{"id":8846,"date":"2018-06-14T06:00:28","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T10:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=8846"},"modified":"2018-06-13T14:47:56","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T18:47:56","slug":"jenkins-arcade-a-victim-of-renaissance-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2018\/06\/14\/jenkins-arcade-a-victim-of-renaissance-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Jenkins Arcade, a victim of ‘Renaissance II’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jenkins <\/a>
Jenkins Arcade in 1982. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Audrey <\/a>
Audrey Munhall with the arcade’s historic landmark designation on April 16, 1981. (John Heller\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jenkins <\/a>
Jenkins Arcade of Nov 11, 1983. It was still open, though many stores and offices were closed. (Tony Tye\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\""Wagons, <\/a>
“Wagons, streetcars and horse-carts crowded Liberty Avenue before turn of century when Thomas Jenkins ran ‘Largest Flour and Grocery House in World,’ at far end of street,” reads the caption for this undated photo that appeared in The Pittsburgh Press in 1981. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The Jenkins Arcade building after it was purchased in 1979 by First Federal. (Bill Levis\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

\u201cSharpen your pencil,\u201d Cliff Sutton <\/span>told Pittsburgh Press reporter Pete Bishop<\/span><\/a> at the Jenkins Arcade in 1982. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was early November. Sutton and the arcade\u2019s 214 other tenants had received eviction notices just days before \u2014 and the Collectors Cabinet shopkeeper had something to say.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs an individual and native Pittsburgher, I\u2019m very chagrined to see the arcade going because of its historical significance to the community,\u201d Sutton said. \u201cGreat effort is being taken to restore other, less historical buildings while what should be the jewel of Renaissance II is being thrown to the wrecking ball.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRenaissance II,\u201d a phrase Mayor Richard Caliguiri concocted in 1977, refers to the period in the late 1970s and early 1980s that saw a revitalization of Downtown. New skyscrapers popped up, the city built the T and repaved Grant Street. The era saw the construction \u2014 and demolition \u2014 that produced many hallmarks of today\u2019s Downtown.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the Jenkins Arcade \u2014 a 70-year-old, seven-story building where Pittsburghers could get their wisdom teeth removed at Dr. William Hall\u2019s oral surgery practice or buy a campaign button from Parker Button Co. \u2014 was a casualty of this redevelopment.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a letter to the editor published in the<\/span> Post-Gazette on Nov. 12, 1982,<\/span><\/a> Timothy Ward Murphy remembered his days spent at the arcade \u2014 getting his first pair of glasses as an \u201capprehensive boy of seven\u201d and spending time with his father wandering around the arcade during his college years. For Murphy, the arcade\u2019s destruction was when Renaissance II \u201clost its innocence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[The arcade\u2019s] high ornate ceiling, multiplicity of shops, marble walls and inviting warmth will be replaced by another stark, unimaginative edifice devoid of character.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jenkins <\/a>
Jenkins Arcade shop signs on Nov. 31, 1983. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jenkins <\/a>
Jenkins Arcade shop signs on Nov. 31, 1983. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jenkins <\/a>
Jenkins Arcade shop signs on Nov. 31, 1983. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jenkins <\/a>
Jenkins Arcade shop signs on Nov. 31, 1983. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jenkins <\/a>
Jenkins Arcade shop signs on Nov. 31, 1983. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jenkins <\/a>
Jenkins Arcade shop signs on Nov. 31, 1983. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jenkins <\/a>
Jenkins Arcade shop signs on Nov. 31, 1983. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jenkins <\/a>
Jenkins Arcade shop signs on Nov. 31, 1983. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

A week before Murphy\u2019s letter appeared in the Post-Gazette, the Hillman Co. and the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Pittsburgh announced plans to build a skyscraper in place of the Jenkins Arcade and the neighboring Jenkins and Empire buildings. The resulting 36-story building is known today as Fifth Avenue Place, and Murphy\u2019s letter wasn\u2019t the only negative publicity the skyscraper plans received in the pages of Pittsburgh\u2019s newspapers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Jenkins Arcade went under the wreckers\u2019 fiat yesterday, soon to make way for another glistening pile of concrete and glass,\u201d Pittsburgh Press <\/span>columnist Phil Musick wrote on Nov. 2, 1983<\/span><\/a>, a few days after the building was permanently closed. \u201cSome of the town\u2019s roots went with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In Pittsburgh Press photos taken after the demolition, captions say the former arcade site looked like a war zone. \u201cResembling a scene out of war-torn Beirut is the destruction wrought by demolition men as they raze the Jenkins Arcade, Downtown, to make way for an addition to the city\u2019s skyline.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Leandrew <\/a>
Leandrew Williams of West Mifflin rolls up a burning hose, used for cutting steel, on the site of the former Jenkins Arcade on March 23, 1984. (Tony Tye\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"John <\/a>
John Kesler walks through the rubble of the Empire Building, which neighbored the Jenkins Arcade, in 1984. (Andy Sternes\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Even the people writing captions at the Pittsburgh Press seemed distraught about losing the arcade. And in Musick\u2019s writing, it\u2019s easy to understand why.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some real charm lived in the Jenkins Arcade. On the floors of the shiniest marble and under a canopy of ceilings trimmed with gilded filigree, the town conducted a sizable bit of its business.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a little city all its own,\u201d a dentist once observed.<\/span><\/p>\n

So it was for 72 years, as much as anyplace Pittsburgh\u2019s commercial pulse, squatting there in dignity and splendor on Stanwix between Liberty and Penn, home to 215 tenants and ceaseless bustle. A workable if not geometric marriage of the Arcade and the Jenkins and Empire buildings.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some shopkeepers, while still disappointed, understood the reasoning behind the demolition. \u201cIt\u2019s a valuable piece of property to have an antiquated building with bad plumbing and bad electricity,\u201d shoe store owner Bill Nofsinger noted in a <\/span>Nov. 5, 1982 Pittsburgh Press article<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Destruction <\/a>
Destruction of Jenkins Arcade and neighboring buildings in February of 1984. (Mark Murphy\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A mannequin in a window at Hornes casts a reflection on the ruins of a demolished store in Jenkins Arcade. (Bill Levis\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A view of the wrecking ball hitting the Jenkins Arcade taken from Oppenheimer Boulevard. (Kent Badger\/Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jenkins <\/a>
Jenkins Arcade being demolished. (Jim Fetters\/Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The Empire Building and Jenkins Arcade being town down in February of 1984. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Part of the success of the arcade was due to the relative affordability of the store fronts compared to a suburban mall, for example. That affordability resulted in an abundance of local shops \u2014 just six chains filled the 215 spots in the building, according to a <\/span>Nov. 21, 1984<\/span><\/a> article in the Post-Gazette.<\/span><\/p>\n

But many of these local businesses failed after Jenkins closed. Post-Gazette reporter Barry Paris found that 40 percent of the shopkeepers closed permanently or failed to relocate. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even leading up to its closure, the arcade brought 17,000 daily visitors. Some shopkeepers <\/span>attributed<\/span><\/a> its success to its accessibility. A Downtown worker could book appointments or shop in the arcade during lunch or after work. Dr. Owen Cantor, a dentist active in trying to save the building, summed up the feeling many shopkeepers and shoppers seemed to have when it was inevitable that the Hillman and First Federal plans would go through.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re murdering a live building,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mayor <\/a>
Mayor Richard Caliguiri operates a pink bulldozer to break ground for the new tower on the site of the old Jenkins Arcade on Aug. 29, 1985. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"From <\/a>
From left, John Hasenkoph of Brookline, Kenny Rudden of Whitehall and John Hunchar of Latroke set up concrete barriers ahead of construction for Fifth Avenue Place on Aug. 21, 1985. (Tony Tye\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Cranes <\/a>
Cranes starting construction for Fifth Avenue Place in May of 1986. (Andy Starnes\/Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSharpen your pencil,\u201d Cliff Sutton told Pittsburgh Press reporter Pete Bishop at the Jenkins Arcade…<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesJenkins Arcade, a victim of ‘Renaissance II’<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":8823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[945],"tags":[1410,1412,1409,1336,1250,1351,1411],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Jenkins006.jpg?fit=2659%2C1805&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2524,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/13\/uptown-renaissance-in-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":8846,"position":0},"title":"\u00a0Uptown Renaissance in Pittsburgh","date":"September 13, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"\u201cThis helicopter shot shows plenty of wide open spaces...\"","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/tumblr_ma9gvfZ4ic1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C728&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6700,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2016\/04\/13\/pittsburgh-from-the-sky-before-the-renaissance\/","url_meta":{"origin":8846,"position":1},"title":"Pittsburgh from the sky, before the Renaissance","date":"April 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Stewart Love's arial photographs show a crowded city with sometimes surprisingly clean air.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Digs.aerialNorthSide.jpg?fit=1200%2C846&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6478,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2016\/02\/03\/theres-nothing-like-it-in-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":8846,"position":2},"title":"“There’s nothing like it in the world”","date":"February 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Pittsburghers couldn't get enough of the new Greater Pittsburgh Airport in 1952.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Web.1952DigsAirport020.jpg?fit=1200%2C781&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1858,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/04\/22\/antique-cars-of-pennsylvania\/","url_meta":{"origin":8846,"position":3},"title":"Antique Cars of Pennsylvania","date":"April 22, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The antique era in auto history covered the period from 1895 to 1920.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/tumblr_mlitvy4ftV1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C809&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":72,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/11\/14\/the-construction-of-chatham-center-the-city-within-a-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":8846,"position":4},"title":"The construction of Chatham Center, the city within a city","date":"November 14, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Once upon a time, Chatham Center was predicted to be the start of an Oakland-Downtown connection.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chatham-Center-5.jpg?fit=1200%2C941&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":279,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/09\/08\/pittsburgh-the-quiet-city-of-the-1950s\/","url_meta":{"origin":8846,"position":5},"title":"Pittsburgh, the quiet city of the 1950s?","date":"September 8, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"How were nearly 700,000 people able to find moments of quiet and solitude amidst the din?","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/tumblr_nbg2t0JjLI1rr5swxo5_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C893&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8846"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8859,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8846\/revisions\/8859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}