Penn Hebron Garden Club wants to sell its building
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The Penn Hebron Garden Club in Penn Hills was built in 1834 and is one of the few historic barns in Allegheny County. -
The large meeting room and dance floor. -
The rear entry to the building.
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The Penn Hills barn was built in 1834, but it's been the Penn Hebron Garden Club for as long as most people can remember.
Bill Balph, rental chairman and member of the club's board of directors, said its members are getting older and having a hard time maintaining the grounds and the building. So the garden club decided to put the 178-year-old historic landmark up for sale.
The two-story, 4,492-square-foot facility at 237 Jefferson Road has been host to wedding receptions, reunions and parties for up to 100 people, charging $250 for the bottom floor and $325 to rent both floors. The garden club is listing the barn and the property at $169,000.
Mr. Balph said the club already has events scheduled for this spring and summer and hopes that the person who buys the club will continue to use it as an event facility and maintain its status as a historic landmark. To be sure, the club asked the Pittsburgh History & Landmark Foundation to place a preservation easement on it.
Jack Miller, PHLF director of gift planning/easements, said a buyer would have some leeway with renovations or additions because the barn is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but the character of the barn would have to be preserved. The exposed beams are hand-hewn with visible ax marks, he said. A buyer would be allowed to cover them but not remove them.
"The timbers in that roof ... are actually trees," Mr. Miller said. "There are very few of these barns left in Allegheny County that date that far back."
Interested buyers should contact Penn Hebron Garden Club treasurer Pat Bond at 412-793-7561.
First Published February 16, 2012 5:27 am
