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Construction of a fountain is nearly completed in Allegheny Commons Park. It replicates in scale the fountain that was built at the site in 1868.
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Walkabout Allegheny Commons Park restoration digs up surprises

Diana Nelson Jones / Post-Gazette

Walkabout Allegheny Commons Park restoration digs up surprises

When work crews were digging the foundation for a new fountain in Allegheny Commons Park in the North Side last summer, they dug up what diggers the world over, from archaeologists to contractors, sometimes discover — relics.

The urn and pedestal of the original fountain that delighted Allegheny City from 1868 until the mid-20th century, had been buried under a circular flower bed that replaced it.

They were so discernible among the rubble that the workers laid them safely aside. The pedestal was broken in two parts and the shallow urn’s edges had been scalloped, but even in their altered states, those old pieces delighted 10 local residents who took a recent tour of the park with Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy folks to get updates on progress in the restoration.

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The 2002 master plan for the park, Pittsburgh’s oldest, established in 1867, calls for a restoration that’s broken down into manageable phases. The fountain, at the northeast corner, and another westward chunk of the park are in the current phase three.

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The fountain will be turned on at a dedication party sometime next spring, said Erin Tobin, community outreach coordinator for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, which has led the project, its fundraising and management.

Susan Rademacher, the conservancy’s parks curator, said the plan is to use the original urn and broken pedestal pieces in the park, “maybe in a flower garden.”

The fountain has a $750,000 maintenance fund “to make sure it lasts more than 100 years,” she said. It will be the exact dimension as the previous one.

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“We wanted to re-create that scale, an architectural exclamation point at this intersection,” across from Allegheny General Hospital, Ms. Rademacher said.

The 60-acre park, which includes the grounds of the National Aviary and encircles Nova Place, the Children’s Museum and the New Hazlett Theater, sits squarely in what was Allegheny City until Pittsburgh annexed it in 1907.

Approximately 17,000 people live in the North Side neighborhoods that surround it, where most of the properties are part of historic districts designated by the city.

Historic preservation is of high order to many residents, but we’ve lost a lot and will continue to.

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At one time, Allegheny Commons had four fountains. The park also had numerous functioning water fountains and a stone building with functioning bathrooms beside a row of tennis courts. One by one, they all went dry; priorities went elsewhere.

When the fountain is completed and water is arching again, it will feel like a renewal, but the fountain will be new, concrete — a replica of a marble fountain — with recirculating water. The relics, though, are time travelers, a thrilling surprise.

There have been other surprises in the site work.

“We discovered sand beds underground, in lots of places,” Ms. Rademacher said.

Ellis Schmidlapp is the conservancy’s on-site liaison to the contractors, Pashek + MTR architects and Zottola Landscaping.

He described it as “sandy soil and organic material that was hypothetically a swamp area. It was soil not suitable to support the fountain.”

That sandy soil was removed so the new foundation wouldn’t shift, and infiltration testing was done before the base was laid.

Before the locks and dams system, the entire park was swampy from time to time as the Allegheny River flooded. That’s something for North Siders to get our heads around.

The river is not a threat now, but at one time it is likely that all the buildings around the park took in water from time to time.

Every day, we are reminded of constant changes to the built environment, but we don’t often consider how much our landscapes can change over just a few generations.

It’s kind of enchanting to know that an old riverbed lies throughout the park, a layer of history under footpaths, under lights, under the farmers’ market and pumpkin festival, under dog walkers, baby strollers and bicyclists.

The past and the present are always changing places, recirculating, bringing us surprises and renewal.

Diana Nelson Jones: djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. Twitter@dnelsonjones

First Published: October 22, 2018, 10:15 a.m.

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Construction of a fountain is nearly completed in Allegheny Commons Park. It replicates in scale the fountain that was built at the site in 1868.  (Diana Nelson Jones / Post-Gazette)
This urn from a 19th century fountain was dug up during excavation to build the foundation of a new fountain in Allegheny Commons Park.  (Diana Nelson Jones / Post-Gazette)
These pieces of the original fountain's pedestal were found buried with the original urn during excavation for a new fountain in Allegheny Commons Park.  (Diana Nelson Jones / Post-Gazette)
A crew works on construction of the new fountain in Allegheny Commons Park.  (Joe Riebling)
Diana Nelson Jones / Post-Gazette
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