Abandoned structure on Ohio riverfront trail has industrial past

Along the Ohio riverfront trail just behind the Cardello Building and near Rivers Casino, there’s a two-story tan and black building. It’s abandoned, and appears potentially charred, as if a fire had damaged part of the structure. Good Question! asker Mike Vennum noticed the building and wondered about its history.

“What’s the story behind the funky little building right on the Ohio River behind the Cardello Building off of Route 65 and just before the West End Bridge? It looks like a house or apartment is vacant,” Vennum asked.

This “funky little building” was once part of the Pittsburgh Annealing Box Company, which manufactured steel boxes, stainless steel inner covers for things like furnaces, and steel plates. Annealing is a heat treatment process that reduces the hardness of a material — in this case, steel — so it’s easier to bend or transform for whatever machine or object in which it’ll eventually be used.

The Pittsburgh Annealing Box Company was once more than just the two-story structure that sits there today: Photos from before 2012 show the structure was one part of a much larger warehouse spanning from roughly Kroll Drive to W. North Avenue. The orange-and-black warehouse was demolished between 2011 and 2012, according to data from Google Maps. City agencies weren’t able to confirm additional details about the demolition. The remaining section of the building, which was once the office section of the company, is the only part that remains.

According to BusinessWire, Pittsburgh Annealing Box Company was founded in 1893. The earliest mention of the company, according to Newspapers.com, was in Sept. 1915.

Percy Earl Hunter was the company’s president, according to newspaper archives. He also served as president of the Hunter Steel Company and invented something called the “Hunter steel safety railing used on bridges and boulevards.” According to a 1932 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Hunter Steel Company had exclusive contracts with the City of Pittsburgh for “its patented safety railing.” He’s also cited as being president of the Independent Bridge Company, which constructed several spans in the region, including the Ices Ferry Bridge in West Virginia.

Hunter, who was born in Allegheny City (now the North Side), would later oversee the Annealing Box Company’s operations until his death in 1937. Few records exist about the company or its workers.

The Pittsburgh Annealing Box seems to have left their North Side location around two decades ago, having changed names and relocated to Vanport, Pa.. Since then, it’s been acquired several times. WESA was unable to speak with any former employees who remember the original location and what it was like to work there.

The city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority took over ownership of the property in 2003.

Development company Piatt said it plans to use the site as part of its “Esplanade” project. Phase 1 of the project is expected to cost $236 million; it will eventually include affordable and market-rate housing, retail space, trail improvements, and a marina featuring a Ferris Wheel.

Molly Onufer, director of public affairs for Piatt, said the Esplanade will ideally include a “little bit of something for everyone."

“We’ll have housing there, we’ll have retail, we’ll have a marina for boats,” Onufer said. “We’re looking at a potential aquarium. We’re going to have places for families, places for more passive uses.”

Onufer said Piatt recognizes the industrial history of the riverfront land, and hopes to reconnect nearby communities like Chateau back to the rivers and commerce.

“We’ve really got a unique opportunity here where there’s not a railroad on the riverfront, so we’re able to actually engage with the water,” Onufer said.

The inclusion of the Ferris Wheel is notable — inventor George Ferris lived in the city’s North Side.

“It’s an homage to a North Sider,” Onufer said. “So we’re pretty psyched about that — from the World’s Fair to the North Side.”

Developers hope to have a design in place by this year, and begin construction on the Esplanade in 2024. Onufer said plans also include sprucing up the trail that runs adjacent to the planned location, and helping to restore the natural ecosystem.