created a Pittsburgh subsidiary, the Federal Cold Storage Co., and broke ground on a seven-story concrete warehouse on a parcel of land it bought from the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1930, the Cleveland-based City Ice and Fuel Co. In the late 1920s, the Pennsylvania Railroad bought several Strip District blocks to expand and modernize the city’s produce terminal. The giant refrigeratorīefore 1930, the building where Lucky’s is located was one of five brick row houses along the north side of Penn in land once owned by Pittsburgh’s German Catholic High School. The jury is still out on whether Lucky’s can survive the Strip’s transformation from an industrial working-class neighborhood into a trendy space with high-rise office towers, high-tech firms, and high-end housing. The club has survived a series of potential catastrophes leading up to the redevelopment, including the Covid pandemic and seismic shifts in gay club life. Its history and endurance are an authentic Pittsburgh tale. When the new development at 1501 Penn is done, passersby might be tempted to compare Lucky’s to other holdout buildings or “spite houses”: architectural anachronisms around which new development sprouted because owners refused to sell. Demolition of the Federal Cold Storage Company building as section of a large concrete wall is lifted over Lucky’s in February.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |