Paramount Film Exchange (Pittsburgh)
Template:New unreviewed article
Paramount Film Exchange (Pittsburgh) is a building at 1727 Boulevard of the Allies in the Uptown or Bluff (Pittsburgh) neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, designed by R.E. Hall Co. Architects of New York City in 1926. Currently, the structure is owned by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). In 2009, the Young Preservationists Association (YPA) of Pittsburgh proposed the Paramount Film Exchange for official historical designation by the City of Pittsburgh. The Historic Review Commission of the City of Pittsburgh grants landmark designation based on “the importance of a particular place to Pittsburgh’s heritage.”[1] The YPA attributed the site's historical significance to its status as the last remnant of of Pittsburgh's "film row."[2] In August 2009 Pittsburgh's Historic Review Commission approved the nomination, allowing the proposal to move to the Planning Commission and, if successful there, ultimately to City Council.[3] UPMC and the Exchange's other large institutional neighbor, Duquesne University, both oppose landmarking the building. A Nov. 17, 2009 hearing of Pittsburgh's City Council to rule on landmark status for the building had to be postponed as a quorum was not present.
"Film exchanges" were physical locations, always housing a screening room, where motion-picture studios screened their films for potential exhibitors in a local market. Once videocassettes came into use in the 1970s, it was no longer necessary to screen a film in a screening room, and film exchanges fell out of use. The Paramount Film Exchange was one of several film exchange buildings in the area. The Duquesne University Tamburitzans occupy the former location of the Warner Bros. exchange at 1801 Boulevard of the Allies, and the auction and real-estate firm Harry Davis & Co. is located next door, at 1725 Boulevard of the Allies, in the building that once housed 20th Century Fox's exchange.[4] Initial attention to the Paramount Film Exchange came in 2008, when 21-year-old Drew Levinson entered and won a video contest sponsored by the YPA with his short film on the Paramount Film Exchange. Levinson's video rallied support behind saving the Film Exchange from sale or demolition by UPMC.
References
- ^ City of Pittsburgh. "Pittsburgh City Planning Historic Review Commission FAQ" [1]
- ^ Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh. "Historic Landmark Nomination Goes before City Council, Nov. 17" [2]
- ^ Jones, Diana Nelson. "Historical Designation for Uptown building OK'd." Pittsburgh POST-GAZETTE 6 August 2009 [3]
- ^ Brandolph, Adam. "Pittsburgh Film Exchange gets historic designation." Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW 6 August 2009 [4]