As World War II contributed to the mass steel production of Pittsburgh, the city became a “commercial slum” throughout the 1940s. However, city leaders came together to modernize the area and make their city beautiful again. The creation of Point State Park in 1974 is one of the many projects during this period of urbanization that helped transform the city.
The fort was built buy the French in 1754 at the site where the Allegheny and Monogahela river meet and turn into the Ohio River. The French occupied the fort during the first years of the French and Indian War.
The Fort Pitt Museum is an indoor/outdoor facility located in Point State Park at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers where the Ohio River forms. First opened in 1969, the museum is a recreation of the original Fort Pitt constructed by British forces during the Seven Years’ War in 1758 alongside the nearby outline of the French Fort Duquesne that remains in existence by the museum today. Although initially operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the site has been under the purview of the Heinz History Center since its bankruptcy and sale in 2009. In both iterations, the Fort Pitt Museum has testified to the integral role colonial expansion and European-Indian relations played in Pittsburgh’s history. Anyone interested in that history can visit the museum during its regular operating hours from 10 AM to 5 PM daily.
The Burke Building, built in 1836, is Pittsburgh’s oldest surviving office building and is surpassed in age by only the Fort Pitt Blockhouse (1764). This three-story, five-bay, Greek Revival building was designed by English architect John Chislett for attorneys Robert and Andrew Burke. It has since hosted numerous businesses, the last being the headquarters of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy which vacated the building in 2007. It was designated as a Pittsburgh Historic Landmark in 1970, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and is part of the city’s Market Square Historic District.
Completed in 1871 and located in downtown Pittsburgh, the Dollar Savings Bank Building is still the Pennsylvania headquarters for the venerable bank. Construction on the Beaux Arts style building was delayed by the Civil War and the lack of building materials afterwards. The Dollar Savings Bank, which was founded in 1855, began construction on their building in 1869 at the corner of 4th Avenue and Smithfield Streets in Pittsburgh’s financial district and expanded the building in 1906. The building was designated a Pittsburgh landmark by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in 1970 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Constructed in 1924, this downtown Pittsburgh building served as the headquarters for the Salvation Army branch of Western Pennsylvania for many decades and has recently been repurposed as a hotel. Throughout the 20th century, the building had multiple functions as a residential and recreational space for veterans of World War I, temporary quarters for visitors and newcomers, and a place of refuge for the poor and homeless citizens within the Pittsburgh area. Throughout its time as the Salvation Army Building, the building also had another section called the Evangeline Residence for Young Women. Named after the fourth general of the Salvation Army and the daughter of William Booth, Evangeline Booth, the residence gave accommodations for young, professional women. However, this residential area for women closed in 1981 due to funding, a situation that led to the displacement of many women. In 2008, the Salvation Army of Western Pennsylvania relocated its headquarters to Carnegie. In 2016, the former Salvation Army Building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its contribution to the Pittsburgh community. In 2017, the building was renovated and redeveloped into the Distrikt Hotel.
Designed by renowned American architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, the Allegheny County Courthouse was completed in 1888. Built around an interior courtyard, the five-story building was constructed with rusticated granite blocks that meld Syrian, Byzantine, Gothic and Renaissance architectural styles…what has become known as “Richardson Romanesque.” The buildings convey a sense of simplicity, dignity and strength and while the courthouse is still in use, the Old Jail is no longer used as an incarceration facility. Both were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and designated as National Historic Landmarks in 1976.
"Despite orders to avoid an engagement with the French, Major James Grant and his force of Scottish Highlanders attempted a brazen frontal attack on Fort Duquesne on September 14, 1758. To Grant’s surprise, French troops and Indian warriors poured out of the fort and surrounded the British on a nearby hill. More than half of Grant’s 850 troops were killed or captured." The historic marker is located on the corner of the Allegheny County Courthouse, at the corner of Grant Street and Fifth Avenue.
Constructed in 1916 and financed by Henry Frick, one of America's leading industrialists the Union Trust building is an indoor shopping complex and office building that was known as the Union Arcade in its early years. The building was designed by architect and Pittsburgh native Frederick Osterling with a Flemish-Gothic design reminiscent of the Municipal Hall in Leuven, Belgium. The building is perhaps best known for its twin, chapel-like towers which sit atop its mansard roof. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and designated as a historic site by the Pittsburgh Historic Landmark Foundation in 1968. Today the Union Trust Building is a mixed-use structure, with retail and office space.
The 23-floor William Penn Hotel was one of the largest hotels in the United States when it was completed in 1916 at the cost of $6 million dollars. The building was designed by local architects, Benno Janssen and Franklin Abbott and constructed by the George A. Fuller Company. The hotel's design is mostly comprised of Gothic Revival, Mediterranean, and Italian Renaissance architectural elements and Art Deco furnishings. Throughout the years, the ownership of the building changed, which led to several name changes including the Penn-Sheraton Hotel and Westin Penn Hotel. The hotel was listed in both the Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation in 1972 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Currently, the building is owned by Omni and Hotel Resorts.
Mellon Square became the first modern garden plaza to be built atop a parking garage when it opened in 1955. The park remained a vital spot for downtown’s workforce and an increasing number of residents, but began to show signs of deterioration around the turn of the 20th century. The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, with $10 million in funding from area foundations, restored Mellon Square between 2009 and 2014. The fundraising effort includes an endowment that will provide permanent funding for future maintenance.
Gimbels Department Store was a part of the Gimbels chain of department stores from 1914 to the late 1980s. In 1935, the store saw protesters picketing the store for not hiring African Americans.
When the Ewart Building was completed in Pittsburgh in 1891, the nine-story building was one of the tallest in the city. This office building was constructed by wholesale grocer, Samuel Ewart, along Liberty Avenue and is now squarely in the heart of the city’s cultural district which sprang up around it. Designed in the Richardson Romanesque architectural style, the building served as the headquarters for Samuel Ewart and Company and was owned by the family until 1969. Today, it still serves its original purpose as an office building and retail space and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.
Constructed in 1928, the Stanley Theater (later renamed the Benedum Theater) was once the largest movie palace and music hall in Western Pennsylvania. The building was designed by Hoffman-Henon of Philadelphia, one of the nation's leading architectural firms specializing in the design and construction of theaters during the twentieth-century. The Art-Deco design of the Stanley Theater was designed to complement the adjacent Clark Building. This office tower was named in honor of James Bly Clark, a vice-president of the Stanley-Clark Motion Picture Company and the founder of the Pittsburgh branch of the firm. Numerous musical acts performed at the Stanley Theater including Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, the Andrew Sisters, Frank Zappa, the Clash, Prince, and Journey. In 1985, the Stanley Theater and Clark Building were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as some of the earliest buildings to utilize the Art-Deco design in the region, as well as their significance in the history of Pittsburg. In 1987, renovations were made by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and the building became the Benedum Center for Performing Arts. Today, the Benedum Center holds musicals hosted by the Pittsburgh Civic Live Opera and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater Company.
The historical marker here commemorates the signing of a document known as the “Pittsburgh Agreement” that described the government of a potential Czechoslovakian state should the Czechs and Slovaks achieve independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Signed on May 31, 1918, the Pittsburgh Agreement was the result of decades of resistance to Austro-Hungarian rule in what became Czechoslovakia that culminated after the empire’s defeat in the First World War. The most notable signatory to the document, Czech politician Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, became president of an independent Czechoslovakia shortly thereafter and receives much of the credit for the Pittsburgh Agreement, but it would not have been possible without the cooperation of Slovak activists in the United States like Jozef Hušek as well. Regardless the Pittsburgh Agreement was a foundational document guaranteeing the rights of the Slovak minority in the union with their Czech neighbors and, when those guarantees were not upheld, later became a justification for a division of Czechoslovakia. The historical marker commemorating this event is open to the public twenty-four hours a day.
Pittsburgh’s twelve-story Century Building was constructed in 1907 by the Century Land Company, hence, its name. Located in the city’s central business and cultural districts, it served as an office building for the vast majority of its life. At the time, the Beaux Arts building was one of the taller structures in the city, but as the age of steel dawned, it would soon be dwarfed by buildings around it. Today, the building houses a first-floor restaurant, two floors of office space and 61 affordable residential lofts. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
Pittsburgh's Byham Theater was built from 1903 to 1904 and opened as the Gayety Theater. At that time, the Gayety was home to touring Vaudeville performances and its opulent design was a source of pride for local citizens. During the late 1920s and the era of the Great Depression, the theater showed Hollywood films and was renamed the Fulton. Local citizens were usually able to attend screenings of contemporary movies at the Fulton during these years as the cost of showing movies throughout the day was much lower than hosting traveling performers. As movie theaters were constructed in suburban neighborhoods, downtown theaters like the Fulton struggled to stay in business and many of the historic theaters were demolished. The Fulton was saved from this fate thanks to the efforts of preservationists and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust who purchased this theater and restored it to something closer to its original purpose, hosting live performances. The theater was renamed in honor of a leading donor and can be accessed through the Renaissance Hotel.
Located in downtown Pittsburgh, the historic Fulton Building was completed in 1906 and is currently home to the Renaissance Hotel and serves as the entrance to the Byham Theater. The 13-story building was designed by well-known Pittsburgh architect, Grosvenor Atterbury in a Renaissance Revival style, and funded by prominent industrialist Henry Phipps. It is named after steam boat inventor Robert Fulton and went through a $45 million renovation prior to the opening of the hotel in 2001. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
Centered in downtown Pittsburgh, Heinz Hall is the city’s prime performing arts center and is home to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Symphony, Inc., the hall was dedicated in 1971 and was remodeled to its current condition in 1995. This concert hall has 2,661 seats and hosts several events, in addition to the Pittsburgh Symphony. Heinz Hall has helped foster economic and cultural growth in the downtown Pittsburgh area
Built in 1913, the Italianate Buhl Building’s most unique architectural feature is its blue and cream-colored terra cotta tiles that grace its six-story façade. These tiles run in horizontal and vertical patterns around the Buhl’s many oversized windows. It was designed by well-known Pittsburgh architect, Benno Janssen, who also designed other famous Pittsburgh landmark buildings. It now has retail space on the first floor and offices on the remaining floors. The Buhl Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and placed on the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation list in 1981.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This walking tour starts at Point State Park and heads west through the heart of downtown Pittsburgh with stops at many of the historical markers and landmark buildings along the way. The tour also includes several museums and cultural sites. Enjoy!
