Sewickley Mayor among Those Hoping to Save 'Pink House'

The “” movement hosted a public meeting last night that started with a history lesson and ended with Sewickley's mayor asking attendees to “work with our neighbor.”

Mayor Brian Jeffe said he came to the meeting as a resident, not as the mayor.

“My wife and I have both signed the petition,” he said, referring to a petition of “Pink House” supporters, “but you need to be unified toward the goal to save the house and work with our neighbors.” 

Wednesday's meeting was the latest effort by community members to of the house located on 202 Beaver Street and known to many area residents as the “.”

The house was recently purchased by The , which plans to raze the house to build a new youth house and to provide additional off-street parking for the congregation.

More than 40 members of the community gathered at the for nearly two hours for an informational and organizational meeting led by Peter Floyd.

Floyd is a resident and a board member of the and of Preservation Pittsburgh.

“For the past nine days, I have researched this house and every day I learn something more about this house and its significance to this community,” he said of the house that was previously owned by the .

, a local historian and real estate agent who has restored his own historical home, gave a short presentation on the history and architecture of the “Pink House.”

“I don’t want it to be the contentious situation that this has become – I just want to explain the significance of the house,” he said, “whether you consider it the as it has been referred to.”

Zemba gave a brief history of the house originally built in the late 1860s by Thomas C. Little, a merchant and local land developer, then renovated by Samuel Cooper, president of The Republic Iron and Steel Co. Cooper renovated and enlarged the home in 1913-1914 under the direction of Alden and Harlow, noted architects of that time. The Coyle family had lived in the house for the last 50 years.

“This is a mansion that was usually done for an industrialist and usually only seen in this area on ‘Millionaires Row’ in Shadyside,” said Zemba.

John Kroeck, a Sewickley resident and president of the Sewickley Valley Historical Society, presented to those in attendance that he had submitted to the church.

In part, the one-page letter said the historical society “welcomes a dialogue within the community that will ultimately preserve this historic property.”

Though he came to the meeting representing the society’s view, Kroeck said, “Quite frankly, there are no correct decisions here. One wants to build a sanctuary for the youth and one wants the .”

Once the meeting was open for discussion, several people said they believed that the church had acted in a “hasty” and “sneaky” manner and that it “rushed to purchase” the property, complaints that Kroeck urged them to temper.

“The church has made it known that they have wanted that property for over 30 years,” he said.

Kroeck told the crowd to “tone down the debate” and to work with the members of the church.

“This is a very stressful situation,” he said.

Floyd ended the meeting by asking those in attendance to continue efforts to reach out to community members, particularly members of The Presbyterian Church congregation and ask them to reconsider the plans to raze the “Pink House.”

The next meeting in the campaign to “Save the Pink House” is slated for 7 p.m. Thursday, April 5, at the Sewickley Public Library. The Presbyterian Church is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, at the church.