The Allegheny Post Office is a historic building in the

Allegheny Center Allegheny Center is a neighborhood on Pittsburgh's North Side. Its zip code is 15212, and it has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by both council members for District 6 (Downtown, North Shore) and District 1 (Northside). History In ...

neighborhood on the North Side of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. It was built in 1897 as the main

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

for what was then the independent city of Allegheny and later became part of Pittsburgh. After the post office closed in 1967, the building was slated for demolition as part of the Allegheny Center

urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

project. However, the

Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. In 1966, PHLF established the Revolvi ...

(PHLF) mounted a successful campaign to save the building, raising about $835,000 to purchase and restore it for their own use. In 1972, the building reopened as the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Museum, exhibiting items from PHLF's collections of historic artifacts. In 1983, the lower level of the building became the first home of the

Children's Museum of Pittsburgh The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh is a hands-on interactive children's museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is in the Allegheny Center neighborhood in Pittsburgh's Northside. History The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh was founded in 19 ...

. The Children's Museum eventually expanded to occupy the entire post office building as well as the neighboring

Buhl Planetarium The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science Building, also known as the "People's Observatory", is located at 10 Children's Way in the Allegheny Center neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Construction and opening The planetariu ...

building and a new addition. The building was listed on the listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1971. It was the first building in Allegheny County to be added to the register.

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Post office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Government buildings completed in 1897 Government buildings in Pittsburgh City of Pittsburgh historic designations Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Pittsburgh