Bethlehem Steel's Hammer Shop To Fall
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Sept. 4, 2009
A brick warehouse within the Bethlehem Steel complex in Pennsylvania will disappear from the landscape this fall to make way for a new arts center.
The No. 8 Hammer Shop, abandoned with the rest of the industrial site when it closed in 1998, will be demolished in October, according to ArtsQuest, the local nonprofit that is constructing a four-story building in its place.
"If we were to reuse it—and we've been advised not to reuse it—it would cost the project an additional $6 million," says Kim I. Plyler, spokeswoman for ArtsQuest.
Local preservationists are up in arms. Michael Kramer, co-founder of Save Our Steel, says ArtsQuest could save $1 million to $2 million if it used historic tax credits to rehabilitate the 19th-century building.
"We feel strongly that all the buildings that are remaining are important. It should not be taken lightly to take one down," Kramer says. "Not only will you lose a valuable structure, but you'll have a somewhat intrusive new neighbor jammed into it that will ruin the harmony of what's there."
ArtsQuest held a public meeting in June to unveil its plans for the site, a 4.5-acre project called SteelStacks.
"We spoke with lots of folks who … said they clearly understood that the benefit [from an arts center] was much greater to the community," says Julie Benjamin, SteelStacks campaign director, who notes that the Hammer Shop contains a form of asbestos.
Officials have authorized new construction at the complex before; a new casino opened onsite earlier this summer.
Still, a local group is "concerned" that ArtsQuest is replacing the Hammer Shop. "They're going to take a building down that was identified by the developer as one of that could be saved," says Alan Sachse, executive director of the Delaware and Lehigh Heritage Corridor, citing a study by New Market Realty that identified 22 buildings as salvageable.
Three architectural firms have declared the structure of the Hammer Shop to be in fair condition. "It's in fair condition; the problem is that it's not a structure that they can use," says Ann Safley, historic preservation specialist at the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, a consulting party in the Section 106 process, which requires ArtsQuest to consider alternatives to demolition.
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Comments
Submitted by shameonbethlehem at: January 28, 2010
Hammer Shop DEMOLISHED on Friday. If a site like Beth Steel cannot be adaptively reused, preservation might as well pack it in.
Submitted by Margaret Foster at: September 9, 2009
Good point. We tracked down a photo of the Hammer Shop itself and added it on 9/9/09.
Submitted by save Bethlehem at: September 8, 2009
The photo in you article is VERY misleading - it implies that the Iron Foundry building (you call it the Bessemer Steel Building) is to be demolished. Can't you find a photo of the No. 8 Hammer Shop?
Submitted by Preservation First at: September 8, 2009
Most people involved are afraid to rock the boat by speaking out against this wanton destruction of history. Shame on Bethlehem!
Submitted by Brian at: September 6, 2009
Well that's a shame. I can imagine different uses for that structure.