It’s more than a metaphor that the new headquarters of Western Pennsylvania Conservancy represents a bridge linking the past, present and the future. The link is a reality, focused on the facility itself.

"We moved into downtown Pittsburgh’s oldest standing office building," said then Western Pennsylvania Conservancy President Larry J. Schweiger. "But when we renovated 209 Fourth Avenue to satisfy our needs, we used state-of-the art technologies to showcase our commitment to resource conservation. To preserve the past, we took every opportunity to reuse existing materials, including some from the building’s original construction in 1836. Looking to the future, we bought as many natural and recycled materials as were financially realistic. And we installed energy-efficient heating, cooling and lighting."Western Pennsylvania Conservancy offered invited guests tours of its new headquarters February 6 and 7, 1997, to see the four floors of offices. "We hope that the community will see this as a living model of environmentally responsible building design."

WPC bought the building a year earlier, in February 1996, and spent this past year renovating the 161-year-old structure, known most commonly to long-time residents as Arthur’s Restaurant.

"It’s important to preserve such an historic structure," said Schweiger. Nine years after the building was erected, it survived the city’s "great fire of 1845," only to suffer one of its own around 1900. The rafters in the attic still show the signs of charring, but the fire didn’t jeopardize their structural integrity. Most of what exists today dates to the turn of the century, except for the window casings and shutters, which were part of the original construction.

"We easily could have gutted the interior and started our remodeling with just a shell," said Schweiger, who joined the Conservancy in June 1996 as president. "TheWPC’s Board of Directors and staff agreed that this was an opportunity to prove the notion that humans can live ‘sustainably.’ That term has become a buzzword today, but here in this building, it has a practical meaning."

Cynthia Carrow, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Western Pennsylvania Conservancy oversaw the renovation of 209 Fourth Avenue. "One of the most critical elements of resource conservation is energy efficiency," she said. "Because this building is sandwiched on three sides by other structures, the challenge is to keep our work space cool ten months of the year."

Aided by a grant from the Vira I. Heinz Endowment, Carrow sought the advice of experts in sustainable building, known commonly as "greening." She met with local specialists at Carnegie Mellon University and Conservation Consultants, Inc., and also received advice from experts at the Rocky Mountain Institute, in Colorado.

The first step in conserving energy is to tighten the building’s thermal envelope -- the interface between the building’s interior and exterior. "We sealed cracks and spaces on exterior walls and around door and window frames, and had a variety of products from which to choose," Carrow said, "We chose an expanding polyurethane, which was produced without creating chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs contribute to the destruction of the upper-atmosphere ozone layer."

The front exterior sandstone walls were insulated with a rigid, one-inch CFC-free polystyrene board. The other exposed walls were insulated with fiberglass. The attic is insulated with blown cellulose, providing a value of R-38 on the floor, and fiberglass on the vertical surfaces.

After an analysis of heating and cooling needs, the most efficient choice became a natural gas-fired chiller-heater system. "It won’t emit sulfur oxides, which contribute to acid rain," said Carrow. "And it doesn’t produce CFCs." The system efficiently dehumidifies and cools or heats the air and sends it to one of 16 thermal zones in the building.

WPC’s unit is a 15-20 ton natural gas-fueled engine, with a chiller and a dessicant dehumidication system, which makes the drier air easier and less expensive to cool than moisture-laden air.

"The energy efficiency isn’t just in the heating and cooling. It’s in the daily life of an office," said Carrow. "We modernized computer equipment, reducing the amount of heat generated by office machinery. We focused lighting levels only where they were needed, and used T-8 suspended fluorescent lights. We arranged transoms and clerestories to flow the light through virtually all office spaces. Conventional lighting uses 2.4 watts of electricity per square foot; we pared our need to just 1 watt per square foot."

Then, the team turned its attention to the interior renovations. "Human’s use of many products today is linear," she said. "They run directly from their creation to their demise, as waste," she said. "But WPC wanted to use as many cyclic products as possible -- products that have been or can be reused or reshaped for a new value. We knew there would be financial value in making those choices."

She ticked off some of the conservation-minded decisions.

• When we cut the floor joists for an elevator, we used the wood to build bookshelves and to replace the conference room fireplace mantle. To maintain an historic atmosphere, the joists were cut by a craftsman who used blades from the Civil War era.
• We refurbished an old metal suite of cabinets for our kitchen, reclaimed from a home in Mount Oliver.
• The pressed tin ceiling was coated with lead-based paint, so we removed and contained the paint to eliminate health concerns, and pieced ceiling plates together as needed.
• The window casings and shutters are actually one of the few original elements of the building, dating to 1836.
• On some walls, we used homasote, a wallboard made from of recycled newsprint. Not only does it serve as a good wall surface, it easily accommodates thumbtacks without jeopardizing the integrity of the material. It also is an efficient sound insulator, and we used it on both horizontal and vertical applications where we needed it for these purposes.
• We refinished wood floors and used several sustainable floor coverings. We chose linoleum because it’s made of natural materials — powdered cork, linseed oil and wood resin, backed with burlap or jute. We chose a wool carpet, which is 100 percent natural. We also chose a synthetic carpet, considered "down-cyclable." If we purchase our next carpet from the same manufacturer, they will remove the old carpet for reincarnation as plastic lumber.

The new building also demonstrates a natural evolution of the WPC’s mission, said Schweiger. "We will maintain our continuing land conservation programs, as they have been carried out since the WPC’s inception in 1932," he said "And we intend to expand our role in western Pennsylvania by equipping residents with information and educational programs, and by providing opportunities for active participation."