17 Gulf Tower Downtown Pittsburgh Walking Tour Trowbridge & Livingston (New York), architects; 17 18 Downtown Pittsburgh is infused with an authentic, indie- E. P. Mellon, associate architect, 1932 Seventh Avenue spirited vibrancy … . In this era of homogenized cities, Grant Street & Mellon Square Pittsburgh is a breath of fresh air. It embraces its industrial This 44-story tower, originally constructed for the Gulf Oil 16 past while simultaneously wrapping its strong arms around Corporation, was the tallest in Pittsburgh until 1970. The 15 progressive green developments, an enlightened foodie architects went down 90 feet to find a proper footing for 19 reputation, and its birthright as one of America’s quirkiest their great tower, then raised it in a sober Modernistic manner Strawberry Way cities. —”Pittsburgh: The Coolest American City You Haven't Been To,” 14 that began and ended with allusions to Classical architecture: 13 20 Andrea Poe, Huffington Post, Jan. 6, 2015 a colossal doorway with a 50-ton granite entablature on 12 11 Seventh Avenue and a limestone stepped-back pyramidal top that recalls the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and now serves Sixth Avenue FREE TOURS Old Allegheny County Jail Museum as the KDKA Weather Beacon, when illuminated at night. # 2 10 1 MEETING Open Mondays through October (11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) LOCATION (except court holidays) 18 Federal Courthouse and Post Office Oliver Avenue 3 Trowbridge & Livingston (New York), architects, Downtown Pittsburgh: Guided Walking Tours with James A. Wetmore (Washington, D.C.), 1932 Every Friday, May through October (Noon to 1:00 p.m.) e 9 t c • e During a $68-million renovation in 2004–05, the exterior a June: Market Square Area l e r P t stonework was cleaned, six new courtrooms were added t • July: Penn-Liberty Cultural District n S Fifth Avenue e n e d r e in the original building light wells, and an atrium was l • August: Bridges & River Shores t e P i S f constructed to allow natural light to illuminate the new t • September: Fourth Avenue & PPG Place h t m n i 8 4 a a i r m • third-floor lobby space and historic fourth-floor courtrooms. l October: Gateway Center Renaissance Historic District l i S G Forbes Avenue W 19 U.S. Steel Tower DOWNTOWN’S BEST Harrison & Abramovitz (New York), architects, 1971 Special Places and Spaces in a 2-Hour Walk 5 Not free. A guidebook is included. Space is limited. At 841 feet high, U.S. Steel Tower was the tallest building Advance paid reservations are required. between New York and Chicago when completed. (In 1987 Fourth Avenue June through August: every Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to Noon May Fridays at Noon Philadelphia’s One Liberty Place Building at 945 feet became Other dates by appointment the first to surpass it.) U.S. Steel Tower has an exposed frame 7 6 A FREE one-hour guided walking tour, of Cor-Ten weathering steel (a U.S. Steel patent). SATURDAY SPECIALS Third Avenue Not free. Reservations are required. Space is limited. compliments of the Pittsburgh History The 18 exterior columns that run the full height of the & Landmarks Foundation building are filled with a mixture of water, anti-freeze, and N July 25: Oakland Walking Tour: Mellon Institute, Central an anti-corrosive. The purpose of the fluid is to maintain a Catholic & More column temperature below a dangerous level during a fire. Sept. 12: Chatham Village Walking Tour, Mt. Washington The shaded blocks of buildings are in the Pittsburgh Central There is an acre of space on each floor; approximately Sept. 26: Carnegie Walking Tour: From the Andrew Carnegie Downtown National Register Historic District. The Allegheny Meeting Location 9,000 people work in the building; and there are 54 elevator Free Library to Food-Tasting on Main Street & Church Hopping County Courthouse is a National Historic Landmark. Grant Street near Sixth Avenue, at the cars, 11,000 windows, and 64 stories. Oct. 10: Mattress Factory: Behind-the-Scenes Walking Tour U.S. Steel Corporation and the University of Pittsburgh Oct. 24: Downtown Renewal Walking Tour: From Mellon Omni William Penn Hotel entrance Medical Center (UPMC) are headquartered here. UPMC 1. Omni William Penn Hotel 12. Regional Enterprise Tower Square to Market Square is a major tenant and has branded its name on the exterior. 2. BNY Mellon Green 13. Allegheny HYP Club Nov. 7: John Comes Churches: A Bus Tour to Lawrenceville, 3. BNY Mellon Center 14. Smithfield United Church Etna & Oakland 20 First Lutheran Church 4. Allegheny County Courthouse 15. Verizon Building Andrew Peebles, architect, 1888 5. City-County Building 16. Koppers Building FOR DETAILS & RESERVATIONS When this church was built, Grant Street still had the air of 6. Grant Building 17. Gulf Tower 412-471-5808, ext. 527 or [email protected] a small-town main street, with Henry Hobson Richardson’s 7. One Oxford Centre 18. Federal Courthouse new Courthouse and St. Paul’s Cathedral (now demolished) 8. Frick Building and Post Office by far its most imposing objects. The graceful dimensions of 9. Union Trust Building 19. U.S. Steel Tower First Lutheran Church complement the massive Courthouse, 10. Mellon Square 20. First Lutheran Church and details of the church (such as the red mortar) echo 11. Hotel Monaco www.phlf.org Richardson’s buildings. Services on weekdays begin at 12:10. Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Renewing Communities; Building Pride Pittsburgh. Mighty. Beautiful. Walkable. For more information on local buildings and architects, purchase one of our books. Call 412-471-5808, ext. 525 for 100 West Station Square Drive, Suite 450 a listing of titles and prices, or visit : www.phlf.org. Click on “Store.” Pittsburgh, PA 15219-1134 © 2015 GRANT STREET & MELLON SQUARE 1 Omni William Penn Hotel 6 Grant Building 11 Hotel Monaco Janssen & Abbott, architects, 1916; Janssen & Cocken, Henry Hornbostel and Eric Fisher Wood, architects, 1930 MacClure & Spahr, architects, 1902–03; architects, 1929; Urban Room, Joseph Urban, 1929 This building has lost some exterior detailing and inner space, enlarged by Joseph F. Kuntz, architect, 1924 Pittsburgh especially is a city of monuments to its great This classic big-city hotel is distinguished by the Art Deco but its neon beacon continues to flash P-I-T-T-S-B-U-R-G-H Hotel Monaco brings new life to the classically inspired industrialists who left behind them not only steel mills, Urban Room on the 17th floor. Deep light courts (easily in Morse code for the benefit of aviators. Philadelphia Company Building, later known as the James factories and banks, but also a number of huge buildings noticed from Mellon Square) allow the maximum number H. Reed Building. The interior is a welcome surprise, full of which perpetuate their names. Frick, Carnegie, Oliver and of guest rooms to have natural ventilation and outdoor contemporary style and connections to Pittsburgh’s history. 7 One Oxford Centre views. During a $22 million renovation in 2004, many Phipps resound in the city’s architectural as well as its Hellmuth, Obata, Kassabaum (New York), architects, 1983 of the building’s original elements were restored. 12 Regional Enterprise Tower financial annals. Like the princes of the Renaissance, the This 46-story skyscraper was built as a cluster of octagons to Harrison & Abramovitz (New York), architects, 1953 masters of these great fortunes loved to build. In steel, maximize the number of corner offices. Originally constructed for Alcoa, this corporate head quarters 2 BNY Mellon Green marble and granite is memorialized much of the history Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann, architects, and building was intended to show off as many applications of aluminum as possible. Here, aluminum siding made its of Pittsburgh’s Age of the Moguls. MTR Landscape Architects, 2002 8 Frick Building D. H. Burnham & Co. (Chicago), architects, 1902 debut in high-style construction. In 1998, Alcoa constructed ––James D. Van Trump, “The Skyscraper as Monument” Privately owned but open to the public, this greenspace gives a a new building on the North Shore along the Allegheny River (The Charette; 43:4, April 1963) campus feel to the BNY Mellon Financial Center complex and Henry Clay Frick made a number of major real-estate and donated this building to serve as the headquarters for provides an amenity for Pittsburgh’s central business district. investments that resulted in construction of a close-set group various nonprofit organizations. The idea failed, and a new With its concentration of major historic buildings and modern The fountain was designed by Geoffrey L. Rausch. The granite of buildings in the Grant Street area: the Frick Building, the developer now intends to create apartments in the upper Frick Annex (now the Allegheny Building), Union Arcade, and stories, with offices below. skyscrapers, Grant Street is downtown Pittsburgh’s showcase monoliths symbolize the strength and stability of Pittsburgh. A tree-lined promenade of rustic terrazzo and granite paving the first part of the William Penn Hotel. In the Frick Building, thoroughfare. In 2012, the American Planning Association named leads to one of four downtown “T” (transit) stations. the earliest of these, he created a personal monument and the 13 Allegheny HYP Club Grant Street one of America’s ten “Great Streets,” because of its location of his own office. The tall new building that was Enlarged by Edward B. Lee, architect, 1930 1890-period workers’ houses were remodeled to provide a exceptional character. 3 BNY Mellon Center finished in 1902 put an end to the 14-year dominance of the gracious courtyard and cozy interiors for what was originally Grant Street takes its name from Grant’s Hill—once 60 feet Welton Becket Associates Pittsburgh skyline by the Courthouse directly across the street.