The Borough of Union City, Pennsylvania has one historic district, appropriately named the Union City Historic District, which is listed on National Register of Historic Places. The district encompasses residential neighborhoods and the commercial main street. The Borough secured a Keystone Historic Preservation Grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) to create an historic preservation plan. The Union City Historic Preservation Plan (the Plan) focuses on the commercial area of the historic district.
The Plan has two portions: a voluntary design guide for the general downtown Union City commercial historic district, and voluntary façade improvement plans for the individual commercial buildings within the downtown commercial historic district.
The design guide portion details improvements to public spaces, such as sidewalk, parks, parking, and streets, and provides recommendations for commercial building maintenance, signage, lighting, and color schemes.
The façade improvement plans provide building specific information to downtown property owners. The façade plans include site history, façade improvement suggestions, ideal improvement phasing, and cost estimates.
Even within the few years since the Plan’s completion, many suggested improvements to the façades and public spaces have been completed. The Borough of Union City received the Greater Erie Awards, Planning for development of the Union City Historic Preservation Plan from Preservation Erie.
Completion: 2019
Client: Borough of Union City
Awards: Preservation Erie: Greater Erie Awards, Planning to Union City Borough for Development of the Union City Historic Preservation Plan
Categories: Building Assessment and Planning, Historic Preservation