A slight majority of Sewickley Valley Historical Society survey participants want to see a former Catholic school and convent demolished in the borough’s historic district.
An even larger majority of participants identified themselves as members of Divine Redeemer Parish, which remains in discussions with borough officials over the future of the diocese-owned property known as the Herbst House.
The parish includes St. James Church in Sewickley and St. Mary’s Church in Aleppo.
These findings were revealed at a public forum at the Sewickley Public Library on Nov. 20.
About 35 people attended the event hosted by SVHS Executive Director Amanda Schaffer, who said the goal of the event was to help inform people of what is going on with the property.
“We just wanted everyone to move forward on the same playing field,” Schaffer said. “I wanted to steer away from hearsay. People were coming in talking to me saying, ‘Oh, I heard this was an option, or I heard this was an option or why aren’t they doing this?’
“The historic society is not going to have a say whether it’s preserved or is torn down, but we want to make sure that the community is aware of what will be lost or preserved going forward. That’s the big thing.”
Attendees included several parishioners and parish officials as well as residents from nearby communities. No Sewickley Council members attended.
Edgeworth couple Jeff and Gail Murray, who are not parishioners, both spoke about building restoration and how important it is to preserve the Herbst House for future generations.
“Don’t our kids deserve to see beautiful buildings?” said Gail Murray. “(The parish) has an obligation to the community and the borough.”
Her husband, Jeff, is an architect. He talked about how neuroscience is discovering that beauty is essential to human well-being.
“The building itself is really well-designed and fundamentally beautiful if it were to be restored in a better condition,” Jeff Murray said.
According to the Allegheny County Real Estate website, the house sits on the same parcel as the church and school, and the parish pays no property taxes on it. The county this year listed the total assessed value of the land and buildings on the 3.7-acre lot at about $5.2 million.
Parish officials two years ago estimated restoration costs could be at least $3.76 million. Those figures likely have risen because of inflation.
“It’s a guesstimate more than an estimate when it comes to restorations,” said Bill Welge, parishioner and Sewickley resident.
He was one of several attendees who spoke at the forum. Welge declined to state his position on the house and instead focused on finances such as unforeseen costs in restoration projects as well as maintenance afterward.
“You have to go into it with your eyes wide open and figure out where the money’s best spent,” Welge said. “It is best spent on restoration or life? There’s always going to be that balancing act. When somebody talks about the price of restoration on an old building, the amount of money that gets quoted to do something can skyrocket.”
Jeff Murray said it would make more financial sense to restore the Hebst House than to recreate it.
“If it cost three or four million to repair it, it would cost $20 million to build something like that from scratch today,” Murray said. “It was built so long ago. It would be so expensive to recreate that house. There’s an incredibly smart economic return on investment to save it because the cost of replacing would be so much more.”
Survey says
The historical society launched a survey at the end of September to gauge public interest and input on whether the decaying building should be resorted or demolished.
Schaffer’s presentation at the forum included results up to Nov. 15.
A report is expected to be available to the public at the office after all data is collected. The survey closed on Nov. 27.
Schaffer said there were 412 respondents as of mid-November, with more than 200 of them making comments.
The data showed 256 parishioners to 110 nonmembers in mid-November.
It also showed a little more than 50% in favor of demolition compared with about 40% for restoration.
The Rev. Brian Noel took out a full ad in the Nov. 14 edition of the Sewickley Herald detailing a letter he wrote to SVHS President Marty O’Brien in response to the survey.
In the letter, the church leader cites the survey’s lack of details such as the former convent never being designated as a historic landmark, the parish’s engineer’s findings of the building to be unsafe and that two floors of the facility would not be accessible to the mobility-challenged even if renovated.
Noel answered the survey’s questions in the letter. He identified himself as a member of the parish, said it should be demolished, that he and other parishioners were aware of offers to possibly renovate it and how those options did not make a difference.
“We still have no intended use of a restored property or a guarantee of sufficient funds to fully renovate and maintain it in perpetuity,” Noel wrote. “Nevertheless, we have offered to make the building available for renovation if the community can commit to providing the necessary funds.”
Schaffer said at the forum that the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation has committed at least $2 million to restoration efforts and work toward securing more funding.
Parish communications director Louis Valenzi called the survey “skewed” and said it oversimplified the Herbst House issue.
“It didn’t accurately portray what the whole situation is about,” Valenzi said after the library event. “It was more about, ‘Should we demolish or shouldn’t we demolish,’ not … the expenses.”
He referred to Noel’s letter for further information and declined to comment on the building’s possible demolition.
Valenzi commended Schaffer’s presentation and forum coordination.
“We wanted to make sure that the truth was being told,” Valenzi said. “It was well done.”
He attended the event with parish director of facilities Rob Sacco, who echoed the need to have more information available for the general public.
“There’s so many other factors here,” he said. “This is a constant gear in motion.”
Sacco said the Herbst House is fenced off for safety and no visitors are allowed.