‘Barn’ off Banksville Road home to new South Hills business
Artsmiths of Pittsburgh has opened at the former Rollier’s Hardware in Mt. Lebanon.
Artsmiths of Pittsburgh has opened at the former Rollier’s Hardware in Mt. Lebanon.
Artwork on display at Artsmiths of Pittsburgh.
Artwork on display at Artsmiths of Pittsburgh, next to vintage Pittsburgh Brewing Co. bottles.
Among the better-known landmarks of Mt. Lebanon is the barn-shaped building at the end of Banksville Road.
Once the home of Rollier’s Hardware, until it moved to Washington Road in the mid-1990s, the rustic-looking structure has housed other ventures sporadically over the past few decades. But recent years saw it vacant and, more than one onlooker must have thought, destined for the wrecking ball.
Drive past these days, and you’ll see a new look for the venerable building, complete with a new purpose and new outlook for the folks who have brought back its vitality.
“We knew it when we saw this space, that this could be amazing,” Kate McGrady said as she surveyed the interior of Artsmiths of Pittsburgh. “It’s even more so than I ever dreamed.”
For a decade, the Mt. Lebanon resident owned Koolkat Designs in the Uptown Business District, not far from Rollier’s. Through conversations with that store’s owners, members of the Satterfield family, they hit on the idea of a partnership that would provide a new use for the landmark while increasing McGrady’s space and visibility.
Renovations started in January, and by late July came the process of moving in and working toward Artsmiths of Pittsburgh’s opening in August.
“They’ve done a fabulous job,” Bob Satterfield – of the Rollier’s-running brothers, along with Doug and Chuck – said about the work that McGrady and her creative director, Kate Wagle Hitmar, did on making the store worthy of an artists’ gallery.
As does everyone who enters the building, he commented on the natural light that bathes the interior on a sunny day.
“This definitely is the first business that’s been in here with light and all this open space,” McGrady said.
Along with the work of a variety of local artists – about 200 are represented at this point – Artsmiths boasts quite a few artifacts from the city it represents.
“We tried as much as possible in the displays to use things that have a Pittsburgh history, to reclaim what we could and combine the old with the new,” Hitmar explained.
For example, various ceramic pieces are exhibited atop aged wooden pallets that were rescued from an abandoned South Side warehouse. And cases that now display jewelry in Mt. Lebanon once did so in the city of Allegheny before it was part of Pittsburgh, more than a century ago.
The wood for the front counter came from the old Pittsburgh Banana Co. building in the Strip District, which gained notoriety for a 1936 explosion that damaged the nearby St. Stanislaus Kosta Church.
“These were the rafters,” Hitmar said.
Adorning the front of the counter are similarly saved tin ceiling panels, fashioned by Pittsburgh blacksmith John Walter and quilted together by McGrady.
She also stressed the hometown emphasis she has taken with KoolKats and now with Artsmiths.
“It’s all local. It’s keeping jobs and products that are made locally,” she said. “Everybody from Pittsburgh is benefitting.”
McGrady views the new location as a confluence between the cultural happenings of the city and the South Hills, a place where the community can gather to share their appreciation for artistic endeavors. The lower level, for example, is in the process of being reconfigured for what will become exhibit space, classrooms and a gallery to display handmade furniture.
To the rear of the main floor is the Koolkat Café, serving culinary treats and beverages straight from a couple of Strip District companies, Enrico Biscotti and La Prima Espresso.
And the display floor features art, art and more art, from potters, woodworkers, glassmakers, fiber artists, photographers, painters and illustrators, to go with the jewelry makers who always have prominently figured in McGrady’s displays.
“It shows the quantity of artistic talent available in this city,” she said. “They needed greater representation. We can bring in more things and represent more people.”
For more information, visit http://koolkatpgh.com/artsmiths/