Bost Building

Bost Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark
Front (south) elevation and east profile, 2008
Location	621-623 East Eighth Avenue, Homestead, Pennsylvania
Built	1892
Part of	Homestead Historic District (ID90000696)
NRHP reference No.	99000627
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	January 20, 1999
Designated NHL	January 20, 1999
Designated CP	May 10, 1990
Designated PHLF	2000

The Bost Building, also known as Columbia Hotel, is located on East Eighth Avenue (PA 837) in Homestead, Pennsylvania, United States. Built just before the 1892 Homestead Strike, it was used as headquarters by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers and for reporters covering the confrontation. It is the only significant building associated with the strike that remains intact. It is a contributing property to the Homestead Historic District.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1999. After some use as a rooming house and hotel, today it is part of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area.

Building

The building is 40 by 90 feet (12 by 27 m), located at the corner of East Eighth and Heisel Avenue. It is three stories high, faced in brick laid in common bond, resting on a stone foundation and topped with a flat asphalt roof.

Bands of stone run along the slightly skewed south (front) facade at the tops of all six windows on the upper stories, forming lintels to complement the similar sills. The roofline is marked with stepped brick corbels on the south and east. At the ground level on the east is a glass and aluminum storefront.

Inside, the first floor serves as a museum, with original floorboards and period wallpaper. One room has exhibits devoted to the history of the strike, the other to the building's restoration. The second and third stories consist of guest rooms that have been left largely intact since the strike. At the second floor stair landing, and the top of the stair, there is a section where the paint has peeled off and exposed graffiti on the underlying plaster. Pencilled in are the words "Homestead 1892" and some names. It is possible that it was left during the strike.

History

Intended as a hotel for new hires or prospective hires at the growing Homestead Steel Works, which at the time were just next door, it had not entirely been finished inside when the company locked out its workers, precipitating the eventual strike. The union found it an ideal headquarters, since its upper floors had a commanding view of the factory next door. Reporters from American and British newspapers who covered the strike wired home their dispatches from a telegraph office on the first story. Deputy sheriffs and Pinkerton men taken captive during some of the violent confrontations were held at the Bost Building to protect them from retribution.

After the strike, the building did become a hotel and rooming house, although it was never successful in the long term. The only significant change to it was the alteration of the storefront during the 20th century, and some changes to the upper floors during its late 20th century renovation to comply with contemporary fire codes.