Highland Building: (121 S Highland Ave)

Daniel Burnham designed the Highland Building, which was commissioned by Henry Clay Frick in the early twentieth century. Burnham is famous for designing the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Burnham designed four other buildings in Pittsburgh for Frick, including the Frick Building downtown on Grant Street. The Highland Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the early 1990s, East Liberty Development, Inc and several other community groups tried to work with the city in order to convert the then-vacant building into housing for the neighborhood’s low-income seniors. Local business owners opposed the plan arguing it would hurt the commercial interests of the struggling area. They preferred it to be kept as an office building, arguing that white collar workers would be better for local businesses than elderly residents on fixed incomes. The building instead sat vacant for twenty years and fell into disrepair. In 2012, a developer began renovations on the building and converted it into luxury apartments.

Sources:

Barnes, Tom. “Use of E. Liberty high-rise focus of feud.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. January 2, 1992.

Belko, Mark. “New life planned for E. Liberty site.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. November 9, 2011.

Tannler, Albert M. “D.H. Burnham & Company in Pittsburgh.” PHLF News, April 2009.