An aerial view of the former George Westinghouse Research and Technology Park in Churchill reveals a nod to the company’s early ties to the railroad industry.
The corporate campus was designed to look like a locomotive.
But workers at the now-empty Churchill site, which opened on 150 acres in the 1950s, were involved in a lot more than the railroad sector. Such research labs were among the first to separate research from manufacturing, according to Brittany Reilly, founder of the Pittsburgh Modern Committee and board member for Preservation Pittsburgh.
Some of the projects Westinghouse employees worked on were innovations for the home — devices to purify air, recycle rainwater or turn recycled paper into furniture, said Reilly. She will be one of the speakers featured in a webinar on Wednesday that will look at the Churchill site’s history and potential future.
The campus, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Voorhees, Walker, Foley & Smith, is a local example of mid-century architecture. The property, which sits vacant, became a source of local controversy as plans to house Amazon warehouse there fell through after approval by Churchill council in 2021.
When Westinghouse opened the Churchill facility off the Parkway East, “it was celebrated as the most modern research facility Westinghouse had opened to date,” Reilly said.
At the time, Churchill was a more pastoral landscape. The architects — instead of building vertically as they normally would in dense, urban areas — took advantage of the horizontal expanse with buildings two or three stories high.
“They were low-lying, efficient and in tune with the landscape,” Reilly said.
The Westinghouse location, now called Churchill Crossings and largely empty, drew the spotlight when Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon proposed a massive warehouse project at the site. Amazon dropped the plans in March 2022 amid a lawsuit filed by a group of residents. The proposal was met with opposition from some members of the community, who raised concerns about heavy traffic and potential environmental issues.
Wednesday’s event will be divided into two parts. The first will look at the Churchill site. The second will look at another site in New Jersey — the revitalization of the New Jersey Bell Labs site, which is now called Bell Works.
“There have been questions about redevelopment and what will happen to this site,” Reilly said. “What I hope to bring to the table is to open eyes not only to the world-renowned architectural firms that built these structures, but also look at other sites that have been revitalized like Bell Works. It’s a way to look at the ‘what if?’”
The New Jersey project is an example of where history was used as an economic development tool, said Bill Callahan, Western Pennsylvania Community Preservation Coordinator for the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office.
“Recognizing, celebrating and incorporating the historic character of a site doesn’t have to restrict how a site can be developed,” said Callahan, who also will be speaking at Wednesday’s webinar. “It provides a different kind of economic development opportunity that enhances the history of a site and the community around it.”
Stephanie Ritenbaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Stephanie at sritenbaugh@triblive.com.