Estimated $2.4 million renovation in progress at Hartwood Acres stables

About $2.4 million in renovations will convert the former Hartwood Acres stables into a wedding and special events center.

The upgrade includes a new $1.4 million slate roof and nearly $1 million in other renovations that will convert what was an equestrian complex built in 1927 for Mary Flinn Lawrence into the special events venue.

One of nine county parks, Hartwood Acres straddles Hampton and Indiana townships. It was ripe for the investment because there hasn’t been that much work done at the park, which features the Hartwood mansion, a performance stage and mostly fields and trails.

“It was Hartwood’s turn,” said Andy Baechle, director of Allegheny County Parks. County officials and others realize the value of these facilities, he said.

The stable’s roof had to be fixed. Leaks were becoming frequent and problematic.

“Once a roof goes, it’s amazing how quickly a building can deteriorate,” he said.

Hartwood’s stables aren’t just one building but a series of buildings and rooms based on the old-style architecture of a Cotswolds village in England, which Mary Lawrence wanted to replicate, said Kevin Evanto, Allegheny County parks spokesman.

During Lawrence’s days there, in addition to the horses, cows were housed in stables. They used to travel the steep cobblestone driveway to reach the surrounding fields to graze, he said.

“The Lawrences definitely loved their animals,” he said.

The stables are imposing, with durable craftsmanship and well-preserved oak and ironwork. In adjoining rooms, preserved artifacts from the Lawrence family include antique equestrian gear, trunks, horse show ribbons and other family memorabilia.

Call it not the Cadillac but the Rolls-Royce of horse stables, said Tim Jaczesko, Hartwood’s park manager.

The varnished oak of the horse stalls still maintains its luster decades after Mary Lawrence directed its daily polishing, according to the website Historic Pittsburgh.

Those impeccably maintained areas of the stables will not change.

“Preserving the stables is fitting for the park and the legacy of Mary Lawrence’s love of horses,” said Melissa Swedish, deputy director of Allegheny County Parks. The Hartwood grounds include an old horse cemetery and a number of the trails that were first laid out as horse trails.

The stables complex also houses the park’s maintenance operations, two vacant apartments, a small greenhouse and a nearby rustic barn.

Completion of the new roof and other work is expected by June 11.

There are already 12 weddings booked this year for the stables, which hold up to 100 guests. It rents for $900 to $3,600 for Allegheny County residents.

The site renovation project includes outdoor facilities such as tents in the main courtyard branching off the stables, restacking some stone walls, resetting the cobblestone road, refurbishing the courtyards, and adding a drainage system to direct water from the site to a small pond.

Other projects on tap at Hartwood include a sculpture garden led by the Allegheny County Parks Foundation with help from the county departments of parks, public works and facilities management, Evanto said.

That work will preempt weddings at the mansion in 2021. However, the county is already booking weddings at the mansion and the stables for 2022.

Because of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, only one of the 43 weddings booked at the mansion was held, Evanto said.