Howe Springs

Last updated
Howe Springs
Howe Springs - Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA - DSC04990-001.JPG
Pittsburgh locator map 2018.png
Red pog.svg
Location of Howe Springs in Pittsburgh
LocationSouth side of Fifth Ave. between S. Highland Ave. & College St. (Shadyside), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Coordinates 40°27′6.21″N79°55′27.04″W / 40.4517250°N 79.9241778°W / 40.4517250; -79.9241778
AreaShadyside
Built/founded1896 and 1912
Architect1896 – Alden & Harlow 1912 – W. H. Van Tine
Governing body/ownerArnheim & Neely, Inc.

Howe Springs is located on the southern side of Fifth Avenue between South Highland Avenue and College Street in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The spring was originally built in 1896 in the Romanesque architectural style, and was later renovated in 1912 in the neoclassical style.

Contents

History

The exact origin of the tapping of the natural spring which was later Howe Springs remains unknown. The first report on the history of the site came during its construction in 1896, and it claims that the location where the spring was constructed was originally home to a Native American settlement. [1] The origin of Howe Springs began when Thomas Marshall Howe and his family moved from Ohio to Pennsylvania and bought the location, which he named the Greystone Estate. Thomas Howe was one of Pittsburgh's most prominent citizens, involving himself in the financial and political sectors and contributing to a significant amount of philanthropic work. Howe served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Pittsburgh as a Whig. [2] He later became one of the founding members of the Republican Party in 1858. [2] During the Civil War he served as Assistant Adjunct General for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Howe also turned down President Grant's nomination for Secretary of the Treasury and President Hayes' nomination for Secretary of War. [2] Howe also held a number of financial positions as the head of various companies during his career. The Howe family was first inspired to create Howe Springs following the devastating Johnstown Flood of 1889, with the idea of making water accessible and free to the public. [3] The first structure that was built around the spring was built by the architectural firm Alden & Harlow and was constructed by John Shreiner in 1896. [1] This structure was erected as a posthumous memorial to Thomas Howe by his wife, Mary A. Howe. [4] Following Mary Howe's death, the Howe heirs sold the Greystone Estate, which included the spring, to Michael Benedum in 1910, and included a broad clause to ensure that the spring would remain free and open to the public. [5] Michael Benedum was a wealthy businessman in Pittsburgh, making his fortune in the oil and natural gas industries. He was also an important philanthropist in Pittsburgh, and a significant historical figure. The new ownership immediately encountered problems with the spring. In April 1911 it was reported that the water in Howe Springs was found to be impure by the City Water Bureau, and city workers destroyed the structure that had fed the spring. [6] Howe's descendants, who wanted to make sure that the spring continued to be free and open to the public, took legal action against the city and the new owners. [6] In order to end the drama around the spring, a plan for a new structure was made by architect W. H. Van Tine. [7] In addition to a new structure around the spring, a new spring was also designed to be built which would improve water quality. [8] The new structure and spring were completed in 1912, and once again Howe Springs was opened to the public in its new neoclassical design. [9] [10] Howe Springs was nominated in January 2016 to become a City Historic Landmark by Preservation Pittsburgh.

Architecture

The original structure around Howe Springs was designed by architecture firm Alden & Harlow, who were active mainly in Boston and Pittsburgh. Their structure was designed in the Romanesque Revival style, and lasted from 1896 to 1910. [11] The second, and current structure, around the spring was constructed by notable Pittsburgh-based architect William H. Van Tine. Van Tine's structure was designed in the neoclassical style, and construction finished in 1912. The structure has significant Grecian influences, and has even been compared to a new home to the ancient Greek Oracle at Delphi. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richardsonian Romanesque</span> Architectural style, named for Henry Hobson Richardson

Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th- and 12th-century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque characteristics. Richardson first used elements of the style in his Richardson Olmsted Complex in Buffalo, New York, designed in 1870, and Trinity Church in Boston is his most well-known example of this medieval revival style. Multiple architects followed in this style in the late 19th century; Richardsonian Romanesque later influenced modern styles of architecture as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaux-Arts architecture</span> Neoclassical architectural style

Beaux-Arts architecture was the academic architectural style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporated Renaissance and Baroque elements, and used modern materials, such as iron and glass, and later, steel. It was an important style and enormous influence in Europe and the Americas through the end of the 19th century, and into the 20th, particularly for institutional and public buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victorian architecture</span> Series of architectural revival styles

Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. Victorian refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian were used in construction. However, many elements of what is typically termed "Victorian" architecture did not become popular until later in Victoria's reign, roughly from 1850 and later. The styles often included interpretations and eclectic revivals of historic styles (see Historicism). The name represents the British and French custom of naming architectural styles for a reigning monarch. Within this naming and classification scheme, it followed Georgian architecture and later Regency architecture and was succeeded by Edwardian architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Chicago</span>

The buildings and architecture of Chicago reflect the city's history and multicultural heritage, featuring prominent buildings in a variety of styles. Most structures downtown were destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collegiate Gothic</span> Architectural style

Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europe. A form of historicist architecture, it took its inspiration from English Tudor and Gothic buildings. It has returned in the 21st century in the form of prominent new buildings at schools and universities including Cornell, Princeton, Vanderbilt, Washington University, and Yale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peabody and Stearns</span> American architectural firm

Peabody & Stearns was a premier architectural firm in the Eastern United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm consisted of Robert Swain Peabody (1845–1917) and John Goddard Stearns Jr. (1843–1917). The firm worked on a variety of designs but is closely associated with shingle style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Festoon</span> Decoration of a wreath or garland hanging from two points

A festoon is a wreath or garland hanging from two points, and in architecture typically a carved ornament depicting conventional arrangement of flowers, foliage or fruit bound together and suspended by ribbons. The motif is sometimes known as a swag when depicting fabric or linen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George W. Guthrie</span> American politician

George Wilkins Guthrie served as Mayor of Pittsburgh from 1906 to 1909 and then was United States Ambassador to Japan from 1913 to 1917.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willis Polk</span> American architect (1867–1924)

Willis Jefferson Polk was an American architect, best known for his work in San Francisco, California. For ten years, he was the West Coast representative of D.H. Burnham & Company. In 1915, Polk oversaw the architectural committee for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (PPIE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr.</span> American architect

Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. was an American architect and nephew of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick G. Scheibler Jr.</span> American architect

Frederick Gustavus Scheibler Jr. was an American architect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian neoclassical revival</span>

Russian neoclassical revival was a trend in Russian culture, most pronounced in architecture, that briefly replaced Eclecticism and Art Nouveau as the leading architectural style between the Revolution of 1905 and the outbreak of World War I, coexisting with the Silver Age of Russian Poetry. It is characterized by a merger of new technologies with a moderate application of classical orders and the legacy of the Russian Empire style of the first quarter of the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellefield Boiler Plant</span>

Bellefield Boiler Plant, also known as "The Cloud Factory" from its nickname's use in Michael Chabon's 1988 debut novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, is a boiler plant located in Junction Hollow between the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University in the Oakland district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longfellow, Alden & Harlow</span>

Longfellow, Alden & Harlow, of Boston, Massachusetts, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was the architectural firm of Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. (1854–1934), Frank Ellis Alden (1859–1908), and Alfred Branch Harlow (1857–1927). The firm, successors to H. H. Richardson, continued to provide structures in the Romanesque revival style established by Richardson that is often referred to as Richardsonian Romanesque.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnegie Free Library of Braddock</span> United States historic place

The Braddock Carnegie Library in Braddock, Pennsylvania, is the first Carnegie Library in the United States. As such, the library was named a National Historic Landmark in 2012, following its listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and is on the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation's List of Historic Landmarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutan & Russell</span> American architectural firm

Rutan & Russell was an American architectural firm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, active from 1896 to 1922. The named partners were Frank E. Rutan (1863–1911) and Frederick A. Russell (1861–1921), with the later additions of Edward P. Russell (1868–1920) and Eric Fisher Wood (1889–1962), a notable architect in his own right.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Former Pittsburgh Wash House and Public Baths Building</span> United States historic place

The Former Pittsburgh Wash House and Public Baths Building is located at 3495 Butler Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Built in 1904 in the Romanesque Revival architectural style, the building today serves as office space. The bath house was designated a Pittsburgh historic landmark in 2018 and was listed as a contributing property in the Lawrenceville Historic District in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voegtly Spring</span>

The Voegtly Spring is located on Damas Street in the Spring Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The structure around the spring was built circa 1912 in the Vernacular architectural style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burnham Baroque</span>

Burnham Baroque is an architectural style developed by American architect Daniel Burnham at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th century. It relies heavily on a stripped Classicism with Baroque and Beaux-Arts inflections. It was popular primarily during the first three decades of the 20th century, particularly among designers of railroad stations.

References

  1. 1 2 "Gen. Howe Fountain". Pittsburgh Press, October 18, 1896.
  2. 1 2 3 "HOWE, Thomas Marshall - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Archived from the original on 2018-07-09. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
  3. "George Wilkins Guthrie and Florence J. Howe..." The Pittsburgh Press, April 7, 1938.
  4. "Amateur Sports". The Pittsburgh Press, September 28, 1896.
  5. Deed of Sale from George W. Guthrie et al. to Sarah Nancy Benedum, 27 December 1910, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book vol. 1695, pp. 127–130. County Recorder's Office, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  6. 1 2 "War on Over Howe Spring". The Pittsburgh Post, April 5, 1911.
  7. "Plan to Improve the Howe Spring". The Pittsburgh Post, April 6, 1911.
  8. "To Protect Howe Spring". The Pittsburgh Post, April 7, 1911.
  9. 1 2 "Howe Spring in Grecian Shelter". The Pittsburgh Post, January 2, 1912.
  10. "Howe Spring Again Open to the Public". The Pittsburgh Press, June 15, 1912.
  11. Floyd, Margaret. Architecture after Richardson: Regionalism before Modernism—Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow in Boston and Pittsburgh, University of Chicago Press with Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, Chicago and Pittsburgh, 1st edition, 1994.