Four Parks / Heritage Landscapes



Parks

Pittsburgh Regional Historic Parks
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The 2001 Regional Parks Master Plan communicates is an interdisciplinary vision to recapture the value and qualities of four large, historic Pittsburgh parks. As historic landscape expert team members, Heritage Landscapes studied a series of historic documents to understand park origins, evolution and landscape character. Notable are the wealth of planning and project documents for the 1940s and 1950s, carried out under the leadership of Ralph Griswold, landscape architect and director of parks for that period.

Since 2000 Heritage Landscapes has served as project landscape architect on-call for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy (PPC) to address each park, in collaborative undertakings with the City of Pittsburgh Departments of Public Works, Engineering and Construction and Planning. For example, we have completed park lighting standards, four wayfinding maps and are at work on park bench specifications.

The Frick Park Reynolds Street Entry rehabilitation included renewal and repair of stone retaining walls, flagstone walks and granite curbs, and planting the entry landscape. The project was constructed on private funds and completed within the projected budget.

The Highland Park Welcome Entry project is rehabilitating the grand 19th century entry fountain basin and gardens under Heritage Landscapes construction documents and administration. The 1880s carved stone pool coping has been removed, repaired and reset and the fountain basin entirely rebuilt. Operation of the fountain includes recycling overflow water from the adjacent city reservoir in coordination with the Pittsburgh Sewer and Water Authority. New concrete and asphalt walks in the 1930s pattern, were installed in 2004. 32,000 bulbs, planted in fall 2004, will be joined by a profusion of perennials in spring 2005. The renewed entry is slated to become a lively, colorful community gathering place.

In Riverview Park Heritage Landscapes worked with the PPC, the Students Conservation Association and Pittsburgh 's Partners in Parks guiding projects to stabilize eroded slopes and repair degraded trails. Heritage Landscapes planned the work and provided illustrated directions for erosion control, trail repair, suppression of invasive species and vegetation inventory. The first phase landscape rehabilitation for the Riverview Park Chapel Shelter, with the removal of a derelict tennis court, regrading and lawn renewal, was completed in 2003.

For Schenley Park Visitor Center Heritage Landscapes designed and oversaw the construction of walks, terraces, plantings, interpretive and wayfinding signage for visitors, tours and events. In Panther Hollow and Phipps Run stabilization and ecological restoration for stonework, paths, stream channel, drainage and vegetation management were a combined effort of DPW and PPC. For Schenley Plaza, Heritage Landscapes provided a peer review of the design and detailing of this new heart of Oakland project.

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Client:
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy (PPC) in cooperation with the City of Pittsburgh

Projects:
Highland Park Entry Fountain & Garden Rehabilitation, 2003-2005; Park Bench Standards, 2005; Parks Management Strategies, 2004; Phipps Run Rehabilitation Plans, 2004; Schenley Plaza Peer Review, 2004; Riverview Chapel Shelter Landscape Renewal, Phase 1, 2003; Regional Parks Lighting Standards, 2003; Volunteer Project Information Sheets for Training; Schenley Park Visitor Center Landscape Rehabilitation, Wayfinding & Interpretive Signs, 2002; Frick Park Reynolds Gatehouse Entry Rehabilitation & Maintenance Calendar, 2000; Regional Parks Master Plan, Team Member for Historic Resources, 1999-2001

Project Credits:
Heritage Landscapes, Preservation Landscape Architects & Planners, with Grenald Waldron Associates and La Quatra Bonci for park lighting standards; with Kolano Design for park maps; with ETM Associates for park management, 2004; with Landmark Design Associates, Architects, for Schenley Park Visitor Center and Riverview Chapel Shelter; with La Quatra Bonci/Michael Stern team for Master Plan.

Award-Winning Project