COMMUNITY GARDENS & GREENSPACE
Downtown Pittsburgh Gardens
Some of WPC’s oldest and most iconic community flower gardens are located in downtown Pittsburgh. Tended each year with the help of outstanding volunteers, these garden beds are located in small areas of green space that enliven the landscape and welcome visitors, workers and residents alike. Our Downtown Pittsburgh Greening work is meant to be replicated to enhance and improve commercial corridors and other town centers.
Liberty Avenue & Commonwealth Place: The Point
Welcoming travelers into downtown Pittsburgh from the Fort Pitt tunnels and as the doorway into Point State Park, are the garden beds at Liberty Avenue & Commonwealth Place. The beds offer a natural and colorful gateway into downtown Pittsburgh in summer months.
Established in 1989, this garden is one of WPC’s oldest flower gardens and is one of the most popular gardens for volunteering for spring plantings and summer maintenance events.
Grant Street at First Avenue
Established in 1991, this narrow stretch of green space can be seen across from Firstside Park on Grant Street. Located at the southern point of downtown Pittsburgh, this highly visible garden is only a few blocks from the City County Building. The garden is well-cared for by longtime local corporate volunteers.
Gateway Center Island: Faith’s Garden
Faith Gallo, former director of Pittsburgh Parks and Recreation Department and a former publisher of Pittsburgh Magazine, passed away in 1999 after a valiant battle with leukemia. Her friends wanted to ensure that her efforts to improve Pittsburgh would be memorialized and in 2000 they funded the establishment of a small garden at the Gateway Center Island along Stanwix Street. Several years later, the garden was relocated to an attractive raised bed when the Port Authority completed construction of the light rail Gateway Station.
If you would like to help volunteer at these gardens or any others located throughout the region, please contact Lynn McGuire-Olzak at 421-586-2324 or LMcGuire-Olzak@paconserve.org.
For More Information:
Arthur DeMeo
Director of Community Greenspace Services