- Chronicles was made possible thanks to a community assets grant provided by the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, support by the Department of Education, and the generous support of Thomas B. Hagen.

- This is WQLN.

- One of the deepest impulses in man is the impulse to record, to scratch a drawing on a tusk or keep a diary.

The enduring value of the past is one might say, the very basis of civilization.

- A big protest today in Santa Monica.

- Yeah, they want the demolition of several historic high school campus buildings stopped.

One of the buildings ironically enough, is the history building, which was... - Philadelphia Police were called out to the Germantown section this morning as neighbors tried to intervene with a planned demolition.

A developer recently purchased the property and plans to turn it into apartments.

- A historic home is set for demolition.

- Spoke on the phone to John.

He said when they bought it, they didn't intend to demolish it, but to renovate it.

After consulting with contractors and experts in historic homes, they decided there wasn't going to be a way to make it work for their needs.

Neighbors wish they would've sold it to someone who could have.

- A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.

(melancholy music) (melancholy music) Erie, Pennsylvania, A city reinventing itself as it shakes off its rust belt past, but it wasn't always this way.

- So before being settled as an industrial town, Erie was a location of multiple forts.

So when you think about the European settlement of the country, you see along the Eastern shore, all of the British colonies.

Further inland, you see exploration and settlement by the French.

This was an area of the country that the British were also very interested in.

And so you have these two European powerhouses then fighting over the settlement of what would become ultimately Western Pennsylvania.

So the French actually placed their forts first.

We have the British then moving in until about 1763.

Ultimately, the next group to move in would be the Americans.

- Following the War of Independence, the boundaries of Pennsylvania are formalized.

- So when Erie was first settled, we're looking at 1795, there were very few people coming.

It really wasn't until the building of the naval fleet that was done here that you see 100s if not thousands of workers and their families and business owners.

From that point, the Bayfront was really our industrial hub.

And the reason there was so much industrial activity along the waterfront is because of transportation.

- Before the arrival of trains, America's industrialists relied on the waterways.

The Great Lakes were connected to the Ohio River and in turn onto the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico through the construction of the Erie Extension Canal.

- Well, the extension canal was finished in 1841.

It connected Erie to Pittsburgh.

If you were a passenger, you could travel from Erie to Pittsburgh in a mere 36 hours.

So it makes sense then that most of our industry or a lot of our industry would develop along the waterfront first.

- By the mid 1800s, trains begin to offer an alternative form of transit for Erie's industrialists.

- When the railroads were placed, they were placed both along the waterfront and further inland.

14th Street is where the railroad tracks were located.

And you have this development of a new transportation source.

Because the rail became the primary source of transportation, you have this development of that 12th Street industrial corridor because those businesses then were located within one to two blocks or in many cases, right along the railroad lines.

- Access to both the trains and the waterways positions Erie as a major center for manufacturing with a prominent tool and die industry supplying parts for other manufacturers elsewhere in the United States.

- During Erie's kind of premier industrial era, 12th Street and the waterfront were heavily undesirable places, right?

There would've been a lot of noise from the manufacturing that was happening there.

There would've been a lot of pollutants, whether it's air pollution and or trash.

So really those industrial centers were not necessarily pleasant places to live next to.

So when you look at where Erie's industrial activity is occurring, for those who owned businesses within those corridors, right in the middle, Sixth Street provided a great opportunity for them to build their homes away from those industrial sites.

Yet at the same time, they're still within no more than six blocks from the businesses that they own.

- With a prominent tool, this concentration of wealthy elite would earn West Sixth Street the nickname Millionaire's Row.

- When you look at Millionaire's Rowe, there's a divide.

And the reason that is, is because the Erie Extension Canal crossed West Sixth Street.

That manmade waterway prevented really true development from happening.

So from where the canal crossed to Peach Street, the majority of those homes are going to be built either prior to 1870 or even prior to the extension canal.

- With trains becoming ever increasingly dominant form of transit and the collapse of an aqueduct over Elk Creek and Erie County, the Erie extension canals were abandoned in 1872.

- Once that extension canal was closed and filled in, then you see the development of the second half.

Those homes that were built from the extension canal to Gridley Park, most of those homes are going to be built from the late 1800s into the 1920s.

- And by the 1930s, compounded by the Great Depression, Erie's industrial magnates would begin to falter.

- So there were a lot of different factors that contributed to the loss of industry in Erie.

Erie was an industrial, successful city, high population growth, high productivity, high economic growth.

You also have other places in the country as well as internationally that are providing access to less expensive workforces.

- And so the industrial companies that had grown with the city began to leave, taking with them the jobs they had once provided.

- When jobs leave, cities decline.

And unfortunately, we had our biggest employers leave.

- Companies that had been founded and prospered in Erie had closed their doors, jobs they had once provided.

- You couldn't help but feel it.

They sold out to other out of town concerns and they just picked up stakes and left.

So I don't know that you can use any other description but to say they abandoned Erie 'cause they did.

(somber music) One of the more visible images of the decline are abandoned factories.

And we see that buildings going to decline, surroundings around them, weeds growing up, broken up sidewalks and streets.

It's the visual evidence of the decline in business and industry when that happens.

The result from the abandonment of factories and jobs is the tax base from the people who leave Erie and go elsewhere to the property taxes because of the deteriorating value of the property and particularly hard hit are the schools because the biggest part of property taxes is the school tax.

- And while the businesses and industrial families of Erie left, the mansions on Millionaire's Row remained, a visible reminder of Erie's once prosperous past.

But what would become of these once great houses?

(somber music) - With the exodus of people, particularly after World War II, the exodus to the suburbs, these places became rental units.

But these houses can be costly to maintain, particularly when they get older.

- In a now economically depressed Erie, building maintenance is low on people's priorities.

- So they would just continue to decay.

The roofs would probably be the first thing to go.

- When the brick starts turning black and the mortar starts coming out, instead of cleaning and repointing it, they'd paint it.

When the roof overhangs with brackets and so on were failing, they'd cut them off.

- And then at some point they get sold again.

And as the value goes down and they become cheaper to acquire, you get to a landlord base that's just cash flowing each of the apartments with zero regard to maintenance.

- Taking out some of the wonderful architecture inside in order to make a more efficient layout, getting the maximum number of apartments, for example the twin duplexes.

They originally had only four families between the two buildings, but by the time we'd bought them a few years ago, they had 20 apartments in them.

- And landlords couldn't financially do what's needed on the building, they would really be slums.

And you'd see abandoned buildings.

- That's when they're on life support.

And if we don't get 'em then, they're gone.

- By the 1950s, many of the houses along Millionaire's Row are suffering, a stark contrast to the rapidly growing suburbs of America, uniform in design and cheap to construct, post World War II America is more interested in affordable housing with modern conveniences than salvaging the structures of its industrious past.

- The periphery of our cities across the country are pretty characterless.

They're all the same.

And that's just the nature of how we've built our cities around us, suburbs around us.

Some places might have more landscaping than others, but in principle, you could drop any of us in most cities outside of the character filled inner cities and we would not be able to tell where we are.

The alternative of that is the historic pre-World War II built environment of cities.

So it's important to maintain that character and only way to maintain that character is to maintain buildings built prior to World War II.

I mean, a city's personalities like anybody's personality, there's the core kind of inherent personality and that's our history.

And so the communities need to maintain that.

And you can't maintain all of it, but you need to maintain as much as you can justify.

As a society, we're really never gonna build buildings like this again.

- You can't afford to do it today.

No, the cost would be horrendous.

I mean, the interior trim work and the crown moldings and the oversized doorways, you just couldn't build a building and expect they got any sort of return out of it.

You'd be upside down from the first day.

- Not every old building can be saved but a lot of 'em can be and should be.

And there's nothing wrong with 'em.

So to keep 'em and have that history, that evolution of how we build, how human beings build, there should be a variety and there should be the history maintained so that we can understand where we've been and where we are and where we need to go.

- To me, the interesting thing about many of these buildings is that they had really world class architects.

Some of them designed by Frank Mead, including the house we're sitting in.

Alden and Harlow, well known Pittsburgh architectural firm, EB Green of Green and Wicks in Buffalo.

And it went on and on that we had quality architecture and design, albeit all different kinds of architecture, could be arts and crafts, colonial revival, stick.

So we have a great representation of late 19th century, early 20th century architecture on the street.

- But without intervention, these architectural designs would no doubt be lost like so many other buildings within Erie's historic downtown.

(dramatic music) - Good afternoon, thank you for joining us.

Today, Erie businessman Tom Hagen announced the historic Erie Preservation Trust.

Now, Hagen says, the purpose of the trust is to acquire, restore, preserve, and maintain historic buildings here in Erie.

Beginning this year, he'll donate to structures located on Erie's East, West Sixth District which is known as Millionaire's Row.

- It just bothered me to see them in decline.

I happen to have an interest in architecture and they're too important to this community as a symbol of, yeah, they're a symbol of wealth at one time in this community, but they're also a symbol of architecture and quality building.

So these things should be saved, this is history, getting back to the very beginning.

This is history and this is preserving history for the future and for future generations.

- But as my therapist keeps reminding me, fixing years of neglect doesn't come cheap.

- The financial side of this effort on West Sixth Street makes no financial sense.

- I see these numbers every day and I know that you couldn't hope to recover what's been invested in these projects in 100 years.

- The reality here is that the number one mission of historic year restorations and historic year preservation trust is the preservation and long term longevity of these historic buildings in the West Sixth Street Historic District.

And the reality is that the cost to do this work exceeds the return on the investment.

- So I'm willing to take on the expense of that extra amount that you need to restore them and then let them take care of themselves, hopefully, through the income stream that they will have.

And when I pass on these buildings that I currently have will be going into a trust.

(warm music) - And the idea is that it sits in the trust in perpetuity.

It goes into the trust without debt so that all the revenue that it generates from rental income stays in the trust to maintain the buildings forever.

- And with that, the future of Erie's historic Millionaire's Row will remain protected from neglect and decay.

- This is all Tom Hagen and it wouldn't have happened without him.

(warm music) It's just his general interest in Erie, the region, preservation.

- It's fair to say, Tom loves to save, he really does.

He loves it.

- He's quite the philanthropist.

He is a kind man and very generous to be giving all of this back to Erie.

- People can say it's generous, I appreciate that, but I'm doing it because I think it needs to be done.

And I have the team that can do it and that's important.

Jeff Kitter, our architect, is well known as an architect of historic buildings, he has a great reputation.

He and I think alike.

And the construction side, Mike Jeffrey's an experienced contractor who has worked on old buildings.

Kim Jeffries is our professional engineer.

She does all of the electrical and heating, ventilating, air conditioning.

- She probably has the toughest and least recognized role.

- People usually go sleep when I start talking about what I do.

- And then I have as my construction manager, Mike Glass and we meet once a week and go over every project and we've been doing that now for four years.

And we keep on top of it.

'Cause with anything like this, it's attention to detail and keeping on top of things.

- It involves a lot of planning and a lot of talking and a lot of changing.

The number one issue with any building whether it's new or old, is controlling water.

- As soon as water starts to get into what we call the building envelope, they begin to deteriorate.

When we get one of these places, the very first thing we have to do is get a roof on it.

- A lot of these buildings have complicated roofs, have a lot of places where water can get in to the building and they're of an age where if they still maintain their original roof, they're wearing out, the materials are wearing out.

If they've been repaired over the years, they probably weren't repaired very well.

- All the things that cause it to deteriorate on the outside are affecting the inside at the same time.

We'll see mold, rusting on equipment, the boilers, the pipes are leaking, they just capped things off instead of fixing them.

- So they deteriorate because of neglect or improper repairs.

And you have to start there.

And a lot of the times these are not easy or cheap fixes.

- Jeff and I joke that it's probably one of the world's most expensive hobbies is to restore 150 year old buildings.

- The construction skills needed for these projects involve slate roofers, people who work with copper.

- It's masons, it's masonry restoration.

- The plumbers, the electricians, the pipe fitters.

- And plaster crown molding, they don't do it anymore.

It's hard to find somebody.

And they cast these moldings in about three foot sections and they use screeds that resembled the profile of the crown molding.

And it's just layer and layer of plaster.

And it takes probably four days to create a three foot section underground.

And then it's gotta be put in place.

- Painting and carpentry work, there's a lot of carpentry but it's also the companies that supply materials.

- Having custom products match items that are in some cases 150 or 60 years old.

- We don't just go to Lowe's or Home Depot to get a lot of this material.

- Doing this restoration work is far more expensive than doing a standard development.

- Like our first two projects, that canal side project, we had hoped would be somewhere around 5 million, ended up closer to $8 million.

So $8 million for 12 apartments.

That doesn't make any sense from a development standpoint.

- Each building that we've acquired has its own distinctive problems.

- Selden House 318 West Sixth was built on kind of a lagoon of the Erie Canal extension and had settled from the very day that it was built.

- Following the demise of the canal, they filled it in with nothing but rubble and junk and they built the house.

- And when we got that project from the southwest corner of the house to the northeast corner of the house, that building had settled 11 inches.

So imagine walking across the first floor and it's down, down, down 11 inches.

And we considered for awhile, tearing that building down and we put together pricing to tear that building down and build something just like it.

And you know, Tom said, well, we're not in the tear down business.

- The house could not be leveled because it was masonry.

So we had to go down and drill down and put support in about 120 places in the footer of the building.

- And they don't raise the foundation, they just guarantee it's never gonna sink another inch.

So when you fix it, from that point up, you're assured that the millions of dollars you put into it aren't gonna settle ever again.

- That was not expected and it was a costly venture but it did save the house, but that was one house.

- They're simple buildings 'cause they're made out of few materials, but they're also complicated buildings.

- And understanding what needs to be done and what should be done.

- Beginning with being sensitive to the buildings themselves.

I kind of view these buildings as understanding what they were and where they want to be.

And I make decisions that use the building to tell me their story architecturally.

But creative side of it is how do you fit all these other uses into 'em in a way that doesn't really alter the feel of the building.

Because if you have five apartments in a building, you have five kitchens, five bathrooms, five living rooms, five bedrooms, so you have to be sensitive and creative.

- We're putting 21st century systems into 19th century buildings and it's not easy.

- Of course, we wanna save all the crown moldings so we can't lower ceilings.

So the ceilings are right at the bottom of the joists.

So you have to get creative in how you get things from point A to point B.

- The goal is to get all these systems in the building and nobody knows they're there.

And that can be challenging at times.

- And every job, no two are alike.

They're difficult from the beginning, right to the end.

They take a long time, they cost a lot of money.

- The complexities of making a 100, 150 year old building meet the expectations of users today.

And so I guess the gratifying part is that another building is saved.

When you work in your own community, it's not just another job, it's just not another project, it's just not another check box to check off because we live with these buildings, we see 'em every day.

- I love being involved in bringing them back to life.

And I love the idea that they're going to be around.

- These take 12 months, 14 months, 16 months to do and the buildings are in such a state of disrepair.

And then 14 months later, they're state of the art and they're ready to go at some point into the trust, that's a pretty good feeling.

- And they could remain forever if they were properly maintained.

- But more importantly really, is what it does for the rest of the district of the street.

Because if houses get fixed up, other people then begin to start fixing up their houses.

- What's going on right now in Erie is never been seen before in this regard with these concentrated efforts in the downtown, in the neighborhoods around downtown.

Thanks to Tom, we were able to make it what it should be.

- I'm fortunate that I have the wherewithal to do some things on maybe a larger scale than others but there's so many things you can do in routine maintenance that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Just keeping a place neat and tidy, keeping the lawn cut, and things of that sort, keeping the windows clean.

And if people do that, the neighborhoods will be just fine.

(warm music) It's kind of a cliche I suppose to say that you hope you made a difference while you were on this earth.

And I guess that pretty much sums up what I feel.

You have an obligation to try to leave things a little better than when you came into it.

And that's what I hope I'm doing.

- Chronicles was made possible thanks to a community access grant provided by the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, support by the Department of Education, and the generous support of Thomas B Hagen.

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