he lives along the riverfront.

“I moved here in the last year,” Driscoll said. “I feel there is a lot of opportunity here. I already have a sense of preservation-mindedness. I really looked for that when I was searching for a place to settle my family.

“It’s pretty exciting that the community is doing something like this. People are not that forward-thinking in my experience. There is something special here. You can sense it. You can see it. The historic character of the town was a big draw.”

Expanding the current districts, specifically the old Thorn Farm to include more resources around the library, was among the possibilities in the presentation.

Survey data

There were 317 responses as of Jan. 17.

Of those, about 70% were female. A little more than 30% of responders were age 65 and older. No one younger than 25 responded.

More than 90% identified as white/caucasian. Nearly 65% of responders identified as Christian followed by about 30% not religious.

A majority of responders were homeowners and lived in the Sewickley area for more than 20 years.

Randy Schultheis, a man from South Hills, said he took the survey. He recalled spending time in the Sewickley area while growing up in Baden.

Schultheis said he was involved in a similar project in Mt. Lebanon years ago and was happy to see Sewickley’s preservation efforts.

“I think the area has a hard-to-put-into-words quality about it in terms of the beauty and history of the buildings,” Schultheis said. “I think it’s pretty unique. I definitely appreciated it as a kid and where I live it’s similar. I just wanted to hear how they go about thinking about this (project). We have a lot of gems here. We have a lot of stuff that makes Western Pennsylvania unique.”

Big Pine shared some of the stories and goals responders noted in the survey.

Someone suggested the Edgeworth women’s seminary have a placard on the street describing its history. Another suggested preserving brick roads and not covering them in asphalt.

A responder recommended the borough impose heavy fines on institutions that disregard historical homes and allow them to go to ruin, while other people commented about how being around historic century-old homes made the town very peaceful and enjoyable.

“I’m pretty overwhelmed by the amount of responses we have,” Dugas said. “Approximately 10% of the borough’s population responded. It just goes to show that there is that preservation mindset and feeling within the community where people want to know what’s going on and want to participate and be involved in the changes that happen in their community. We’re still listening. We still want to know what’s important.”

The deadline to fill out the survey is Feb. 9.

It is available online at surveymonkey.com/r/8T5RNRN.

The survey is made possible through the Certified Local Government program in partnership with the state Historic Preservation Office and National Park Service.

The CLG program offers municipalities funding sources and technical assistance to strengthen local historic preservation standards.

A report from Big Pine will be submitted to the borough and available for public review later this year.