Nick Kratofil and Nancy Wells are moving from their Mt. Lebanon home to live in the horse stable of an old, abandoned firehouse.
The couple will sleep beneath century-old timbers and bathe in a concrete trough once used to drain hoses from 19th century South Side's fastest horse-drawn fire wagon.
They haven't fallen on hard times; they are simply immersing themselves in the nearly complete historic restoration they first imagined four years ago.
"This is all built with building remnants that I salvaged over 40-some years," Kratofil said as he stood in the middle of the 1874 neoclassical, brick firehouse he has painstakingly converted into his artist's studio, gallery and apartment on Bingham Street.
At noon today in Pittsburgh City Council Chambers, the city's Historic Review Commission will honor Kratofil's restoration and the work of six others in the 25th annual Preservation Awards ceremony, which coincides with the end of National Historic Preservation Month.
"The idea is to recognize owners and developers who have really invested their time and energy into historic buildings," said Paul Tellers, the commission's chairman.
"The improvements they've made have brought places back to their original historic character rather than altering that character," he said.
Four other winning efforts are in the North Side: The restoration of the 1893 Willock House; facade renovations of the 1911 William Penn Snyder House; exterior improvements to the 1887 Charles G.B. Weihl House; and cleaning and replacement of the cracked and stained terra cotta front portico of the 1911 Allegheny Observatory.
The commission recognized two vacant, historic Lawrenceville buildings in the 3500 block of Butler Street that architect Jill Joyce and owner Lee Gross turned into shops with stately storefronts.
Kratofil, 71, received $20,000 from the Urban Redevelopment Authority to cover facade improvements to the firehouse-turned-studio and loft that he completed with craftsman John Majewski, 84, of Stowe.
"We had to follow very strict historic guidelines," said architect Val Zarro.
That included relying on black-and-white photographs to restore the 400-pound firehouse bay doors and the decorative green-and-white molding on the building's exterior.
Kratofil and his wife bought the building for about $135,000 in 2004, Zarro said. They put roughly $155,000 more into restoring it.
"The detailing was done by Nick and (Majewski)," Zarro said. "They really did an incredible job."
In the North Side, Downtown architect Pfaffmann and Associates worked with the University of Pittsburgh to restore the cracked east entrance of the three-telescope Allegheny Observatory, which the university owns.
The work was completed last year with help from a $90,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Pitt put in $150,000.
Much of the observatory is cracked and pitted near the top of the building. More work is needed to restore the appearance of the active observatory, which is in Riverview Park, one of Pittsburgh's four largest parks.
"I love it here," said Lou Coban, the observatory's administrator. "It's definitely worth improving."
