PITTSBURGH — After a three-year anticipated arrival, the familiar lions guarding the front of the Dollar Bank building on Fourth Avenue have returned.
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Dubbed the “Guardians of the people’s money” in the 1800s by bank representatives and Pittsburgh natives, the two Berkshire brownstone lions were unveiled Wednesday morning.
These lions are a newer version of the century-and-a-half old lions that once stood on prominent podiums outside the bank. The older, Max Kohler editions have been restored and relocated to the inside of the bank’s doors where they will be enjoyed for their second century and a half in one of Pittsburgh’s oldest building interiors.
The newer lions were a creation of one of the only 12 master stone carvers in the US, Nicholas Fairplay. Fairplay, who just finished working on four 12-foot long lions for the Utah State capital, joked he never wanted to sculpt another lion again. However, the staff at Dollar Bank convinced him otherwise and he finished two lions exceeding 4 tons each nearly five months ago.
Fairplay is responsible for many other familiar pieces throughout the city in places such as St. Paul’s Cathedral and Carnegie Mellon’s College of Fine Arts Building.
Dollar Bank’s President and CEO Robert Oeler was joined by Senior Vice President of Marketing Joe Smith, Member of Board of Directors Doreen Boyce, CEO of the Allegheny Conference Dennis Yablonsky, and Rich Fitzgerald, among many other family and friends in the unveiling.
Yablonsky pointed out some notable facts to crowd in attendance including the quickly growing Pittsburgh corporations, thousands of open jobs in the region, and Dollar Bank’s support of the imaginepittsburgh.com job search website.
The building and lions have “seen Pittsburgh through World Wars, Steel Mill Days and a number of transformations in the city,” Yablonsky said.
Fitgerald added to the tribute giving Dollar Bank and its lions a notable title in the city calling them “a big part of our past, a big part of our present and a big part of our future.”
Joe Smith and Mark Cheplowitz, President of Wizard of Ahs, were largely involved with the day’s events.
Smith oversaw the project and restoration of the company’s history from start to finish over the last four years. The precise care and overall focus of Dollar Bank’s staff into the project was evident throughout the day’s proceedings.
Guests were guided through the journey to recreate this roaring symbol and then brought inside building’s doors to take a look at the well-preserved history that is the Heritage Center.
Inside the Heritage Center original signature books, cashbooks and deeds carry stories dating back to the $12,000 purchase of the land the building now rests on and clues to the history of the city. One entry even leads the staff to believe that they have record of the $4,000 loan former Senator George T. Oliver applied for in order to purchase the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The day’s events showed those in attendance and throughout the city that the lions and history of the Dollar Bank are an enormous part of our past and will continue to represent what was, what is, and what will become of the city of Pittsburgh.
WPXI
