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Carnegie Mellon University student Anthony Catania holds a sign promoting the designation of the Paramount Film building in Uptown as a historical landmark, while Duquesne University student Michelle Gaffey cheers on runners in Pittsburgh's Great Race last Sunday.

Runners lagging behind in Pittsburgh's Great Race last Sunday look up at the Paramount Film Exchange Building's broken windows. The vacant building, owned by UPMC, could be sold or destroyed if it is not approved as a designated historic landmark.

Historic Uptown film building faces demise

By: John Bojarski

Posted: 10/1/09

Through the rain this past Sunday, 12,798 runners in Pittsburgh's "Great Race" may have noticed a smaller group of people holding up signs on the Boulevard of the Allies.

Local college students Rachel Luckenbill, Michelle Gaffey and Anthony Catania held a demonstration trying to raise awareness about the Paramount Pictures Film Exchange building in Uptown, which is nominated to become a designated historic landmark.

The demonstration, sponsored by the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh (YPA), was also held to call attention to Pittsburgh's history with the film industry.

Luckenbill, a graduate English student at Duquesne University, said the timing of the demonstration was intentional.

"It gives us a way to watch the race for fun and also calls attention to the location of the building," Luckenbill said. "People don't really know where it is, and this helps fix the building into their memory."

On Aug. 5, Historic Review Commission recommended that the building, which is located at the corner of Miltenberger Street and the Boulevard of the Allies, be designated a historic landmark. The City of Pittsburgh Planning Commission voted against designation on Sept. 15. To be fully designated, the building must next be approved by City Council, which has not set a date for the next hearing.

According to Luckenbill, the building represents a time before video became a common film industry tool. Film exchanges created a link between the public, theater owners and movie studios. Studios operated film exchanges as places where theater owners could watch films and decide whether to book them at their theaters.

Several other studios in Pittsburgh had film exchanges close to the Paramount, creating what was called "film row."

Tonya Payne, a city councilwoman who lives one block from the Paramount building, said she supports the designation. She wrote a letter to the Historical Review Commission in support of the designation and plans to vote in favor of it in Council.

Payne said she thinks the preservation of the Paramount building is an important part of keeping the neighborhood thriving.

"We have many structures that are vacant and that can be used for many things," Payne said. "This is one that we can save."

The Uptown Partners of Pittsburgh also want to see the building nominated for historic designation.

According to Uptown Partners Director Breen Masciotra, UPMC, the building's owner, does not want the building to be historically designated because it limits their ability to modify or sell the building.

"[Uptown Partners] have an excellent relationship with UPMC and Mercy," Masciotra said. "We understand that this is an issue where we might not have the same opinion, but we are willing to work with them."

Like Payne, Masciotra wants to see the building remain part of the neighborhood. However, the students who demonstrated on Sunday see the building more as a connection to Pittsburgh's past.

Catania, an architecture and history major at Carnegie Mellon and a board member of YPA, believes that history is an important asset to the city and he considers the building a "doorway to the past."

Luckenbill noted that the Paramount is the last film exchange building in Pittsburgh that still has its original façade.

Gaffey, a graduate English student at Duquesne, said that the building is a reminder of an earlier Uptown.

"Pittsburgh was called little Harlem in the 1930's because it was a big center for African American culture, and this building is part of that history," Gaffey said. "It represents a time when this community was vibrant, before the Civic Arena was plopped in the middle of it."