NEWS RELEASE

For release—2004 May 3

For more information -- Glenn A. Walsh:

Daytime: E-Mail < gawalsh@andrewcarnegie.cc >

Evening: Telephone 412-561-7876

HISTORIC HAZELWOOD LIBRARY BLDG. NAMED TO TOP-TEN

BEST HISTORIC PRESERVATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR 2004

DESIGNATED NO. 4 IN TOP-TEN

Pittsburgh, May 3 – The historic Hazelwood Library building has been named one of the “Top Ten Best Preservation Opportunities for 2004” (designated no. 4 in the Top-Ten List) by the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh. This designation was announced Monday evening, at a reception on the North Side to kick-off National Historic Preservation Week.

Although Carnegie Library’s Homewood Branch Library recently received a $3.5 million rehabilitation (from a bond-issue supported by the Allegheny Regional Asset District), in March The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh abandoned the Hazelwood Branch Library building, in opposition to the wishes of the majority of Hazelwood residents, by moving the Hazelwood Branch to a smaller, second-floor rental unit three blocks away. Rumors persist that Carnegie Library would also like to abandon the Lawrenceville, Mount Washington, West End, and Allegheny Regional Branch (already a City Designated Historic Structure) library buildings, by moving those branch libraries to alternate sites. And, in fact, Carnegie Library staff members have indicated that the historic Lawrenceville Library building may be abandoned later this year.

Begun in May of last year, the annual list of "Top Ten Best Preservation Opportunities" is an inventory of endangered historic properties, in the Pittsburgh region, with a good chance of survival and reuse. According to the Internet web site of the Young Preservationists Association

< http://communityconnections.heinz.cmu.edu/ypa/index.jsp >, “The additional attention and placement into a larger, regional context should help raise awareness of the need to preserve these sites.”

Formed in 2002, the Young Preservationists Association is a broad-based regional coalition of dynamic preservation leaders organized to ignite a new historic preservation movement in southwestern Pennsylvania. This evening’s reception took place at True Cafe and Bartini in the Allegheny West section of the North Side.

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Note to Editors and Reporters: Glenn A. Walsh served as a Life Trustee, on the Board of Trustees, of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall in Carnegie, Pennsylvania from 1995-2000, including the position of Library Treasurer from 1995-1996. The Andrew Carnegie Free Library has no direct affiliation with The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Views expressed by Mr. Walsh are his own and do not represent the views of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library or the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh.

PHOTOS & MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HISTORIC HAZELWOOD LIBRARY:
 
Note to Editors and Reporters: Publication of these photographs is hereby granted, with credit to free-lance photographer Lynne DeYoung.
 
Hazelwood has one of the original Carnegie Libraries. Photo of Library Front:
< https://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com/CLP-Hazelwood.JPG >
 
It opened to the public on 1900 August 15. This building has a beautiful stained-glass dome over the
original oak circulation desk--Photo of Dome:
< https://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com/CLP-Dome1.JPG >
 
It also has an auditorium on the lower level which seats about 250--Photo of Auditorium:
< https://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com/CLP-HazelwoodAuditorium2.JPG >
 
You can see a few more pictures of this historic library at:
< https://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com/photoalbumCLP-branches.htm#hazel >
 
SAVE HAZELWOOD LIBRARY WEB SITE:
< http://www.savehazelwoodlibrary.org >
 
Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh web site:
< http://communityconnections.heinz.cmu.edu/ypa/index.jsp >
 
gaw 2004 May 3
 
Glenn A. Walsh
 Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
 Internet, World Wide Web Sites -
 History of The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, Pittsburgh:
 < http://www.planetarium.cc >
 History of The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago:
 < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
 History of Astronomer and Optician John A. Brashear:
 < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
 History of Andrew Carnegie and Carnegie Libraries:
 < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
 The Duquesne Incline, historic cable car railway, Pittsburgh:
 < http://www.incline.cc >