Croatian Fraternal Union Building

Last updated
Croatian Fraternal Union Building
Croatian Fraternal Union Pittsburgh 2018 3.jpg
The building in October 2018
Croatian Fraternal Union Building
General information
Location3441 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 40°26′22″N79°57′37″W / 40.43942°N 79.9603°W / 40.43942; -79.9603
Construction started1928
Completed1929
Owner University of Pittsburgh [1]
Design and construction
Architect(s)Pierre A. Liesch

The Croatian Fraternal Union Building was a historic building in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was the former headquarters of the Croatian Fraternal Union, the oldest and largest Croatian organization in North America, and a significant site in Croatian American history. The building was designed by Pierre A. Liesch in the Flemish Gothic Revival style and built in 1928–9.

Contents

History

The Croatian Fraternal Union (CFU) began as the Croatian Association, chartered in 1894 in Allegheny, now Pittsburgh's North Side. It was re-chartered in 1897 as the National Croatian Society and then merged with three other organizations in 1926 to form the CFU. [2] The organization offered life, accident, and health insurance for its members, as well as social and cultural services including scholarships and sports programs. [3] By 1928, it had over 80,000 members. [4]

After the 1926 merger, the CFU needed a new headquarters to consolidate its operations. Both of its existing facilities—the old NCS building on the North Side, and the Chicago offices of the Croatian League of Illinois—were inadequate for the new, larger organization. Delegates to the first CFU convention in May 1926 decided to sell the old offices and build or buy a new one. [5] In 1928, the organization commissioned a new Home Office building on Forbes Avenue in Oakland. The Pittsburgh Press reported that the "architecture of the building will be Gothic and leaning towards the Cathedral of Learning style, and will be in keeping with the cultural atmosphere of the Schenley district." [4]

The building was dedicated on January 20, 1929, with a speech from Pittsburgh mayor Charles H. Kline. [6] It was the first building designed specifically to meet the needs of the organization and included an auditorium and meeting hall as well as office space. [3] In 1961, the CFU moved to a new headquarters in Wilkins Township [2] and the Forbes Avenue building was sold to Allegheny County. It housed county Health Department facilities for many years.

The University of Pittsburgh bought the building in July 2018 for $1.9 million and filed for a demolition permit in August. [1] In October, it was nominated as a city historic landmark by Preservation Pittsburgh. [3] In July 2021, it was reported that Pitt intended to proceed with the demolition but had agreed to preserve and reuse the building's terra cotta facade. The historic nomination had been placed on hold while the university and preservation groups attempted to negotiate a solution. [7] The building was demolished in 2022.

Architecture

The CFU building was a three-story, flat-roofed structure of brick, steel, and concrete construction. It was designed by Luxembourg-born Pittsburgh architect Pierre A. Liesch (1872–1954) in a Flemish Gothic Revival style. Liesch was also credited as a consulting architect on the Union Trust Building (1916), which showed a similar Flemish influence. The principal facade faced southeast toward Forbes Avenue and was clad in gold terra cotta tile with rust-colored accents. The facade was symmetrical and was divided into five bays by vertically ribbed responds which ran the full height of the building. The first floor had an arcade of five pointed arches, with the central arch housing the entry doors. The side arches were originally plate-glass storefronts with their own individual entrances, but were later filled in with terra cotta blocks to form a blind arcade. The main entrance was also altered from the original carved wooden doors with stained-glass sidelights and transom to a more utilitarian aluminum-framed entrance.

The second and third stories had three windows per bay, separated by vertical ribbing. The third-floor windows had the form of Gothic pointed arches, while those on the second floor are rectangular. The parapet above the third-floor windows was ornamented with Gothic tracery including a large tripartite pointed arch above the entrance bay. The building was originally crowned with a highly ornate overhanging cornice and a pointed-arch apex topped with a sculptural element, but this had been replaced with a plain brick parapet. Truncated corbeled arches that supported the cornice were present. The responds were terminated with ornamented pinnacles, though only one was still present as of 2018. Other terra cotta ornamentation included seals of the United States and Pennsylvania, escutcheons, scrollwork, floral patterns, heraldic dolphins, a crowned head, and sculpted figures of a rope-maker and a miner, representing common occupations for Croatian immigrants. [3] [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown Pittsburgh</span> Neighborhood in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States

Downtown Pittsburgh, colloquially referred to as the Golden Triangle, and officially the Central Business District, is the urban downtown center of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River whose joining forms the Ohio River. The triangle is bounded by the two rivers.

The Croatian Fraternal Union (CFU), the oldest and largest Croatian organization in North America, is a fraternal benefit society of the Croatian diaspora based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US.

Mather Tower is a Neo-Gothic, terra cotta-clad high-rise structure in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located at 75 East Wacker Drive in the downtown "loop" area, adjacent to the Chicago River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allegheny County Courthouse</span> Courthouse and jail complex in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.

The Allegheny County Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is part of a complex designed by H. H. Richardson. The buildings are considered among the finest examples of the Romanesque Revival style for which Richardson is well known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodef Shalom Congregation</span> Reform synagogue in Easton, Pennsylvania, United States

Rodef Shalom Congregation is an historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The landmark building was designed by architect Henry Hornbostel and completed in the Beaux-Arts style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Trust Building (Pittsburgh)</span> Offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Union Trust Building is a high-rise building located in the Downtown district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at 501 Grant Street. It was erected in 1915–16 by the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The Flemish-Gothic structure's original purpose was to serve as a shopping arcade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alumni Hall (University of Pittsburgh)</span> United States historic place

Alumni Hall at the University of Pittsburgh is a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark that was formerly known as the Masonic Temple in Pittsburgh. Constructed in 1914-1915, it was designed by renowned architect Benno Janssen of Janssen & Abbot Architects. Other buildings in Pittsburgh's Oakland Cultural District designed by Janssen include the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, Mellon Institute, and Pitt's Eberly Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thaw Hall</span> United States historic place

Thaw Hall is a historic academic building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh that is a contributing property to the Schenley Farms National Historic District and has been named a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark. The five story building of stone, brick, and terra cotta was completed in 1910 in the Neoclassical Beaux-Arts style by architect Henry Hornbostel and today serves as space for a variety of academic classrooms, labs, offices, and centers. It is located between, and connected to, the university's Old Engineering Hall and Space Research Coordination Center (SRCC) along O'Hara Street in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kora Temple</span> United States historic place

The Kora Temple is a historic Masonic building at 11 Sabattus Street in Lewiston, Maine. The temple was built in 1908 by the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. The Shriners are a fraternal organization affiliated with Freemasonry and are known for their charitable works such as the Shriners Hospitals for Children which provide free medical care to children. The Kora Temple serves as a ceremonial space and clubhouse for the Shriners. The temple building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 for its distinctive Moorish-inspired architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cass Park Historic District</span> Historic district in Michigan, United States

The Cass Park Historic District is a historic district in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, consisting of 25 buildings along the streets of Temple, Ledyard, and 2nd, surrounding Cass Park. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and designated a city of Detroit historic district in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddystone Building</span> United States historic place

The Eddystone Building is a former hotel located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, at 100-118 Sproat Street. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chateau Frontenac Apartments</span> United States historic place

The Chateau Frontenac Apartments was an apartment building located in Detroit, Michigan. It bore the name of the famous Château Frontenac hotel. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, but was subsequently demolished in 1999. It was removed from the National Register in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Park Avenue Hotel (Detroit)</span> United States historic place

The Park Avenue Hotel was a hotel in the Cass Corridor of Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. It was also known as Salvation Army Harbor Light Center and is not to be confused with Park Avenue House, also once known as Park Avenue Hotel. The building was imploded on July 11, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medical Arts Building (Knoxville, Tennessee)</span> United States historic place

The Medical Arts Building is an office high-rise located at 603 Main Street in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1931, the 10-story structure originally provided office space for physicians and dentists, and at the time was considered the "best equipped" medical building in the South. The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as one of the region's best examples of a Gothic Revival-style office building. It has recently been renovated into mixed-use, principally residential use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern Brotherhood of America Building</span> United States historic place

The MBA Building, or Modern Brotherhood of America Building, also known as the Brick and Tile Building, is a large office building in Mason City, Iowa, built in 1916-1917 for the Modern Brotherhood of America, a fraternal lodge. The MBA's primary purpose was to provide life insurance to its members, and the building housed those operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Center Commercial Historic District</span> Historic district in Michigan, United States

The New Center Commercial Historic District is a commercial historic district located on Woodward Avenue between Baltimore Street and Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

The Woodlawn Commercial Historic District, in Birmingham, Alabama, was listed on the National Register of Historic Districts in 1991. It is a 6 acres (2.4 ha) district which included 12 contributing buildings and four non-contributing buildings in an area around the junction of 1st Avenue North and 55th Place in Birmingham, at the center of the community of Woodlawn, Alabama, which for a time was a separate city before being absorbed into Birmingham. A much larger portion of the community, including all of this Commercial historic district and residential areas as well, was later listed on the National Register as Woodlawn Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania National Bank Building</span> United States historic place

The Pennsylvania National Bank Building is a historic building in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is located on a prominent site facing Doughboy Square, the acute intersection of Butler Street and Penn Avenue which is often considered the "entrance to Lawrenceville".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yondorf Block and Hall</span> United States historic place

The Yondorf Block and Hall is a historic building at 758 W. North Avenue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The building was built in 1887 to serve as a meeting hall for the various social organizations in Lincoln Park; while its first floor was dedicated to retail space, it had six meeting rooms on its upper floors. Chapters of national fraternal organizations and ethnic clubs formed by immigrants in the neighborhood met in the building, and its largest hall hosted speeches and performances as well. Designed by Frederick Alschlager, the building combines Victorian Gothic and Romanesque Revival elements. While its terra cotta clad storefronts and metal cornice are typical of the former style, its use of decorative brickwork and stone is inspired by the latter.

References

  1. 1 2 Schooley, Tim (August 13, 2018). "University of Pittsburgh files for demolition of Forbes Avenue building". Pittsburgh Business Times. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
  2. 1 2 "About CFU: History". Croatian Fraternal Union of America. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "City of Pittsburgh Historic Landmark Nomination: Former Croatian Fraternal Union" (PDF). Preservation Pittsburgh. October 2018. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
  4. 1 2 "New Oakland Building". Pittsburgh Press. February 28, 1928. Retrieved October 13, 2018– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Čizmić, Ivan (1994). History of the Croatian Fraternal Union of America 1894–1994. Zagreb: Golden Marketing. pp. 209–213. ISBN   953-6168-02-2.
  6. ↑ "Croatian Fraternal Body Dedicates New Home". Pittsburgh Press. January 21, 1929. Retrieved October 13, 2018– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Belko, Mark (July 22, 2021). "Coming down? Pitt moves to demolish former Croatian Fraternal Union headquarters in Oakland". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form: Allegheny County Health Department" (PDF). Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. September 24, 1980. Retrieved October 15, 2018.[ permanent dead link ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.