Factory 500 Member Tour: Historic Allegheny West

Just in time to welcome spring, the Factory 500 members and their guests gathered to take a tour this past weekend in historic Allegheny West. Each location was completely new and different, offering a look at some buildings and people with interesting histories.

The members get a tour at Calvary United Methodist Church.

The first stop was Calvary United Methodist Church at the corner of Allegheny and Beech. Construction was started on the Church in 1893, and it features three Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass windows. Reverend Larry discussed with the group the painstaking effort that went into fund raising for and restoring the Church, and also gave the group a tour through the church’s interior, describing some of the unique architectural details and history.

The group looks at renovation plans for the Hipwell building, bought by Elaine and Mitchell.

The second stop was Elaine Stone and Mitchell Schwartz’s old Hipwell building, located on West North Avenue. The old flashlight factory is full of history and lots of spare flashlight parts. George C. Parks, who was the President of the Hipwell flashlight company, gave a talk and Elaine and Mitchell served hot and cold drinks alongside their Airstream. Mitchell led the group through the building and described some of the renovation plans, including living space, work space and apartments.

Photographer Annie O'Neill snaps some photos of the group at her studio.

The third and final stop was photographer Annie O’Neill’s studio on West North Avenue. The members enjoyed wine and refreshments and Annie spoke about some of her photography and the history of her studio building. The group was able to see a preview of some of her work for her next show on March 25th, and even got to participate in a photo shoot of their very own. Annie was kind enough to make the group a great slide show from the evening that you can view! Click here to see the photos.

Thank you to those who made the evening so wonderful. And as always, we are so grateful our Factory 500 members could come out and spend the night with us. If you want to see more of the photos from the evening, you can check out our Flickr. If you like what you see and want to be part of the Factory 500 membership level, you can visit our online shop to purchase a membership or call Abby at 412-231-3169. See you next time!