Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (February 2008)

Written by ceddammit

If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, you may remember that I love walking around downtown areas taking pictures of old buildings. You also may have noticed that it’s been a long time since I last posted any such pictures. This week’s ThrowBack Thursday attempts to fill that void.

In late November of 2007, I was informed by my then employer that I would be spending most of the winter at a client’s facility in Pittsburgh. At that point, I had never been anywhere in Pennsylvania, let alone Pittsburgh. I had heard Pittsburgh has awful winters and was a dreary place in general. I knew the local amusement park (Kennywood) had some way cool roller coasters, but the park was closed for the season. So, I was rather unhappy about this work assignment. That is, until I actually arrived. Once I started wandering the city, I couldn’t help but feel like Pittsburgh had been laid out by someone playing SimCity while completely stoned, which made me want to explore more. And the fact that the city flourished in the early 20th century means there is plenty of cool architecture scattered around the place. After spending a few months getting to know the city fairly well, I spent my last full weekend there photographing some of my favorite sights. Let’s start with a couple of art deco skyscrapers (my favorite form of architecture). Specifically, we’ll begin with the first building that caught my attention during my first visit to downtown: the Gulf Building (a.k.a. Gulf Tower)…

Looking straight up at Gulf Tower from the street doesn’t provide a good look at the Aztec-pyramid-style roof. So, here it is peeking over other buildings from a few blocks away.

Directly across the street from Gulf Tower is the city’s other art deco gem of a skyscraper: the Koppers Building. Check it out (don’t forget to check it back in when you’re finished)…

As with Gulf Tower, you have to back off a bit to see the glorious roof.
Here they are together: Koppers on the left, Gulf on the right.
Told ya they were right across the street from each other.

A few blocks from Gulf and Koppers, on the outskirts of downtown, I stumbled across a beautiful former railroad station (which seemed to have been converted into an apartment building). Built in the year 1900, this was Pittsburgh’s Penn Station, now known as Pittsburgh Union Station…

The three arches protruding from the front of the building lead to a covered loading / unloading zone
Am I missing something, or did they actually misspell the city’s name when they built this place?
The “cover” over the loading / unloading zone is actually this shallow dome with a massive skylight.
Not sure I want to ask.

Another excellent find was the Union Trust Building. Check out this place in all its ornateness…

Let’s finish downtown with this scattering of sites/sights…

Federal Reserve Building
This spiral fire escape grabbed my attention.
This being the Steel City, the Gateway Center is clad in stainless steel.
The William Penn Hotel has a pair…
…of bridges or skywalks or something like that.
I love tall skinny buildings like these. Probably because they remind me of the 1980s video game, Rampage.
More buildings for Rampage
What’s the deal with the windowless building on the right?
some kinda glass castle
some kinda glass Tower of London

All right, that’s it for downtown (for now). Let’s head back towards my hotel (near the town of West Mifflin) for a few other interesting sites…

Interestingly named establishment
Another interestingly named establishment…
…this one also has an ancient vehicle out front.
In addition to the Steel City, Pittsburgh is also known as the City of Bridges…
…but it could also be called the City of Tunnels. This is the Fort Pitt Tunnel

Just across the Monongahela River from downtown is Mount Washington, which provides the best non-aerial views I’ve ever encountered of an inland city’s downtown. Not to mention, the neighborhood known as Mount Washington seems like an interesting place in and of itself. Here are just a few of the shots I gots while I was up there…

The Mount Washington neighborhood is home to an original Carnegie Library…
…and apparently is not afflicted with HOAs.
Downtown Pittsburgh as seen from Mount Washington
For decades, the Gulf Tower (center) was the tallest building in town. Now it is literally overshadowed by the boxy behemoth to the right.
The boxy behemoth to the right played the Mooby HQ building in the movie, Dogma.
Another look at the stainless steel siding of the Gateway Center
The point where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers meet and become the Ohio River
Another old railroad station
A few of the bridges for which Pittsburgh is known

Time for me to sign off. Next Thursday, we’ll return to Fruita, Colorado! Be there!

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