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Gatehouse rescue Chatham College plans to repurchase historic home long trapped in court Saturday, June 12, 1999 By Rona Kobell, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Chatham College plans to spend close to $1 million to repurchase and renovate a rundown, historic home that it sold in the early '80s and that has been mired in court much of the time since.
The college has entered into an agreement with the current owners, Alvin and Shirley Weinberg, to buy the Howe-Childs Gatehouse at Fifth Avenue and Woodland Road, which has remained an eyesore on a busy street lined with stately homes and condominiums.
If the deal goes through, the college will convert it into administrative offices with a reception area and visitors center, and also use it as a new home for its master's program in landscape studies.
It could take months until the deal is sealed, though, said the college's lawyer, Joel Aaronson. Both the current zoning laws and an agreement with the condominium developer on adjoining property specify that the home must be used as a one- or two-family home. The agreement with the Weinbergs is contingent on the college resolving both hurdles.
Members of the Woodland Road Association, which represents homeowners in the area, supported Chatham's plan when college officials met with them recently, said Chatham spokeswoman Sharon Talarico.
Representatives from the historic preservation community and the city have talked to Chatham during the past two years about the possibility of the college buying the house.
"There was a feeling that, if something wasn't done rather quickly, then the house would be lost," Aaronson said.
Once the gatehouse to Thomas Howe's mansion, built in 1860, the home is the oldest surviving element of Fifth Avenue's Millionnaires Row. What stands now is a blue-gray structure with a touch of Gothic Revival style and a whole lot of chipped paint and broken windows.
Chatham, which had owned the house since 1959 and used it as a dormitory, sold it to Greystone Associates in 1985.
"In hindsight, we always realized that we probably shouldn't have sold it," Talarico said. "But it was the right thing to do at the time. Who knew that the house would stay empty, and would get into the shape that it's in?"
Greystone also bought 7 1/4 acres of the Howe estate to develop townhouses and condominiums.
The city approved the project but required Greystone to pursue an historic designation for the gatehouse.
The developer also entered into an agreement with the lenders, buyers and neighbors that the house could be used only as a one-or-two family dwelling. The reason, said Aaronson, stemmed from neighbors' concerns about the development.
In 1988, Greystone sold the gatehouse to the Weinbergs for $175,000. The couple planned to restore it, but decided against it when they learned it would cost $567,000, and the house would be worth only $550,000 when sold.
When Pittsburgh National Bank wouldn't grant a mortgage to finance the fix-up costs, they asked the Historic Review Commission for permission to demolish it. Denied, they took the case to Allegheny Court of Common Pleas, and the judge cleared the way for demolition. The commission appealed the case to the state Supreme Court, which overturned the lower court in 1997.
It will take a lawsuit to reverse the developer's covenant that specifies the gatehouse as a family home, and another legal proceeding -- called a motion for special relief -- to change the zoning board's ruling. Aaronson said he didn't expect much opposition.
"We're not going to get into a fight about this. The sense we have gotten is that people support [Chatham's plan]."
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