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“The City of Pittsburgh and local nonprofits, including AARP and Pittsburgh Opera, gathered on Feb. 3 to celebrate ongoing efforts to restore the former home of the National Negro Opera Company. Art and artifacts celebrating the company and the legacy of its founder, Mary Cardwell Dawson, were unveiled and will remain on display at the City-County Building and online throughout February in commemoration of Black History Month.
“Now stewarded by the Pittsburgh-based National Opera House nonprofit, the structure at 7101 Apple St. in Homewood that once served as NNOC’s headquarters has been stabilized but still needs significant repairs to reopen.
The No. 1 site to see before it’s gone.
“‘AARP listed us as the No. 1 site to see before it’s gone,’ NOH executive director Jonnet Solomon told Pittsburgh City Paper. Solomon and her late friend Miriam White purchased the house in 2000. She said the most urgent matter for the nonprofit is replacing the house’s roof. The building had been previously named one of the “most endangered” historic sites nationwide. …
“The restoration process has faced a variety of roadblocks. Following the ‘endangered’ designation by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, confusion about the house’s history led Solomon to withdraw a state-reviewed application for National Register of Historic Places status. The application was pulled for revisions, including a better accounting of the house’s relationship to the locally famous Harris family, who owned the house and rented space to Dawson during the NNOC’s formative years. …
“‘When you fuse the stories, the history, the impact, the memories, the love, the joy, all of the things that come with that building, it changes your perspective on a particular structure,’ NOH board president Khalif Ali [Leading with Conviction 2020] told the City-County Building crowd on Feb. 3. ‘So we’re very happy to be here to honor the memory, the legacy, all of the experiences and the impact of the National Negro Opera House.’”
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