UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

Date:______

I, ______, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in:

It is entitled:

This work and its defense approved by:

Chair: ______

Post-Industrial Palimpsest: Maintaining Place and Layers of History

A thesis submitted to the

Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Architecture in the School of Architecture and Interior Design 2004 by

Matthew D. Stevenson

B.S. Arch., University of Cincinnati, 2001

Committee Chair: David Saile Committee Members: Gordon Simmons Jeffrey Tilman

ABSTRACT

Industry, formerly defining the identity of Pittsburgh, has mostly moved away from the city. The resultant post-industrial landscape is littered with abandoned industrial buildings. These buildings facing disuse or demolition are the urban artifacts that once contributed to the sense of place. The loss of these artifacts has negative effects not only on the particular place but also on the broader urban environment. The reuse of these buildings is important to make them a valued piece of architecture once again. Place is immersed in layers of history. The destruction of the post-industrial landscape separates and tears those layers of history. While maintaining a connection to the industrial past is important, it is necessary not to overlook all the layers of pre- and post-industrial history. These are elements of the place. The conversion of unused industrial buildings can start to maintain the sense of place. The fuller sense of place may be realized in an architecture of palimpsest. Metaphorically, the term palimpsest refers to the ability of architecture to contain many partial “texts” thru time layered over each other. The richness of the architecture takes advantage of this and is derived from the layers that define place. The aspects used to create this architectural palimpsest are the validity of fragments, the existing architectural character, and the design of new interventions. Design exploration will take place through the Armstrong Cork Building in the Strip District of Pittsburgh. This striking hundred year-old cork factory has been abandoned for twenty-five years. The project derives its program not only from the needs of the area as well as from the layers of history.

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iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my family for their support, my thesis committee for their guidance, my friends for their distraction, and my fiancée Jeanne for her love.

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ...... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... 1 THESIS ...... 3 Setting...... 4 Proposition...... 8 Thinking ...... 9 SITE ...... 15 Physical Description ...... 16 Site History ...... 16 Prehistory – Fort Pitt 16 1769 – 1860 19 1860 – 1915 21 1916 – Present 27 Building History...... 33 Armstrong Beginnings (1860) – New Facility (1901) 33 Armstrong Cork Built (1901) - Armstrong Cork Closed (1974) 37 Armstrong Cork Abandoned (1974) – Present 39 Site Analysis ...... 43 PROGRAM...... 44 Grounding...... 45 Segments...... 45 Residential 45 Art Gallery 46 Business Lofts 47 Summary ...... 48 Bibliography ...... 50 Image Credits ...... 52 Appendices ...... 56 Appendix I: Program Requirements ...... 56 Residential Program 56 Art Gallery Program 64 Business Loft Space 71

1 Appendix II: Pittsburgh Neighborhoods...... 74 Appendix III: Pittsburgh Neighborhoods...... 75 Appendix IV: 1886 Pittsburgh Plat Maps...... 76 Appendix V: 1906 Armstrong Cork Sanborne Map Environs ...... 77 Appendix VI: 1923 Armstrong Cork Sanborne Map Environs ...... 78 Appendix VII: Strip District and Environs Aerial Photo...... 79 Appendix VIII: Climate Region 1...... 80 Appendix VIII: Climate Region 3...... 81

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THESIS

3

Setting

The United States has seen a decline of its heavy industry over the last 50 years. Left in its wake are numerous abandoned industrial structures. These sites are a detriment with an estimated 500,000 “brownfields” to be found in the United States.1 According to the US.EPA: Brownfields are abandoned, idled or underused industrial or commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.2

This thesis will focus on one particular industrial area but may have implications for many other cities coping with similar problems. Since its incorporation as a city, the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was defined by the industries that sustained it. This evolution of identity can be seen in a quick postcard comparison (see Figure 1). The natural resources of coal and navigable rivers led to the development of heavy industry, especially steel. Pittsburgh became famous as the world’s single largest producer of steel responsible for building America’s Figure 1: Postcard comparison shows the change in identity. Top right: A picture postcard titled, “HIGH NOON,” c. 1920. Above: J&L Mill c. 1950. Left: Skyline c. 2000. 1 Kirkwood, Niall. Manufactured Sites: Rethinking the Post-Industrial Landscape. London: Spon Press, 2001. pg. 4-5. 2 Kirkwood. pg. 61. 4 railroads, bridges, skyscrapers and machines of war for over a century. A strong identity of hard work and pride was formed during these years. “Yet Pittsburgh has treated its steel heritage with ambivalence in these years after steel, mostly due to the pollution and layoffs of workers the industry caused.”3 Today, with steel and manufacturing all but moved overseas, most local steel mills have closed. Although, the city has profited greatly in reduced pollution, people in and out of the region still identify Pittsburgh with steel and manufacturing.4 The city is left with numerous abandoned industrial structures. The buildings often remain dilapidated or are leveled to make room for new development since many of them sit on prime riverside real estate. The South Side Works, made up largely of the Jones and Laughlin steelworks, was scraped clean for new development. Little trace of its history was left behind. A new sculpture tries desperately to fill the void. The city and its residents, once steeped in its rugged industrialism, are slowly losing those once soot- covered vestiges of the past that define the place. They contribute neither to the current urban fabric nor to the everyday life of the city. Figure 2: Smoky City. Jones and Laughlin steelworks with the University of Pittsburgh's These unused structures represent a series of difficulties that need addressing. Cathedral of Learning in the distance. Brownfields are occupying a valuable piece of riverfront. New developments are necessary to pump life back into buildings and potential neighborhoods that sit dormant after their industrial life has ended. Enough of these artifacts need to remain so that the past can be discerned and character of the place maintained. To remain, the new use or old building may require adaptation. These issues concerning the continuity of the urban environment, and the continuity of place and their relations to program should be elaborated further.

3 Matthews, Peter. Forum: Pittsburgh is still a steel town: Build on it. Post-Gazette, 9/30/03 . 4 Matthews. 5

Figure 3: Title page image of South Side Works section from Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) 2001 Annual Report that celebrates the destruction of past industrial fabric for new development. This type of historical landscape is being lost in the city.

Without occupying these buildings, the city or neighborhood lacks the “living presence that is felt in an active, complex city.”5 Where these buildings are found in an existing neighborhood the continuity of the urban environment is splintered; where they are found in a larger abandoned industrial context a huge opportunity to get back to the waterfront or other natural feature is neglected. Its significance is limited to those who appreciate it as a romantic ruin and not architecture. Christian Norberg-Schulz argues “… a work of architecture has true value only if it possesses an urban quality, that is, if it is able to strengthen and renew the sick organism of the contemporary city.” 6 Currently

5 Lynch, Kevin. What Time Is This Place?. Cambridge, MA: The M.I.T. Press, 1972. pg. 12. 6 Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Architecture: Meaning and Place. New York: Electa/ Rizzoli, 1988. pg. 7. 6 these ruins may help to define a place or time but they are non-participants in the city. Something must be done with these neglected buildings if we want them to once again become functional pieces of architecture and parts of a whole city. Without the presence of images of the past, there are no portals to evoke the past and project the future.7 So much of a place’s livelihood can define its character. What would Monterey Bay be without fishing, Hollywood without movies, or even Cincinnati without pork? The same can be said for Pittsburgh and its steel. These buildings are a part of the character that is Pittsburgh. Monterey Bay addressed this problem with its famous aquarium and subsequent redevelopment of Cannery Row. Pittsburgh has attempted to address this problem. The rehabilitation of Station Square, with its popular shopping, dining, and entertainment venues, now features random outdated industrial equipment as public sculpture in the outdoor gathering spaces. Figure 4: Top: The Bessemer converter; Left: The These pieces are however completely divorced from their true setting and place. A Bessemer converter as the centerpiece in the design of the outdoor space and the neon sign for Station freestanding Bessemer converter may show someone that this is somehow important to Square. Below: Steeler helmet with the steel symbol that inspired the logo.

7 Lynch, What Time Is This Place? pg. 60. 7 the region, but so does knowing the name of the local NFL affiliate. It does little however to evoke the experiences of men and women spending their lives laboring next to any of the thousands of fiery furnaces and other industrial machines. Industry was a rough, dirty, and crude business. Gleaming towers and a burgeoning high-tech future should not obscure the sweat and coal of the past. To destroy these buildings is to destroy the uniqueness of this place. A meaningful contrast of new with old structures will create a more meaningful landscape. “Choosing a past helps us to construct a future.” 8 Strict restoration is probably not suitable for these structures. Often these projects were conceived as a large campus of buildings special to the manufacturing processes that they housed. Because their original function is extinct or has moved far away, a rethinking of the master plan or social framework may be necessary. A sensitive application of program can reveal the past uses of the building while remaining a functioning piece of Architecture. Design interventions that achieve a workable program need to address the city’s future while relating to the its past. The redefined functions of buildings are important in achieving the desired urban environment and maintained character.

Proposition

These concerns are complex. Integration of approaches to the study of place with a thoughtful approach to conversion underlies the strategies to be employed. New design interventions need not only to respond to the needs of a client but also to respond to the layers of physical and social history. These layers and the resultant design interventions will be manifest in a palimpsest.9 The term palimpsest usually refers to any manuscript, usually written on papyrus or parchment, on which more than Figure 5: Palimpsest. The face of this building shows different "texts" from different periods that can be seen at 8 Lynch, What Time Is This Place? pg. 64. once. 9 Robert, Philippe. Adaptations: New Uses For Old Buildings. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1989. pg. 6. 8 one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible.10 Metaphorically, this concept applied to recycled architecture has implications both in physical and social instances. The imprint of a structure now gone left on the façade of another building, the coats of graffiti on the interior walls, the stains of past industrial times are all parts of the palimpsest that create the architecture. Figure 6: Two examples of Further consideration of the elements that could create the palimpsest fragmentary reminders on the is necessary to gather a series of strategies that corresponds to the scale of the city in Berlin. To the left: Sustaining heavy underlying hopes of the conversion project. This approach hopes to damage from Allied bombing during WWII, the Gedächtnis achieve the larger concept of place through an architectural Kirche is left to remain as a poignant reminder and a part of palimpsest of physical and social histories. It is more important to new church built at the location. Below: A piece of the Berlin maintain a notion of the past inhabitations than to preserve the Wall in front of the new glitzy Potsdamer Platz reminds us of original architect’s ideal image of the building. Focus in preservation the Cold War. should evolve away from the actual built environment to the actual human habitation. The goal is to adaptively re-use an old industrial building and its site in such a way that enriches the place and maintains old identities while layering a new one on top of it.

Thinking

This thesis poses three different factors that create the architecture of palimpsest. The validity of fragments, the reaction to the existing architectural character, and the design of new interventions should carry the sense of place. Further investigations will find redundancies between the aspects of the place palimpsest and the necessity of function that will inform the design of conversions.

10 Dictionary.com. 11.29.03. . 9 Fragments of the whole are a valid and important factor in the development of an architectural palimpsest. A fragment is anything that is a departure from or a piece of the whole. The simple act of putting a new program in a structure is going to compromise the whole. Therefore, it is essential that fragments work as a legitimate solution to pursue the maintenance of place in a conversion. Disparate pieces allow flexibility for accommodating the new programs. Writer Kevin Lynch argues, “Where old structures cannot support present functions without impairing these functions… fragments may be used to enhance new buildings.”11 Connecting with the place’s history is done more easily with fragments of places than with whole entities. The unfinished character of fragments allows the user to complete it and connect more directly with the past. “Fragments surpass wholes in joining the past dynamically with the present.”12 Strict preservation that reverts a building to its original state neglects the history of the life of the building. “It considers any reconstruction as fraudulent and thinks of time as a process of regrettable but inevitable dissolution.”13 Using fragments of all of the remaining layers of history will be more successful in connecting the users to the place. These pieces not only provide greater freedom in adapting the new program in a purely functional manner but also in a compositional sense as well, “…fragments do 14 not demand the same obsessive fidelity to original integrity as wholes.” Keeping Figure 7: Originally built in the 1500’s the castle Koldinghus in the Jutland of Denmark has been fragments of architecture can be a successful approach to reusing dilapidated buildings reused by the design team of Inger and Johannes Exner. They keep much of the and fabric of cities: fragments of the old castle and allow visitors to The contrast of old and new, the accumulated concentration of the realize the past in the present. most significant elements of the various periods gone by, even if they are only fragmentary reminders of them, will in time produce a landscape whose depth no one period can equal, although such time-deep areas may be achieved only in some parts of the city.15

11 Lynch, What Time Is This Place? pg. 57. 12 Lowenthal, David. “Material Preservation and its Alternatives.” Perspecta no. 25 (1983): Pg.72. 13 Lynch, What Time Is This Place? pg. 35. 14 Lowenthal. “Material Preservation and its Alternatives.” pg. 71. 15 Lynch. What Time Is This Place? pg. 57. 10

Evaluating the possibilities of the existing architectural character of the building is essential to the success of a conversion project. “Working on an existing building means coming to terms with it; such work involves juggling constraints additional to those arising from the program and from building regulations.”16 Qualities of materials, space, and light are some of the characteristics that should be considered. Certain spaces are going to lend themselves to certain functions in the program. Realizing the crucial remaining features allows an appropriate selection of fragments for reuse. Emphasizing all layers of history is important to the success of maintaining place in the conversion of unused buildings. The reinterpretation of the fabric of the building begets the architectural success of a conversion project. The following case study may illuminate this idea. Herzog & de Meuron’s Tate Modern in London is one of the most famous recent examples of adaptive re-use. An old industrial building, the Bankside Power Station, is reused here for a premier modern art museum. The architects describe their approach to the design as “a kind of Aikido strategy where you use your enemy’s strategy for your own purposes. Instead of fighting it you take Figure 8: The Tate Modern converted the all the energy and shape it in an unexpected turbine hall of the Bankside Power Station into a dramatic entry hall for the museum. and new way.”17 This strategy is realized especially in the main west entrance where the visitors come down a ramp and enter the massive space of the old turbine hall. One of the essential material selections of translucent glass was based on the desire to have a “body of light … to pour daylight into

16 Robert. pg. 4. 17 Moore, Rowan, and Raymond Ryan. Building Tate Modern: Herzog & De Meuron Transforming Giles Gilbert Scott. London: Tate Gallery Publishing, 2000. p. 125. 11 the rooms on the top floor of the gallery and, at night, the direction of the artificial illumination would be reversed and magically shine into the London sky.”18 This horizontal body of light also compositionally balances the vertical thrust of the brick tower. The building overall is great success, as it has become an important landmark in a city of landmarks. There are a couple of important lessons to learn from the Tate Modern. The idea of “place” being maintained is arguable. The maintenance of the immensity of the space of the turbine hall to a certain extent, maintains the power of the architectural quality of the place. Whether the social histories of an old power building are maintained here is debatable. The recognition of the possibility for the power of conversion of this space was crucial to the project. The combination of the success of the museum and the quality in the architecture make the conversion a success. The material palette is successful in that it confidently announces what is old and what is new. The use of the translucence wonderfully creates intrigue and a finished composition.

Creation of a meaningful palimpsest requires differentiation between new interventions and old layers. Manipulating design languages and using materials unique to the building are two ways to approach the new additions. However, the conversion will be richer if those interventions are somehow connected to the place. The selection of the material palette is one way to maintain a connection with the place in an industrial setting. Using the products that were once created in these buildings makes a direct connection to the past. Other materials could come from the surrounding context, the local traditions, or some known historical event. However, it is important to sustain a contrast with the old materials so that the palimpsest can be read successfully. The same can be said for the language of design of the new elements. The materials and the design interventions that they create must contrast with the existing architecture.

18 Moore. p. 127. 12 While the new programmatic functions will develop changes in the building, it is imperative to connect them to the history of the place. This might be accomplished through echoing some process or organizing features of the building. A case study should help illustrate these points. Dirrix van Wylick Architekten’s reuses an industrial building that held high value in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. “Though it is neither an architectural jewel nor an official landmark, the factory has long been the heart of Eindhoven, Phillips’ (global lighting and electronics company) hometown.” 19 Standing empty for nearly ten years the Phillips CEO was all but ready to demolish it when a local artist, Bert Hermens, spearheaded a grassroots campaign that eventually swayed the company. Nicknamed The White Lady, the building was difficult to re-program because of its 344,000 square feet of usable space. Eventually, a mixed-use program was developed for Eindhoven’s Design Academy, a European Design Centre, Phillips own design department, the Eindhoven Public Library, local architecture, design, and art collectives, three shared exhibition spaces, a 120-seat auditorium, a bookstore, a grand café, a rooftop courtyard, and underground parking. The architects also needed to make concessions to the Figure 9: Philip's light fixtures relate to the place in neighborhood by cutting openings in the building to allow for pedestrian connections. Eindhoven's White Lady. The materials and detailing throughout the building stay close to the industrial aesthetic. Phillips lighting fixtures make up a large part of the design as well. Lighting features enliven the exterior spaces at night and colored lights are used to call attention to certain programmatic features.20 The White Lady makes a wonderful commitment to working with the existing neighborhood. Filling the spaces with life for the whole day is essential to making it work. The varied programmatic functions should achieve this. The showcasing of Phillips fixtures reconnects it with the past uses of the building. They also reconnected

19 Metz, Tracy. “The White Lady: Eindhoven, The Netherlands.” Architectural Record no.187 (Feb 1999): p. 128. 20 Metz, Tracy. p. 128-132. 13 old pedestrian paths that were wiped out by the original construction of the building. Using the materials that were once manufactured there and reconnecting urban paths refers to the past of the building and region.

It is important to be cognizant of where clear redundancies occur with the needs of the program. For instance, in the case of the Tate, the program needed some sort of grand entrance. Fragments of the turbine hall were kept for this purpose. The existing architectural quality was reinterpreted. New interventions clearly contrasted with the old. While the palimpsest may not be as clear here, the benefits of finding redundancies are. The richness of the architectural conversion is found with these elements working together to maintain the place.

Figure 10: Armstrong Cork Building site.

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SITE

15 Physical Description

The land in southwestern Pennsylvania is a mountainous hilly forest. However, it is what is underneath that would define the region more than the topography and vegetation. Stored in the ground were natural gas, oil, and most importantly “coal in greater abundance than anywhere on earth.”21 Large navigable rivers partition the land. These rivers connect the region to the whole of the eastern portion of the continent through the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Pittsburgh is located where the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers converge to form the Ohio. The rivers are broad, affording the passage of large vessels. Figure 11: Pennsylvania Throughout geological history they have carved flat shores in front of the steep hills on either side. The city began on the flat shores of the confluence of these rivers. The project site is in the Strip District that lies just to the Northeast of the central city along the south shores of the Allegheny River. A general history of Pittsburgh and a more in-depth history of the evolving Strip District are needed.

Site History

Prehistory – Fort Pitt

Interest in the land began long before Europeans began to explore it. A rock shelter gives evidence of ancient Native Americans who lived 17,000 years ago within 50 miles of the rivers’ convergence. From 1500 years ago there are indications of Native American burial mounds in McKees Rocks, down the Ohio River from the confluence, and probably also on Grant’s Hill between the Allegheny and Monongahela. “The first written accounts of the area came from French, English, and Dutch explorers

21 Toker, Franklin. Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait. Figure 12: The Allegheny and Monongahela merge to University Park and London: The Pennsylvania form the Ohio State University Press, 1986. pg. 7-8. 16 who made contact with the Delaware, Shawnee, Seneca, and Iroquois tribes who lived here.”22 Early frontier relationships were characterized by trading between the Indians and the Europeans. However, the land was in dispute between the French and English who both made claims to the new frontier. Their campaigns to control the region exploited the Native Americans alliances to achieve this ambition. One of the earliest recorded Indian settlements was the Native American village of Shannopin’s Town named after the Delaware chief Shannopin. “Shannopin’s Town hosted many traders, land speculators, and military men who mentioned the town in their journals.”23 Accounts from the explorers all describe the villagers as being very friendly. In 1750 Christopher Gist, exploring and land speculating for the Ohio Company, noted, “We entered with English colors before us, and were kindly received by their king (chief);”24 during his three day stay to recover from an illness, he noted about families with residence in the village.25 George Croghan, another explorer of the region, claimed that the Native Americans themselves wanted a post and a fort, “that in case of war we may have a place to secure our wives and children and our brothers that come to trade with us.”26 This is the earliest indication of a settlement at the confluence. Early writers describe the location of Shannopin’s Town as south of Two Mile Run on the south side of the Allegheny River; a known historic Native American burial ground occurs near here as well. While the exact location of the town is not known, significant evidence places it

22 Toker. pg. 9. 23 Uhl, Lauren and Tracy L. Coffing. Pittsburgh’s Strip District: Around the World in a Neighborhood. Pittsburgh: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 2003. pg. 5. 24 Lorant, Stefan. Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1983. pg. 17. 25 Uhl. pg. 5. 26 Lorant, pg. 17. 17 at the current-day 30th and 31st streets and Penn and Railroad Avenues of the Strip District.27 (See Appendix III) Gist would return three years later with a party of six that included twenty-one year-old George Washington. They were sent by the Virginia Governor to deliver a demand to the French to withdraw from the territory. During George Washington’s visit, he noted the land at the fork was “extremely well situated for a Fort, as it has the absolute Command of both Rivers.”28 Indeed, whoever controlled the site could control the entire tributary wash of the frontier west of the Appalachian Mountains and whatever trade was to go further west down the Ohio River. Thusly in 1754, the English built the first English fortification west of the Allegheny Mountains, Fort Prince George. This little half-built stockade lasted only four months before being taken by the French who built the small “le Fort DuQuesne, ‘under the title of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin at the Beautiful River.’”29 There were two unsuccessful British attempts to take back the region, led by George Washington and General Braddock. After the defeat of Braddock, three years passed with the French in sole control of the Ohio country. Fort Duquesne Figure 13: Drawing of Fort Duquesne was falling in disrepair and was too small to house the necessary garrison. Meanwhile, the French were losing their allies in the Native Americans. A foolish Major James Grant on a reconnaissance mission to the Forks attempted to take Fort Duquesne but was ambushed by the French and their native allies on the hill that overlooks the fort. The hill is still sometimes referred to as Grant’s Hill. Freezing cold and out of food, the French burnt the fort and fled. Washington and his men came a month after the ambush of Major Grant and took the fort without a shot being fired. Eventually the largest English fortification in America was built on the site. It was named after the British Prime Minister, William Pitt, who was in support of British colonial advancements. Fort Pitt was built from 1759 to 1761 and the town that developed outside the walls became

Figure 14: Model of Fort Pitt 27 Uhl. pg. 2. 28 Lorant. pg. 12. 29 Toker. pg. 9. 18 Pittsburgh. The fort was used to protect residents from Indian attacks until the Battle of Bushy Run in 1763 ended the threat of the attacks.30

1769 – 1860

With the town developing at the apex of the wedge formed by the rivers, the present day Strip District started having its first settlers. “In 1769, the Penn family (of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania) opened a land office in the Manor of Pittsburgh and began offering 300-acre tracts of land.”31 One of the thousands who responded was Thomas Smallman, who later sold his property to James O’Hara, owner of a farm named “Springfield” in the northeast portion of the Strip. After his involvement in the Revolutionary War, he began some commercial ventures, all of which seemed to be in the city. In these early years, the Strip District was a pastoral retreat for the town’s 32 affluent manufacturers. That did not last long. Pittsburgh became a city in 1816 and Figure 15: Pittsburgh in 1804 as painted by George Beck. within 30 years the land of the Strip was sectioned and became city wards. Abundant resources were not the only geographical factor that led to Pittsburgh’s becoming an industrial center. Isolation from Philadelphia and the east created by the Allegheny Mountains made traveling and shipping expensive. Businessmen could produce the goods here for less than it could be brought to the city from the East. Water transportation could take people and goods down the Ohio River to the frontier or the Gulf of Mexico, and it was a key location to stock up on provisions for any exploration of the frontier; therefore Pittsburgh became a “gateway to the west.”33 The Strip District was ideal for industrial development because it was flat, surrounded by four residential areas, and on the river.

30 Lorant. pg. 39. 31 Uhl. pg. 2. 32 Uhl. pg. 4. 33 Uhl. pg. 8. 19 Early commodities included iron, glass, boats, leather goods, textiles, brass, tin, and distilled and brewed products. Industry grew rapidly in the early 1800s. Iron was the leading industry by 1803 with an estimated total value of goods at $56,548. Just seven years later that figure was $94,890. To add fuel to the fire, the War of 1812 hit and all of the United States had to go inland to get their manufactured products. 34 For instance, artillery and bullets were supplied to the United States by the early iron foundries.35 Thus in 1815 the total value of iron was at $764,200. Five years yielded an increase of eightfold and all of the other industries followed generally the same pattern.36 During the early half of the century the Strip featured 16 iron and steel mills, at least four glass manufacturers, and other industries including foundries, textiles, and lumber. Figure 16: Early Iron mill in strip in 1824. Industry continued to prosper until it received another enhancement in the mid to late 1800s.37 The Strip District, like most of Pittsburgh at this time, was a mixed-use neighborhood with residential, commercial, and industrial areas. The strip was where the original immigrants of Pittsburgh came to work and live. The original settlers were Figure 17: Glass pitcher from Strip District glass mostly English or Scotch-Irish. Around 1800 Catholic Irish began to move to Pittsburgh. house c. 1850. Germans, Poles, and Slovaks would follow, as they were familiar with the work in the mines and mills.38 In 1850, over one-half of the male population were either skilled artisans or businessmen. “In addition to the large number of glass blowers and puddlers (an iron-worker skill), the ‘skilled artisans’ represented a wide range of occupations including coopers, tailors, locksmiths, carpenters, shoemakers, blacksmiths, and brewers.”39 Women who worked outside of the household usually worked in something

34 Lorant. pg. 72-77. 35 Toker. pg. 189. 36 Lorant. pg. 72-77. 37 Uhl. pg. 10-12. 38 Toker. pg. 189. 39 Uhl. pg. 14. 20 related to sewing. As young as eight years old, boys could find employment in the neighborhood glass house and girls could find employment in the textile mill.40 Living conditions were starting to worsen with the pollution even then. David Thomas, a visitor to Pittsburgh in 1816, described the murk: “dark dense smoke was rising from many parts, and a hovering cloud of this vapor.”41 Families lived in this environment amongst the factories in what were generally four-room rowhouses, with an average of five people per household. Of course only about 10 percent of the people owned their own home as it was owned by the descendants of the original landholders.42 While the Strip did not necessarily separate into ethnic neighborhoods, they did try to take ownership of their religion. The Irish and German immigrants each built churches in the Strip in the early 1800’s. St. Patrick’s in 1808 and St. Philomena’s in 1846 would set the standard for other ethnic congregations to come.

1860 – 1915

In 1866, a visiting writer named James Parton, while perched on top of the Hill, wrote that the view of the Strip District, was “hell with the lid taken off.”43 Heavy industry would have an explosion of growth in the late 1800’s. Railroad transportation, the invention of the Bessemer process of making steel, and the Civil War all contributed to further expansion of industry in the region. Before the railroad, goods moved by the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, which was much slower. The Pennsylvania Railroad connected Pittsburgh to Philadelphia in 1852. Connections to Chicago, New York, and Wheeling followed in the next 20 years. The rail lines played a major role in shaping the Strip. The Pennsylvania Railroad entered the Strip from the northwest and ran between the south side of Liberty and the Figure 18: "...hell with the lid taken off."

40 Uhl. pg. 14. 41 Lorant. pg. 78. 42 Uhl. pg. 14. 43 Lubove, Roy, ed. Pittsburgh. New York: New Viewpoints: A Division of Franklin Watts. 1976. pg. 10. 21 Hill. The first railroad stations and warehouses were built right on the border of the Strip and downtown. The railroad yards stretched from 11th street to 28th street. The Allegheny Valley Railroad also entered the Strip on the present-day Railroad Avenue. In addition to being able to ship products with greater efficiency, “the railroads created an urgent demand for rails, rolling stock, locomotives, coal, and skilled labor.” 44 The Bessemer process for manufacturing steel firmly placed Pittsburgh in control of the industry. The process required specific types of iron ore found in abundance in the west near Lake Superior. Easy transportation of the raw material to Pittsburgh through the new rail system and its own mining of the coal gave the city steel supremacy. Invented by British inventor Sir Henry Bessemer, the Bessemer converter made steel of higher quality, more efficiently, and less costly than the old practice dating Figure 19: Iron carriers from a blast furnace in 1880. from 1829. In 1865, two fifths of the country’s iron came from Pittsburgh whose output was five times greater than that of steel production. Carnegie Brothers & Company alone produced 10,000 tons of steel a month.45 During the Civil War, besides the 24,000 soldiers from Allegheny County, Pittsburgh contributed by producing much of the artillery for the Union. The war’s incredible demands propelled industrial production in Pittsburgh.46 The Strip was crucial to Pittsburgh’s industrial developments, the world’s industrial innovations, and some of the most famous entrepreneurs of industrial development. During the 1860s, the Strip built many steel and iron mills were formed to accommodate the growing demands for materials for the Civil War. Most notably, the Fort Pitt Foundry provided 15 percent of the Union army’s artillery including the famous Rodman guns. The gun was larger than any produced for WWII and the Korean War. Andrew Carnegie began his steel empire there in 1861. His main early competitor, the

44 Uhl. pg. 14. 45 Lorant. pg. 148. 46 Lorant. pg. 133-137. 22 Black Diamond Mill, was located in the strip as well. 47 Charles Martin Hall’s Pittsburgh Reduction Company, later to become the largest aluminum provider in the world, ALCOA, produced the first ingots of commercially produced aluminum in 1888, revolutionizing the way the world would use aluminum forever. 48 The rapid growth of the iron and steel industries spurred other Strip District growth to support it. For instance, the Fulton Foundry and Machine Shop built the rolling mills and blast furnace engines and the Star Fire Brick Company produced firebrick for blast furnace linings. Many manufacturers opened up in the strip at this time. The glass industry remained in smaller artisan shops until the late 1880’s when a new faster mechanized process using natural gas rather than coal was developed. “By 1886, Pittsburgh was producing 50 percent of the glass being used in the United States.”49 George Westinghouse’s invention of the air brake in 1870 revolutionized railroad travel by replacing the crude hand brakes.50 Westinghouse would later go on to develop AC-DC power. Nineteen breweries operated in Pittsburgh in 1884, half a dozen of which were in the Strip. The Wood and Hughes Brewery opened in 1842; and after several name changes it eventually merged with 11 other breweries to become the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, which still operates today on the northeastern edge of the Strip. Thomas Morton Armstrong and business partner John D. Glass bought a small cork cutting business in 1860; by 1901, Armstrong built the largest cork factory in the country in the Strip. Also in 1860, Sampson Cadman started a brass and bronze foundry that was eventually named Figure 20: Making guns for the union at Fort Pitt the A.W. Cadman Manufacturing Company in 1891 and the company lasted until 1990.51 Foundry. The quality of living conditions declined greatly during this period of unabashed industrial development. The period was characterized by labor strife and unsanitary living conditions.

47 Uhl. pg. 20-21. 48 Toker. pg. 195. 49 Uhl. pg. 25. 50 Toker. pg. 195. 51 Uhl. pg. 26-28. 23 With technological advancements, many industrial processes became more efficient, utilizing unskilled workers in relentless schedules. Workers received minimal compensation for poor working conditions. During the economic depression in the middle of the 1870’s, many industrial workers took pay cuts as well. Pennsylvania Railroad lowered wages 10 percent after the Panic of 1873. Unions began developing in 1862; finally, in 1876 the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers was formed, but unions were becoming victims of better technology. The successful skilled glass artisan union Assembly 300 was dismantled because of the modern mechanization of the glass industry. However, nothing hurt unionism and the population as much as the violent strikes. 52 The most significant labor conflict in the Strip was the railroad strike of 1877. Wages had decreased again from their 1873 wage drop, and the workers responded by forming “The Trainsmen Union.” 53 They united to strike against the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Allegheny Valley Railroad, the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne, and Chicago

Railroad, and the Panhandle Railroad. The Pennsylvania Railroad commanded them to Figure 21: Aftermath of railroad strike. essentially work double time and the workers refused. The railroad workers then seized all that they could of the railroads to prevent the strikebreakers. When the militia was sent by the governor to protect the property of the railroads, violence broke out and many rioters were killed. Mobs set fire to railroad buildings and trains from 11th street to 28th street putting the entire district in danger. In the end, the strikers achieved none of their goals and stymied union development. The union movement would practically disappear for almost thirty years after the Homestead Strike against Carnegie Steel. The railroad went all the way downtown to where the produce merchants were located on the 600 to 900 blocks on Liberty Avenue. When plans were made to remove the tracks on Liberty Avenue, railroads would once again reshape the Strip District. Even before the tracks were moved in 1906, several produce wholesalers had already Figure 22: Aftermath of railroad strike.

52 Uhl. pg. 28-31. 53 Uhl. pg. 30. 24 moved into the Strip.54 The first two decades after this change led to new development of auction houses and larger wholesalers on Smallman Avenue and smaller dealers on Penn Avenue from 21st street towards downtown.55

Figure 23: A piece of Douglas Cooper's University Center Mural.

Ira Lowry stated in Portrait of a Region, The city of Pittsburgh was the metropolitan core… The flood plains on both banks of the converging rivers were densely occupied by mills, factories, and housing for immigrant workers. Over the whole area hung a permanent pall of coal smoke, from residential stoves and furnaces as well as well as from factories. Pittsburgh was a crowded, dirty, bustling city, preoccupied with empires of coal and steel.56

54 Neighbors in the Strip. Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 10.21.03 . 55 Uhl. pg. 31. 56 Uhl. pg. 33. 25

Anthony Trollope, on a visit to Pittsburgh in 1862 wrote, Blackest place I ever saw. At my hotel everything was black; not black to the eye, for the eye teaches itself to discriminate colors even when loaded with dirt, but black to the touch. On coming out of a tub of water my foot took an impress from the carpet exactly as it would have done had I trod bare footed on a path laid with soot.57

These were the realities of Pittsburgh and the Strip District during this period. By 1910, the city reached one million inhabitants interspersed within burgeoning industrial growth. The ethnic majority of the neighborhood evolved away from Irish and German, as did the skilled labor positions. Only 10 percent of the Strip residents in 1915 were Irish and German with over 80 percent of the total population still being foreign-born. Two churches built during this period remain; the Polish St. Stanislaus and the Slovak St. Elizabeth still stand as a reminder of this collection of ethnic diversity.58 Poles and Irish were the two largest new nationalities along with Russian, Lithuanian, Austrian, Croatian, Hungarian, and Greek.59 Despite all of the increases in industry, inhabitants incurred rampant poverty. In 1915 survey, general laborers made on average about $5.94 per week or about $300 a year during a time when the state of Pennsylvania considered the poverty level to be $900 a year. Skilled laborers earned between $12.42 and $15.00 per week. Most families lived in two rooms for about $8.50 a month. To help get by, most women would take in boarders or work at craft-like jobs at home. Factory work for women generally included laundries, decorating and packing glass in the glass houses, rolling cigars at

57 Cooper, Douglas. Steel Shadows: murals and drawings of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000. pg. vi. 58 Toker. pg. 191. 59 Uhl. pg. 34. 26 the Collins and Duquesne cigar companies, and tending machine at the Armstrong Cork Company. 60 “Among the factors named as contributing to the poverty of the area were lack of steady employment in the mills, illness caused by unsanitary conditions, and heavy drinking.”61 The saloons were important to the neighborhood as they supplied a retreat for men to escape the mills and the cramped living conditions. A 1915 survey counted 78 saloons and 20 drinking clubs in the Strip. While some viewed the saloon unfavorably as centers of vice and corruption, they were an undeniable part of the city and the Strip.62 Social institutions appeared to help alleviate the horrible living conditions of the Strip. The Kingsley House, dedicated to social work and education for the poor, was built on Penn Avenue in 1893. The Civic Club addressed sanitary conditions by opening a popular bathhouse and it fought for green space in the Strip of which there was none. Figure 25: "A Converting Mill," reformers argued that saloons turned Failure in this effort did not stop them from taking children to Schenley Park in Oakland young boys into criminals. for weekends.63 The Methodist Church Union supported struggling churches and opened new ones.64

1916 – Present

The next period of history in the Strip District is characterized by two World Wars and general decline of industry in Pittsburgh. Production naturally increased in the city during the war efforts but that prosperity would be short-lived. Population in the Strip would depart with industry as well: Figure 24: Kingsley House Parlor

60 Uhl. pg. 34-35. 61 Uhl. pg. 42. 62 Uhl. pg. 42. 63 Lorant pg. 204-205. 64 Uhl. pg. 41. 27 Year Approximate Population65 1915 18000 1940 3500 1980 400 2003 26666

The end of World War I marked the end of heavy iron and steel as the primary force in the Strip. Again, new technologies facilitated change in industrial development in the area. New ovens that did not require the high-grade coal or that used other power sources eased the industry’s reliance on the region’s coal. The old mills in the Strip were too expensive and unworkable to modernize. The new facilities often required larger tracts of land that were not available or too costly in the Strip. During the next decade, some smaller manufacturers moved to the Figure 26: "Shantytown" in the Strip neighborhood, but the Great Depression smashed any hope of economic recovery. Some manufacturers were forced to close their doors in the early 1930s.67 Those who kept their jobs had their wages cut by 60 percent.68 The Strip was home to Pittsburgh’s biggest “Shantytown.” Using scrap wood, homeless men built an encampment on a vacant piece of land between Liberty Avenue and the Hill. The camp was originally meant to get them through the winter of 1931, but it lasted three years. Relief efforts spearheaded by Father James Cox provided some assistance. In addition to typical food and medical care, he organized a march against the policies of President Hoover in Washington D.C. To further hamper the city, the worst flood in its history hit on St. Patrick’s Day, 1936. Downtown was put under martial law as the water rose 46 feet.

Figure 27: Flood of 1936. 65 Unless noted otherwise population figures taken from Uhl pg. 62. 66 Population figure taken from the Strip District – Census Tract 2003. 67 Uhl pg. 62-65. 68 Lorant pg. 340-343. 28 Many died, over 3000 people were injured, and more than 100,000 homes were lost in the disaster.69

Figure 28: 1936 Flood, looking toward St. Stanislaus with the produce terminal on the left.

World War II would rejuvenate the iron and steel industry in the Strip District during the 1940s. “Local mills produced 95 million ingot tons of steel from 1941 to 1945.”70 While there were only two mills producing steel in the neighborhood, there were many smaller operations having to do with the heavy metal industry. “Since the 1940s, the Strip has lost almost all of its large industrial employers… however, smaller metals-related industries continued to be a fixture in the neighborhood.”71 Labor unions would make life for the workers of the area a little bit better. After routinely working for low wages for 12 consecutive days at 12 hours a day during World War I, steel workers struck across the country in 1919. They would have marginal success and remained relatively unorganized. Finally in the mid-1930’s, President Roosevelt’s New Deal and a strong national union garnered success for the union movement nationwide.72 Produce in the Strip would transform the Strip. “By the mid-1920s, it was difficult to find space to purchase or rent on Penn Avenue.”73 Business would struggle during the thirties and World War II but would recover and become the produce distribution

69 Lorant pg. 354-355. 70 Uhl pg. 65. 71 Uhl pg. 65. 72 Uhl.pg. 65-66. 73 Uhl pg. 70. 29 center for the surrounding 31 counties in the 1950s. Eventually trucks would replace the train deliveries; the resulting traffic congestion led to the removal of grocer’s wholesalers from the Strip. By the 1970s, the Strip lost about 60 wholesalers. During this time a company featuring seafood, named Benkovitz moved into the Strip and opened a seafood retail store and wholesale operation. The success of the venture led to wholesalers opening their own dual operations. Today there is a wholesale market for just about any type of food. 74 The 1980s and ‘90s would see radical changes in the Strip. “Renewed interest in the Strip District spawned a number of redevelopment proposals and projects.” During the eighties, the produce terminal was renovated and other developers built new office complexes. After the success of the food markets, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs followed. The nineties saw the reuse of abandoned buildings including the conversion of the Chautauqua Lake Ice Company warehouse into the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, and the Strip Lofts, the Brake House Lofts, and the Collins Cigar factory and the Crane building into commercial lofts. The Springfield School became the mixed commercial Pink Building. The strip, whose wholesalers used to shut their doors at 3 o’clock, is now a 24-hour diverse experience.

Figure 29: The Strip

74 Uhl pg. 70-75. 30

Figure 30: There are many different wholesalers in the Strip. Two examples pictured on this page are Bill's Produce in the upper left and Benkovitz Seafoods in the lower left. On the right side shows some of the street-life. Plenty of vendors and occasional performers can be found on Penn Avenue.

31 Figure 31: The Strip is now home to a variety of bars, nightclubs, and dining opportunities. On the upper left is the dance club, Sanctuary. On the lower left the La Prima Espresso has outdoor seating. Below, the incomparable hometown favorite sandwich restaurant, the Primanti Bros is open 24-hours a day.

32

Building History

Figure 32: The Strip from the air with downtown in the distance and the Armstrong Cork site on the bottom right.

Armstrong Beginnings (1860) – New Facility (1901)

First, it is interesting to note the connections that located the cork industry in Pittsburgh. Cork is harvested from evergreen oak trees found predominantly near the Mediterranean Sea in Spain, Portugal, southern France, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. The outer bark of the trees is stripped and then processed into various cork

33 compositions.75 Pittsburgh’s main natural resource was not the cork oak tree but coal. The coal begat the iron and steel industry, which begat a workforce that knew how to control fire and heat, which begat the glass industry, which begat the need to close the glass containers made in the glass houses. In the 1800s, cork was commonly used for the closing of jars and bottles. The relationships of the resources and industries connected the cork company to the place. The first attempt to sell cork in Pittsburgh by a William King of New York in the 1850s fell flat when, as was typical in the day, the buyers did not trust a manufacturer they did not know. King left the venture to one of his employees, Henry Overington, who started to cut corks in Pittsburgh in 1858 by hand. Deciding to return to New York a couple years later, Overington sold the business to a newly formed partnership between two of his employees, John D. Glass and Thomas Morton Armstrong. In 1860, the little cork cutting company was created and called John D. Glass & Company. With the success of the fledgling company still unknown, Armstrong kept his job as a shipping clerk at a local glass house for the first couple of years.76 In1862, the firm bought their first machine for cutting cork stoppers, establishing a precedent of modernization and growth that would stay with the company.77 Glass died of heart attack in 1864. A brother of Thomas M. Armstrong, Robert D. Armstrong and another employee, William L. Standish, bought his interest in the company and renamed it Armstrong, Brother & Company. Before buying the current property in 1878 at 24th street and the Allegheny River, the operation moved three times in downtown Pittsburgh before the building eventually burned down in the same year. Luckily, the plans to move were already made and the company persevered through the tragedy. By 1888, the company had over 750 employees.78

75 Prentis, Jr. H.W. Thomas Morton Armstrong: Pioneer in Cork. New York: The Newcomen Society in North America, 1950. pg. 9. 76 Prentis. pg. 11. 77 Prentis. pg. 12. 78 Prentis. pg. 12-14. 34 Most of the business in the early years was stoppers for jars and bottles. The development of Mason jars and later alternative bottle stoppers would force the company to diversify. A great demand for corks for beer bottling occurred in the early 1870s following the development of the pasteurizing process. For a number of years this became the largest consumer demand especially as the saloons thrived.79 The company expanded in the 1890s, taking control of a cork company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and of a supplier in Seville, Spain.80 In 1895, the company was incorporated as the Armstrong Cork Company. By the turn of the century they were producing 25,000 corks daily, in addition to 200,000 cork insoles and one million pairs of bicycle handles per year.81 During his forty years of operating the company, not only did Thomas Morton Armstrong instill integrity into the future of the company, but he also “contributed significantly in the translation of American businesses from the old basis of caveat emptor – let the buyer beware – to the modern idea of corporate integrity.”82 Industry in the 1800s was conducted in the former way. It was usual for customers to inspect the products even during manufacture to ensure quality. If the product was faulty, it was a bad buy by the purchaser. Once the bill was paid, the manufacturer was done and not responsible. This practice encouraged the demand for local manufacturers. Armstrong believed “let the buyer have faith.”83 He was one of the earliest to direct the Industrial Revolution toward the moral conduct of industrial enterprise. To illustrate Armstrong’s convictions, the following are examples of his approach to business. Early in the company’s development, the Pittsburgh branch of the “Sanitary Commission” (a Red Cross predecessor) collected money from citizens for medical supplies for use in the Civil War. A low bid was made even more meager by increases

79 Prentis. pg. 13. Figure 33: Thomas Morton Armstrong 80 Prentis. pg. 14. (1836-1908) 81 Uhl. pg. 27. 82 Prentis. pg. 19. 83 Prentis. pg. 21. 35 in production costs. Other manufacturers cut the quality of their products to match the price drop, which developed into somewhat of a local scandal. Armstrong insisted on only the top grade corks. During ensuing investigations the Armstrong, Brother & Company were singled out as having shown great integrity.84 It was common for a local Italian neighborhood to hold street festivals on certain religious occasions. For the event, a certain special soft drink was often made. During one of these occasions, it was discovered that all of the soda had gone sour. The bottler blamed Armstrong corks and called Armstrong onto the site. Armstrong immediately replaced the entire supply of drinks at his expense. The amount of money put the then little company under duress, considering that the value of the corks were only a fraction of the cost of the drinks.85 While these stories do not seem significant to us today, these practices were not the norm for business practices of the day. He was also a fair employer. The company had only one brief strike during Thomas M. Armstrong’s tenure as president in 1891, just months before the disastrous Homestead Strike. However, this group affiliated with the Knights of Labor, were caught in fraudulent practices. The Armstrong Cork Company was unique to industry in these days because of the precedents set by Armstrong. “Thomas Morton Armstrong was one of that small body of men who led the way to a general acceptance of new standards of business ethics and new assumptions of social responsibility on the part of American business leadership.”86

84 Prentis. pg. 20. 85 Prentis. pg. 21. 86 Prentis. pg. 23. 36

Figure 35: Architect Frederick J. Osterling's rendering of the Armstrong Cork complex.

Armstrong Cork Built (1901) - Armstrong Cork Closed (1974)

Armstrong hired one of the busiest Pittsburgh architects, Frederick J. Osterling, to design additional factory space on the site around the turn of the century. During construction, on February 10, 1901 the old factory had a fire. Until the new factory was completed that year, Armstrong found temporary quarters for hundreds of employees to keep the company going. The warehouse building followed in 1902. Osterling designed two seven-story, long, rectangular Romanesque blocks oriented perpendicular to the river, with the factory building to the southwest and the warehouse building to the Figure 34: Armstrong Cork complex today. northeast. Three enclosed bridges on the top floor connected the almost 300-foot-long 37 blocs. Between the buildings, smaller ancillary buildings grouped around the factory building contained the power sources for all machinery in the factory. As the business grew, the company added a ten story addition in 1913 on the river side of the warehouse building. The next period in the history of the company is characterized by diversification and expansion. The different products produced by Armstrong were still related to the original purpose of the company in one of four ways: • The product was composed wholly or in part of cork. (automobile gaskets, corks, corkboard, linoleum)

• The product served the same or similar purpose for which cork in some form or combination was used. (metal bottle caps, felt- Figure 36: A 1934 retirement party. based floor covering, fiberboard)

• The product was desirable or necessary for the marketing of other products already produced by the company. (glass bottles, interior finish board)

• The product was required for use in the application, installation, or protection of products already produced by the company. (asphalt adhesives, linoleum paste, cleaners, and waxes.)87

By 1950 the company had eighteen plants in the United States from Massachusetts to California, as well as in several foreign countries including Canada, England, Spain. It is unclear exactly what products were made in the Pittsburgh facility, but it seems that the products remained the more classic cork stoppers and gaskets, with the newer processes located in the newer facilities. The company increasingly got into cork-related building products such as linoleum and insulation. This would eventually become the future direction of the Figure 37: These women are sorting cork on the seventh international company, as they now sell floor and ceiling products. floor of the Warehouse building.

87 Prentis. pg. 18. 38 The accounts of two elderly ladies shed some light on the life of the building. Kitty and Helen were hired at the beginning of the thirties at the ages of 16 and 15. Kitty worked there for 15 years, sorting cork stoppers into large baskets, operating presses, and punching holes by hand into gaskets. Helen worked there for over 41 years, eventually becoming a supervisor. Kitty recalls that she would swallow salt tablets provided by the company to replace the loss from sweating. “The machines that pressed and cut cork were noisy, and cork dust filled the air.”88 Her memories of working there were not pleasant. Helen on the other hand, still misses the place. She remembers the good times: the Christmas and retirement parties, the bosses awe in the dexterity and quickness of the women at their workstations. Helen said, “It was like one big family. That’s what I liked about it.”89 She describes the last day as being very sad for everyone left. The Armstrong complex closed in 1974. The work force had dwindled from about 1200 in the 1930’s to about 300. Some of the employees were relocated to Figure 38: Helen Lancaster.

Armstrong Cork Abandoned (1974) – Present

The departure of the company from the complex did not end life in the building. It became a place for homeless people to rest, graffiti artists to paint, and developers to plan unsuccessfully. Just how many people have lived in the building and for how long is not known. Most stay for short periods and do not remain in the winter. George Ryan has lived there for almost ten years, year-round.90 Evidence of life can be seen in the debris and in the booby traps that may make an intruder fall or at the very least make noise.

88 O’Neill, Annie, and Steve Mellon. “Unquiet Ruin.” Pittsburgh Post Gazette 10/28/01, Sunday edition: G14. Figure 39: Flyers in the building try to help the homeless. 89 O’Neill. pg. G14. 90 O’Neill. pg. G14. 39 A small burgeoning underground movement developed around the late 1980s. Working late at night, these skateboarders and graffiti artists would paint their tags for the morning commuters. Eventually they discovered the high ceilings and blank walls of the Armstrong Buildings and by the early 1990’s, the complex was a gallery of graffiti. Aspiring artists still come to study the work. Some works last days, some for years. “Most walls in the complex are a free-for-all of warring images and scribbles.”91 “Throwing up” over another work is commonplace and is a form of one-upmanship. Pieces can remain based on quality of work and reputation of the artist. As a general rule the new painting has to be better that the old one. One particular tag is legendary in Pittsburgh among these artists. In the early 90s, “Serg” appeared everywhere in the most awkward and dangerous of places. The mayor put out a $1000 bounty for the unknown artist. The story made front-page news and he was eventually caught. His decade-old tags supposedly still are seen on the building.92 Figure 40: The colorful walls of the Armstrong Cork Building. The current owner of the building is Chuck Hammel, the owner of Pitt-Ohio Trucking, which has their headquarters on a nearby lot. He bought it in 1995 for one million dollars with the intention of redevelopment. Two previous different developers failed to put together the funding for a reuse of residential and restaurants. Mr. Hammel himself is now on his second development effort, as the massive amount of funding to get this project going proves to be difficult. The current plan is for 295 loft units and limited amenities.

91 O’Neill. pg. G14. 92 O’Neill. pg. G14. 40 Figure 41: Left: Bridges, smokestacks, and factory from tower. Bottom: Stepped panorama showing relationship of building to the Allegheny River. Right: Space between buildings, factory on left, engine roome in center, and warehouse on right.

41 Figure 42: Upper left: Graffiti in the Tower building. Lower left: Painted parapet with downtown skyline in the distance from the Warehouse building. Lower right: Light well on the top floor of the warehouse building. Upper right: Looking into one of the bridges. 42

Site Analysis

The Armstrong Cork Building is located on Railroad Avenue between 23rd and 24th Streets next to the south bank of the Allegheny River. It is approximately one mile northeast from Pittsburgh’s Central Business District and is located in the vibrant Strip District. The site is within half a mile from many of the Strip District shopping and entertainment opportunities. A bus stop about a block from the site connects with the greater Pittsburgh area. The City plans on developing the riverfront to be pedestrian friendly. It has split the Strip into two different “Riverfront Districts.” The Near Strip, located closer to downtown, is to be a “Community District,” to include a city grid with residential, retail, and commercial amenities with public access to the river. The Far Strip is to be an “Industry District,” to include light industrial uses with minimized unsightliness on the river. According to the city’s plan, the Armstrong site is part of the Near Strip.93 The site is flat, elevated about 15-20 feet above the normal height of the Allegheny River, about 725 feet above sea level, and within the 100-year flood plain. About a quarter of a mile to the southeast is a steep hill that rises over 300 feet. Trees lining the river make up almost all of the vegetation on the site. Pittsburgh is in a temperate climate zone. The region can expect about 5,800 heating degree-days and 800 cooling degree-days in an average year. The climatic design priorities concentrate on cold winter weather. The predominant wind throughout the year comes from west-southwest, however, swirling winds are common in the valley.94

93 The Riverfront Development Plan. The City of Pittsburgh, 11.25.03, http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/rfp/. 94 Lechner, Norbert. Heating, Cooling, Lighting Design Methods for Architects. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2001. pg. 78-87. 43

PROGRAM

44 Grounding

An important piece of the palimpsest is the program. New uses can be selected and referenced back to older layers as well as current needs. Program can be extracted from the history of the existing fabric. It is essential, however, that the new program are needed pieces of the city. It is important to consider these to factors otherwise the resultant palimpsest will be either a memorial to itself or it will lack the layers of time altogether. From the aforementioned histories and current trends, the following programs were carefully selected. The implementation of those programs will determine the quality of the palimpsest. The Armstrong complex is 440,000 square feet of unused space. Accommodating the dual intentions of the program and utilizing the massive amount of area have led to a diverse project. Each segment of the program is related to either an historical connection and/or an important improvement of the urban environment.

Segments

Residential

The Near Strip is full of life 24-hours a day despite having only 266 residents. Living in and near downtown is a growing idea in American cities. A couple of recent projects such as renovations to the Heinz Factory across the river from Armstrong Cork and the Bruno Building on Liberty Avenue downtown or new projects such as Lincoln at North Shore or Washington’s Landing on Herr’s Island indicate there is an interest in these opportunities. Units will vary and support mixed incomes. A combination of finished apartments and true loft spaces will encourage diversity. The bohemian nature of the original New York lofts reflects, to a certain degree, the culture that called this

45 home for some years. Industry used to be the impetus that caused people to settle this bank two hundred years ago; the departure of it can now be the impetus that cause people to move back. Residential space will make up some of floor 2, all of floors 3 through 6, and floors 8-10 in the Tower addition. Parking will be created in the basements of both buildings and in a two-story lot that reflects a past rail yard. To further encourage residents, amenities such as a fitness center, multifunction room, and a spacious courtyard will be included. The Fitness center will include locker rooms, exercise rooms, and a pool. The Multifunction room will be a place where informal gatherings can occur for residents or even larger planned events.

Art Gallery

For the last twenty years, the building has been a paradise for graffiti artists. Probably because of the skylights and views, the seventh floor of the factory building and the roof of the warehouse building clearly were favorite hangouts of the artists as is evident by the pure density of the artwork. As part reaction to this context and that of the larger neighborhood and city context, a modern art gallery will be planned on the seventh floor. Patrons will be able not only to enjoy the artwork, but the tremendous views out of the building. An elevator closed to the rest of the complex will establish connection to the 7th floor. On the first floor, a gift shop and reception connect the Art Gallery to the ground. The two intact bridges will be a part of the gallery and connect the two buildings. This arrival experience should be thought out carefully.

46 Business Lofts

The uncertainty of the direction of the Strip District demands flexibility of its businesses. What works in this complex now will not work once the project is complete. Therefore, it is proposed that at least the first floor be dedicated to speculative business loft space. An effective method of temporary flexible partitioning will have to be developed for these areas. This would allow starting entrepreneurs to rent space more inexpensively than immediately owning their own space. Artists in connection with the seventh floor gallery could use some of the space as well, The size of this project and the desire of the City of Pittsburgh planning department could spark further development in the Strip District. Just to the west of the complex are 39 acres of surface parking with another 2 acres across Railroad Avenue to the south. These are underutilized parcels. The first design and land use policy of a “Community District” states, ”New development and street patterns will extend the fabric of the neighborhood to the river.”95 To manage future developments and manage the Armstrong project a Strip District Development Agency could be created.

95 Pittsburgh City Council. The Riverfront Development Plan: A Comprehensive Plan for the Three River. Post-Gazette, 1/20/04 47 Summary

Net Residential Area 242,680sf Net Apartment Residential Area 104,500sf • 30 efficiencies @ 750sf each 22,500sf • 25 1-bedroom apt. @ 750sf each 18,750sf • 30 1.5-bedroom apt. @ 1150sf each 34,500sf • 25 2-bedroom apt. @ 1150sf each 28,750sf

Net Resident Loft Area @ 100 lofts 101,780sf 15% Circulation and Mechanical 36,400sf

Net Resident Amenities Areas 15,300sf Fitness Center 9000sf • Pool 3000sf • Hot Tub 250sf • Pool Support 500sf • Machine Exercise Room 1500sf • Cardio Machine Exercise Room 1500sf • Men’s Locker Room Net Area 1000sf Lockers, benches, sauna, showers (4), toilets, urinals, lavatories • Women’s Locker Room Net Area 1250sf Lockers, benches, sauna, showers (4), toilets, lavatories

Multifunction Space Net Area 4300sf • Multifunction Space 3000sf • Storage 250sf • Special Occasion Bar 250sf • Caterers Kitchenette 250sf • Men’s Bathroom 250sf • Women’s Bathroom 300sf

15% Circulation and Mechanical 2000sf

48 Net Art Gallery Area 72,620sf Art Gallery 65,820sf • Indoor Gallery Space 38,520sf • Outdoor Roof Gallery/ Multifunction 24,000sf • Storage 1000sf • Reception 500sf • Curators’ Offices 1000sf • Coat Check 250sf • Men’s Bathroom 250sf • Women’s Bathroom 300sf

Art Gallery 6800sf • Kitchen 500sf • Café 1500sf • Lounge/ Multifunction 3000sf • Bar 250sf • Storage 1000sf • Men’s Bathroom 250sf • Women’s Bathroom 300sf

Net Speculative Business Loft Area 63,290sf Strip District Development Agency 1150sf • Reception 300sf • Display Area 200sf • Office 150sf x 3 450sf • Storage 200sf

Net Speculative Business Loft Area 52,640sf 15% Circulation and Mechanical 9500sf Net Speculative Business Loft Area 46,110sf Net Speculative Business Loft Area 440,000sf

49 Bibliography

Cooper, Douglas. Steel Shadows: murals and drawings of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000.

Dictionary.com. 11.29.03. .

Frampton, Kenneth. “Prospects For a Critical Regionalism.” Perspecta no. 20 (1989): p. 66-77.

Gillis, John R., ed. David Lowenthal. “Identity, Heritage, and History.” Commemorations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.

Kirkwood, Niall. Manufactured Sites: Rethinking the Post-Industrial Landscape. London: Spon Press, 2001.

Lechner, Norbert. Heating, Cooling, Lighting Design Methods for Architects. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2001.

Lorant, Stefan. Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1983.

Lowenthal, David. “Material Preservation and its Alternatives.” Perspecta no. 25 (1983): p. 147-162.

Lubove, Roy, ed. Pittsburgh. New York: New viewpoints: A Division of Franklin Watts. 1976.

Lynch, Kevin. What Time Is This Place?. Cambridge, MA: The M.I.T. Press, 1972.

Matthews, Peter. Forum: Pittsburgh is still a steel town: Build on it. Post-Gazette, .

Metz, Tracy. “The White Lady: Eindhoven, The Netherlands.” Architectural Record no. 187 (Feb 1999): p. 128-132.

Moore, Rowan, and Raymond Ryan. Building Tate Modern: Herzog & De Meuron Transforming Giles Gilbert Scott. London: Tate Gallery Publishing, 2000.

50 Neighbors in the Strip. Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 10.21.03 .

Nelson, Franklin J. Works of F.J. Osterling, Architect Pittsburg. Pittsburgh: Murdoch-Kerr, 1904.

Nesbitt, Kate, ed. Kenneth Frampton. “Prospects for a Critical Regionalism.” Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: an Anthology of ArchitecturalTheory. 1965-1995. New York: Electa/ Rizzoli, 1988.

Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Architecture: Meaning and Place. New York: Electa/ Rizzoli, 1988.

Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Architecture: Presence, Language and Place. Milan: Skira Editore S.p.A, 2000.

O’neill, Annie, and Steve Mellon. " Unquiet Ruin.” Pittsburgh Post Gazette 10/28/01, Sunday edition: G1+.

O’Neill, Annie. Unquiet Ruin: A Photographic Excavation. Pittsburgh: The Mattress Factory, 2001.

Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Spirit. Pittsburgh: The Robert L. Forsythe Co., 1928.

Prentis, Jr. H.W. Thomas Morton Armstrong: Pioneer in Cork. New York: The Newcomen Society in North America, 1950.

Riegl, Alois. “The Modern Cult of Monuments: Its Character and Its Origin.” Oppositions no. 25 (Fall. 1982): p. 21-51.

The Riverfront Development Plan. The City of Pittsburgh, 11.25.03 http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/rfp/.

Robert, Philippe. Adaptations: New Uses For Old Buildings. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1989.

Rossi, Aldo. The Architecture of the City. Cambridge, MA: The M.I.T. Press, 1982.

Stephenson, Sam. Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh Project. New York: A Lyndhurst Book, 2001.

51 Toker, Franklin. Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait. University Park and London: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1986.

Uhl, Lauren and Tracy L. Coffing. Pittsburgh’s Strip District: Around the World in a Neighborhood. Pittsburgh: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 2003.

Image Credits

Thesis Title page image, pg.3: How do we know about Greek mathematics? Turnbull WWW Server: School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences University of St Andrews 3.2.04.

Figure 1: Top right: Lorant, Stefan. Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1983. p. 324 Above: Lorant. p. 396. Left: Web Extras: Postcards. Post-Gazette.com. 3.2.04.

Figure 2: Stephenson, Sam. Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh Project. New York: A Lyndhurst Book, 2001. p. 9.

Figure 3: Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) 2001 Annual Report. p. 35.

Figure 4: Top: National Recreation Trails Photo Contest. American Trails. 3.2.04. Left: Homepage. Station Square. Forest City Enterprises. Inc., 3.2.04. Below: Projerseys OTPRO. 3.2.04.

Figure 5: Author

Figure 6: Left and Below: Author

Figure 7: Author

52 Figure 8: Left: Moore, Rowan, and Raymond Ryan. Building Tate Modern: Herzog & De Meuron Transforming Giles Gilbert Scott. London: Tate Gallery Publishing, 2000. p. 69 Above: Moore. p. 143.

Figure 9: Metz, Tracy. “The White Lady: Eindhoven, The Netherlands.” Architectural Record no. 187 (Feb 1999): p. 131.

Figure 10: Pittsburgh History Series. WQED. 3.2.04.

Site Title page image, pg.15: Author

Figure 11: Pennsylvania Vacation Rentals. Find Vacation Rentals. 3.2.04.

Figure 12: Mapquest. 3.2.04. .

Figure 13: Lorant. p. 21.

Figure 14: Lorant. p. 33.

Figure 15: Lorant. p. 65.

Figure 16: Uhl, Lauren and Tracy L. Coffing. Pittsburgh’s Strip District: Around the World in a Neighborhood. Pittsburgh: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 2003. p. 9.

Figure 17: Uhl. p. 12.

Figure 18: Uhl. p. 35.

Figure 19: Lorant. p. 208.

Figure 20: Lorant. p. 139.

Figure 21: Lorant. p. 175.

Figure 22: Lorant. p. 172.

53 Figure 23: Cooper, Douglas. Steel Shadows: murals and drawings of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000. p. 111.

Figure 24: Uhl. p. 39.

Figure 25: Uhl. p. 43.

Figure 26: Uhl. p. 66.

Figure 27: Lorant. p. 354.

Figure 28: Uhl. p. 69.

Figure 29: Uhl. back cover.

Figure 30: Upper left: Uhl. p. 45. Lower left: Uhl. p. 48. Upper right: Uhl. p. 56. Lower right: Uhl. p. 48.

Figure 31: Upper left: Uhl. p. 57. Lower left: Uhl. p. 46. Lower right: Uhl. p. 60.

Figure 32: Uhl. inside back cover.

Figure 33: Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Spirit. Pittsburgh: The Robert L. Forsythe Co., 1928. p. 139.

Figure 34: Author

Figure 35: Nelson, Franklin J. Works of F.J. Osterling, Architect, Pittsburg. Pittsburg: Murdoch-Kerr, 1904.

Figure 36: O’Neill, Annie. Unquiet Ruin: A Photographic Excavation. Pittsburgh: The Mattress Factory, 2001. back cover.

Figure 37: Uhl. p. 36.

Figure 38: O’Neill. p. 43.

54 Figure 39: Author

Figure 40: Author

Figure 41: Left, Bottom, Right: Author

Figure 42: Upper left, Lower left, Lower right, Upper right: Author

Program Title page image, pg. 44: Author

55 Appendices

Appendix I: Program Requirements

Residential Program

Residences Efficiencies 750sf x 30

Activities • Everyday home life ______Users • 1 or 2 inhabitants ______Space Adjacency • Within code regulation of a fire stair ______Design Character • Finished apartment • Should maintain as much of industrial character as possible • Materials should be consistent with thesis ______Functional • Sleeping area Requirements • Kitchen/ dining area • Living area • Bathroom area ______Technical • Task and general lighting Requirements • Kitchen appliances • Controllable HVAC • Full plumbing ______Furniture • None provided by design ______

1 Bedroom Apartment 750sf x 25

Activities • Everyday home life ______Users • 1 or 2 inhabitants ______Space Adjacency • Within code regulation of a fire stair ______Design Character • Finished apartment • Should maintain as much of industrial character as possible • Materials should be consistent with thesis 56 ______Functional • Sleeping area Requirements • Kitchen/ dining area • Living area • Bathroom area ______Technical • Task and general lighting Requirements • Kitchen appliances • Controllable HVAC • Full plumbing ______Furniture • None provided by design ______

1.5 Bedroom Apartment 1150sf x 30

Activities • Everyday home life ______Users • 1 to 3 inhabitants ______Space Adjacency • Within code regulation of a fire stair ______Design Character • Finished apartment • Should maintain as much of industrial character as possible • Materials should be consistent with thesis ______Functional • Sleeping areas Requirements • Kitchen/ dining area • Living area • Bathroom area ______Technical • Task and general lighting Requirements • Kitchen appliances • Controllable HVAC • Full plumbing ______Furniture • None provided by design ______

2 Bedroom Apartment 1150sf x 25

Activities • Everyday home life ______Users • 2 to 4 inhabitants ______Space Adjacency • Within code regulation of a fire stair ______Design Character • Finished apartment • Should maintain as much of industrial character as possible 57 • Materials should be consistent with thesis ______Functional • Sleeping areas Requirements • Kitchen/ dining area • Living area • Bathroom area ______Technical • Task and general lighting Requirements • Kitchen appliances • Controllable HVAC • Full plumbing ______Furniture • None provided by design ______

Residential Loft Space 101,780sf

Activities • Everyday home life • Unknown ______Users • NA ______Space Adjacency • Vertical circulation • Mechanical chase ______Design Character • Unfinished space • Dependant on the individual • Materials should be consistent with thesis ______Functional • Typical home spaces Requirements • Needs to use shell given ______Technical • Electrical supplied to space to be manipulated Requirements • Plumbing supplied to space to be manipulated • HVAC supplied to space to be manipulated ______Furniture • None provided by design ______

Fitness Center Pool 3,000sf

Activities • Swimming (recreational and exercise) 58 • Water relaxation ______Users • Building’s inhabitants ______Space Adjacency • Locker rooms • Pool Support ______Design Character • Old shell of building remains with new tactile features • Dependant on the individual • Materials should be consistent with thesis • Utilize skylights ______Functional • Dive depth Requirements • Lap pool • Hot tub ______Technical • Structure or hole to support water Requirements • General lighting • Pool filtration ______Furniture • Pool furniture • Diving board ______

Pool Support 500sf

Activities • Storage of pool equipment • Location of pool mechanical ______Users • Building’s custodian ______Space Adjacency • Pool ______Design Character • Utilitarian ______Functional • Organized Requirements ______Technical • General lighting Requirements • Kept cool • Secured room ______Furniture • Shelving ______

Weight Room 1500sf

Activities • Machine and free weight lifting ______

59 Users • Building’s inhabitants ______Space Adjacency • Locker rooms • Cardio Room ______Design Character • Maintain as much character as possible • Views out • Mirrors ______Functional • Ample circulation room for safety Requirements ______Technical • General lighting Requirements • Audio equipment • Extra air changes ______Furniture • Bench, leg press, shoulder, free-weight rack, etc. ______

Cardio Machine Exercise Room 1500sf

Activities • Cardio exercise with entertainment ______Users • Building’s inhabitants ______Space Adjacency • Locker rooms • Weight Room ______Design Character • Maintain as much character as possible • Views out • Mirrors • Video wall ______Functional • Ample circulation room for safety Requirements ______Technical • General lighting Requirements • Audio/ visual equipment • Extra air changes ______Furniture • Rowing machine, treadmill, ellyptical, etc. ______

Men’s Locker Room 1000sf

Activities • Showering • Changing and securing personal items • Sauna 60 • Personal hygiene ______Users • Building’s inhabitants ______Space Adjacency • Pool • Exercise rooms ______Design Character • Maintain as much character as possible • Clean • Wooden sauna ______Functional • Ample circulation around lockers and benches Requirements • Privacy ______Technical • Two toilets Requirements • Two urinals • Four lavatories with mirrors • Four Showers • Adequate lighting ______Furniture • Benches ______

Women’s Locker Room 1000sf

Activities • Showering • Changing and securing personal items • Sauna • Personal hygiene ______Users • Building’s inhabitants ______Space Adjacency • Pool • Exercise rooms ______Design Character • Maintain as much character as possible • Clean • Wooden sauna ______Functional • Ample circulation around lockers and benches Requirements • Privacy ______Technical • Four toilets Requirements • Four lavatories with mirrors • Four Showers • Adequate lighting ______Furniture • Benches 61 ______

Multifunction Space Multifunction 3000sf

Activities • Informal resident gatherings (movie, billiards, ping-pong, etc.) • Formal events rented out by residents • Formal events rented out by business owners in the complex • A place to document the history of the complex ______Users • Guests to events • Residents ______Space Adjacency • Fitness area • Courtyard ______Design Character • Maintain as much character as possible • Finishes at the quality of reception halls ______Functional • Ample room for flexibility Requirements • Defined areas without partitions ______Technical • General, task, and dramatic lighting Requirements ______Furniture • Pool table • Lounge furniture • Ping-pong • Big screen TV ______

Storage 250sf

Activities • Storing of chairs, tables, etc. for special occasions ______Users • Event coordinators ______Space Adjacency • Near Multifunction ______Design Character • Utilitarian ______Functional • Organized Requirements ______Technical • General lighting Requirements ______Furniture • Shelving ______

62

Bar 250sf

Activities • Serving drinks at special occasion ______Users • Event coordinators ______Space Adjacency • Near Multifunction ______Design Character • Cohesive with Multifunction ______Functional • Beer taps Requirements • Liquor cabinets ______Technical • Dramatic and task lighting Requirements • Storage for beverages in kitchen ______Furniture • Bar • Bar stools ______

Kitchen 250sf

Activities • Food preparation for special events ______Users • Event coordinators ______Space Adjacency • Near Multifunction ______Design Character • Utilitarian ______Functional • Ample room for @ 5 to work at once Requirements ______Technical • General and task lighting Requirements • Power and exhaust for all kitchen appliances ______Furniture • Stove • Refrigerator • Dishwasher • Microwave • Kitchen sink • Prep Counter space ______

Men’s Bathroom 250sf

Activities • Personal hygiene ______63 Users • Male guests ______Space Adjacency • Near multifunction ______Design Character • Utilitarian, Clean ______Functional • Handle special events Requirements ______Technical • Two toilets Requirements • Two urinals • Two Lavatories with mirrors • Adequate lighting ______Furniture • None ______

Female Restroom 300sf x 2

Activities • Personal hygiene ______Users • Female guests ______Space Adjacency • Near multifunction ______Design Character • Utilitarian, Clean ______Functional • Handle special events Requirements ______Technical • Four toilets Requirements • Two Lavatories with mirrors • Adequate lighting ______Furniture • None ______

Art Gallery Program

Reception 500sf

Activities • Receive public • Admission purchase • Gift shop check-out • Elevator entrance ______Users • Gallery employees @4 • Gallery patrons ______64 Space Adjacency • Near entrance on ground floor • Combined with gift shop • Near existing elevator shaft ______Design Character • Presence on exterior courtyard • Style consistent Art Gallery on seventh floor ______Functional • Queuing area for admission purchase Requirements • Built in reception desk with area for admissions and area for gift shop checkout ______Technical • Task and general lighting Requirements • Cash registers ______Furniture • Permanent reception desk • Chairs • Cabinet storage ______

Gift Shop 1000sf

Activities • Sell gallery merchandise ______Users • Gallery employees @4 • Gallery patrons ______Space Adjacency • Near entrance on ground floor ______Design Character • Fun shopping environment • Gifts that emphasize history as well as art ______Functional • Queuing area for gift purchase Requirements • Flexible display space for changing products ______Technical • Task and general lighting Requirements • Dramatic where appropriate ______Furniture • Permanent reception desk • Chairs • Cabinet storage • Display tables and shelving ______

Coat Check 250sf

Activities • Storage of patron outerwear during gallery visit ______Users • Gallery employees @2 • Gallery patrons 65 ______Space Adjacency • Near entrance on ground floor • Adjacent to Reception ______Design Character • Utilitarian, clean ______Functional • Queuing area for patrons unloading coats Requirements • Coat racks and hangers • Built in desk separating patrons from racks ______Technical • Task and general lighting Requirements ______Furniture • Permanent desk • Chairs • Cabinet storage ______

Indoor Gallery Space @37,000sf

Activities • Appreciating artwork • Shopping for artwork ______Users • Gallery patrons 500 persons max • Gallery employees @ 15 ______Space Adjacency • Separate from residential components of complex • Connects all Art Gallery Amenities ______Design Character • Take advantage of existing quality graffiti work • Maintain masonry shell • Create interior spaces foreign to the building • Make use of existing skylights • Design bridge interiors • Meld industrial aesthetic and high-style ______Functional • ADA accessibility Requirements • Ample circulation space • Space for sculpture, installation, and flat artwork ______Technical • Power for installation art Requirements • Proper electrical illumination for subject • Protection from damaging UV rays • Security for expensive pieces ______Furniture • Occasional chair for gallery usher ______

66 Outdoor Roof Gallery/ Multifunction 23,000sf

Activities • Appreciating artwork • Shopping for artwork • Charity Events • Concerts • Dinners ______Users • Gallery patrons 500 persons max • Gallery employees @ 2 • Special event participants 500 persons • Special event performers • Special event volunteers @ persons ______Space Adjacency • Storage close • Catering kitchen • Near indoor Gallery spaces ______Design Character • Take advantage of existing quality graffiti work • Maintain masonry shell • Make use of exterior views • Make use of existing skylights • Plantings ______Functional • ADA accessibility Requirements • Small stage • Large flexible multifunction space • Space for sculpture ______Technical • Power for special events Requirements • Nighttime Illumination • Safe ledges ______Furniture • Movable tables and chairs • Stage set • Permanent benches ______

Storage 1000sf x 2

Activities • Storage for multifunction furniture • Storage for artwork in transition ______Users • Gallery employees ______Space Adjacency • Near outdoor roof multifunction 67 ______Design Character • Utilitarian ______Functional • Organized Requirements ______Technical • General lighting Requirements ______Furniture • Shelving ______

Curator’s offices 1000sf

Activities • Storage for artwork in transition • Administrative operations of gallery ______Users • Gallery curator ______Space Adjacency • Near storage • Privacy from public spaces ______Design Character • Inconspicuous to patrons ______Functional • Functioning office Requirements ______Technical • Task and general lighting Requirements ______Furniture • Desk and desk chairs • Shelving • Flat files ______

Café 1500sf

Activities • Cafeteria style dining with views to downtown ______Users • Gallery employees • Gallery patrons ______Space Adjacency • Near kitchen/ bar • Connected to Indoor Gallery Space ______Design Character • Industrial meets high style • Graffiti walls • Make use of views to downtown ______Functional • Varied seating arrangements Requirements • Food queuing area • Check-out • Food cases 68 ______Technical • Task and General lighting Requirements • Dramatic lighting effects where appropriate • Make use of existing skylights • Heat lamps • Power to refrigeration units etc. ______Furniture • Dining tables and chairs ______

Kitchen 750sf

Activities • Food preparation for café • Occasional use as catering kitchen for special events ______Users • Cooks 2, Servers 2, Cashier 1 ______Space Adjacency • Near café, bar, lounge • Accessible from multifunction areas ______Design Character • Utilitarian, clean ______Functional • Food preparation area Requirements • Walk-in freezer • Industrial kitchen • Food Pantry ______Technical • General and task lighting Requirements • Power and exhaust for all kitchen appliances • Industrial kitchen sinks • Extra Air Changes per hour ______Furniture • Counters, Cabinets ______

Lounge/ Multifunction 2000sf

Activities • Drinks and appetizers with views to downtown • Rental space for occasional special events • Winter multifunction space ______Users • Gallery patrons • Special event guests ______Space Adjacency • Near kitchen • Bar built-in • Connected to gallery spaces 69 ______Design Character • Unique welcoming ambience • High ceilings • Dramatic contrasts of historic and new elements ______Functional • Lounging couches Requirements • Small stage • Large and small sitting and gathering areas ______Technical • Dramatic, stage, and general lighting Requirements ______Furniture • Couches, low tables ______

Bar 250sf

Activities • Serve drinks to lounge ______Users • Gallery patrons • Bartender ______Space Adjacency • Lounge, Kitchen ______Design Character • Cohesive with lounge ______Functional • Beer taps Requirements • Liquor cabinets ______Technical • Dramatic and task lighting Requirements • Storage for beverages in kitchen ______Furniture • Bar • Bar stools ______

Male Restroom 250sf x 2

Activities • Personal hygiene ______Users • Male gallery patrons and employees ______Space Adjacency • Near reception • Near Café ______Design Character • Utilitarian, Clean ______Functional • Handle special events Requirements ______Technical • Two toilets 70 Requirements • Two urinals • Two Lavatories with mirrors • Adequate lighting ______Furniture • None ______

Female Restroom 300sf x 2

Activities • Personal hygiene ______Users • Female gallery patrons and employees ______Space Adjacency • Near reception • Near Café ______Design Character • Utilitarian, Clean ______Functional • Handle special events Requirements ______Technical • Four toilets Requirements • Two Lavatories with mirrors • Adequate lighting ______Furniture • None ______

Business Loft Space

General Business Loft Space 52,640sf

Activities • Everyday business • Unknown ______Users • NA ______Space Adjacency • Vertical circulation • Mechanical chase ______Design Character • Unfinished space • Dependant on the individual • Materials should be consistent with thesis ______Functional • Specific to business occupying space Requirements • Needs to use shell given 71 ______Technical • Electrical supplied to space to be manipulated Requirements • Plumbing supplied to space to be manipulated • HVAC supplied to space to be manipulated ______Furniture • None provided by design ______

Strip District Development Agency Reception 300sf

Activities • Receive visitors • Secretarial duties ______Users • Visitors • Receptionist ______Space Adjacency • Access to all offices • Connected to development display area ______Design Character • Should maintain as much of the original character as possible • Views to new developments • Welcoming atmosphere ______Functional • Waiting area Requirements ______Technical • Task, general, and dramatic lighting Requirements ______Furniture • Chairs • Low table • Receptionist desk and chair • File cabinets ______

Display Room 200sf

Activities • Viewing models, drawings and pictures of new Strip developments ______Users • Visitors ______Space Adjacency • Adjacent to reception ______Design Character • Should maintain as much of the original character as possible • Welcoming atmosphere ______Functional • Area for models and drawings to be displayed Requirements ______72 Technical • Task, general, and dramatic lighting Requirements • Should avoid UV rays ______Furniture • Display cases ______

Office 150sf x 3

Activities • Typical office work • Rent collection • Realtor ______Users • Employees Realtor, Landlord, Developer ______Space Adjacency • Adjacent to reception ______Design Character • Should maintain as much of the original character as possible • Should have privacy ______Functional • Suitable size for employee and visitor to have meetings Requirements • Area for desk and other layout space ______Technical • Task and general lighting Requirements ______Furniture • Desk and chair • File cabinet • Layout table • Visitor chair ______

Storage 200sf

Activities • Flat file drawing storage • Computer network location • Storing of random documentation ______Users • Employees ______Space Adjacency • Near offices ______Design Character • Utilitarian ______Functional • Organized Requirements ______Technical • General lighting Requirements ______Furniture • Flat files • File cabinets • Shelving 73 Appendix II: Pittsburgh Neighborhoods

http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cp/maps/pittsburgh.html 74 Appendix III: Pittsburgh Neighborhoods

http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cp/maps/strip_district.html 75

Appendix IV: 1886 Pittsburgh Plat Maps

http://digital.library.pitt.edu/maps/index.html 76 Appendix V: 1906 Armstrong Cork Sanborne Map Environs

http://digital.library.pitt.edu/maps/index.html

77 Appendix VI: 1923 Armstrong Cork Sanborne Map Environs

http://digital.library.pi tt.edu/maps/index.html 78 Appendix VII: Strip District and Environs Aerial Photo

Aerial photos from www.mapquest.com 79 Appendix VIII: Climate Region 1

Lechner, Norbert. Heating, Cooling, Lighting Design Methods for Architects. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2001,80 pg 82-83. Appendix VIII: Climate Region 3

Lechner, Norbert. Heating, Cooling, Lighting Design Methods for Architects. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2001,81 pg 86-87.