Sewickley Herald

              
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The Sewtckley
Herald
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17 Gateway Publications
SUBURBAN PITTSBURGH'S LARGEST CIRCULATION
Vol. 81 No. 36_______._______ Thursday, September 6, 1984
30 Cents
Inside
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Sewickley readies for 10K race on Sept. 15
A look at QV School District Board of Directors
Gamete publishes the irttimate cookbook
.(red Way to he honored in Marietta, Ohio
Quaker Valley beats Avonworth in football opener
Polo match to benefit
D.T. Watson Hospital
IN THE SPIRIT. Quaker Valley High School majoretteMichele Besong is all ‘smiles as she delights the crowd at Chuck Knox Stadium during halftime festivities. Besong helped cheer the Quakers to a 7-6 victory over Avon-worth last Saturday. The Quakers, who made it to the WPIAL semifinals last year, face a difficult 10-game regular season Schedule in 1984. For game details please turn to Page 18.’	^ > (Photo by Dan Miller)
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liftoff nears for Village facelift
BEFORE AND AFTER. Carroll's Music Shop, 405 Beaver St., shown here as it looks now (left) and how architects Jackson Seay and John Martine envision it, is one of the first businesses that will benefit from SCDC’s facelift project. Phasp I of the project will concentrate on the cluster of shops in the Beaver/Walnut Street area.
By Dona Dreeland
“Now, we can begin,” affirmed SCDC President Don Berman after the Sewickley Commercial Development Corporation (SCDC) board of directors unanimously passed Jackson Seay and Associates’ final design guidelines for the Village.
The introduction to the proposal adopted at . the Aug. 28 SCDC meeting summarizes the philosophy to be expected in the rejuvenation of Sewickley’s business district:
The rehabilitation of storefronts is an effective means of encouraging shoppers to patronizz downtown business districts. A cleap, attractive, and well-maintained downtown possesses character, reflects the history and traditions of the community, and is a source' of local pride... Sewickley contains buildings in a variety of architectural styles ranging from the latter decades of the nineteenth century,to the present. This .range of design shows, in a dynamic way, the evolution of our community and the changing tastes of our times.
The last step in the pre-construction part of Phase i of what is envisioned as a three-phase project for the Village met with.little discussion and only minor alterations in the Seay text before a vote was taken.
This text, which will direct qualifying merchants ' and their architects in facade improvements, is the second revision .offered to the SCDC board by Seay and Associates.
Explained Martine:
“Many renovations projects involve such simple improvements as cleaning and repairs, repainting and new signs. Some projects (Will) involve the removal of inappropriate facade alterations, modernizations and false fronts, retaining the elements that enhance the building and removing those that detract from or conceal the beauty,” Since the Seay/Martine text contains a listing of acceptable and non-acceptable materials, all renovated buildings approved by SCDC’s design committee will present a unified composition as public improvements are made.
In Phase II and III, sidewalks and crosswalks will be bricked; curbs,
replaced; trees and planting grates, set in; and new lighting fixtures, installed.
Wolcott Park, at Beaver and Broad Street, will be adapted in design to a more urban plaza, with comfortable benches, new plantings and possibly a fountain or sculpture.
Final decisions on the second and third phases will be made as the monies become available for continuation of the project.
The storefront construction will begin with the five retailers whose proposals were accepted by SCDC. They are:
Carroll’s Music Shop, Cficklewood, The Portico, United Men’s Store and Vera Kaye Fashions.
In approving this effort, the board noted that the language now is satisfac-
torily limiting, thus allowing the a{»-plicants the certainty of the specific improvements that will be funded by monies available through the Allegheny County Department of Development.
Previous objections raised by the. board found the “suggestions’^ and “recommendations’.’ too broad, thereby permitting a variety of interpretations.
The SCDC board liked the preciseness of the final set of guidelines.
Also contained within the approved guidelines are specific recommendations concerning brick or wood as building materials, storefront windows and doors, the use of awnings and canopies, effective and appropriate business signs, display lighting, new construction, and routine maintenance, for businesses receiving approval for the program.
Sketches of representative Beaver Street buildings were incorporated in the guidelines. In his drawings, architect John Martine, an associate in Seay’s firm, noted he had re-created the look of earlier times, while still holding to the idea that “each building has its own character and the role of the individual property owners in downtown rehabilitation is to respect the integrity and highlight the best elements of his building’s own personality.”
Martino’s designs show the unobscur-red basic framework of the Sewickley Streetscape: a two-story, three-sectioned horizontal style of architecture. Alignment of first-floor moldings and cornices is also shown in his com-pr^^nsiv^^ptetu^oftheni^^Village^^
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