Yellow tape and temporary fencing have gone up around Baptist Senior Family’s former skilled nursing and personal care facility, marking the first visible signs of a demolition project expected to begin later this year.

The buildings, located at 1210 Castle Shannon Road, are part of a larger complex that includes Baptist Manor, a 100-unit independent living community for seniors with low or fixed incomes.

Baptist Senior Family, formerly the Baptist Homes Society, is a nonprofit, faith-based charitable organization.

“Everyone should rest assured that Baptist Manor will remain, and we will continue to own that property,” said Amy Dukes, vice president of marketing and public relations. “Manor residents won’t be impacted.”

Originally established in 1910 as the Baptist Orphanage & Home Society of Western Pennsylvania, the organization served children and widows before shifting its focus to senior care in the early 1970s.

The skilled nursing and personal care facility closed in October 2022 after rising costs made maintaining the buildings, which had undergone several additions over the decades, financially unfeasible.

The upcoming demolition will include the octagonal chapel and the old children’s cottage, originally part of the orphanage and later used as administrative offices.

“After closing operations, we looked at a number of different options,” President and CEO Timothy Myers said. “We looked at whether we could reuse those buildings.”

“It couldn’t be rehabbed in a way that made sense,” Dukes said.

In total, six structures will be removed from the property in December after asbestos abatement is completed by the end of September. Most of the buildings were constructed in the 1960s and 1980s and sit on foundations separate from Baptist Manor, with separate building systems.

“Once spring comes around, we’ll make sure that space looks pretty,” Dukes said.

The short-term goal is to create an outdoor, parklike area with grass and plants for residents to enjoy.

As preparations for demolition began, the project also uncovered pieces of the organization’s history.

Keystones have already been removed from the buildings, and time capsules dating to 1915, 1951 and 1964 were discovered inside them. Baptist Senior Family is working with the Historical Society of Mt. Lebanon to preserve items found in the capsules, including documents and memorabilia from the orphanage, such as children’s shoes.

A conservator will open the boxes, digitize the materials and preserve items for display.

“Some items will go back in the memory box for the next capstone,” Myers said.

Other items found on the property, including an old safe dating to before 1942, also have been opened. Documents discovered inside will be preserved for local historical purposes and could provide information for genealogy research.

Myers recalled meeting one of the last people served by the orphanage during a visit in 2022.

“An older gentleman and his granddaughter visited, and we found his admissions folder,” Myers said.

Myers said direct descendants of children who lived at the Baptist orphanage can contact the organization to determine whether their relative’s records remain on file, provided at least 100 years have passed.

As for the long-term future of the Castle Shannon Road property, Dukes said Baptist Senior Family is “looking at options to see what would best benefit the community and to see what the needs are of the senior residents in the Pittsburgh area.”

“What we are focusing on is, ‘How do we help people live long without disease?’” Myers said, while still aligning that work with the organization’s mission and goals.

To that end, Baptist Senior Family is investing in research focused on extending quality of life, as well as robotics. The organization is choosing charitable partners that share its interest in making research publicly available to benefit the broader industry.

“We are partnering with a number of national and international gerontology companies,” Myers said.

He believes that work could begin producing tangible benefits within the next decade or so.

“We will be able to start to bring benefits to folks,” Myers said. “It will certainly help the next generation of seniors.”