Department of the History of Art and Architecture Spring Term 2007

University of Pittsburgh Wednesdays 6 to 8:15 pm; Frick rm 202

Professor Franklin Toker HAA0510; CRN19558

Syllabus for

ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM OF THE PITTSBURGH REGION

A summary of this syllabus was distributed in a hard-copy version, but the particularized syllabus is found in hardcopy on our reserve shelf and also available by email to everyone registered in the course, and on the class website, with illustrations.

SCHEDULE OF COURSE MEETINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

The theme of each meeting is listed below, including the main buildings and urban projects for which students are responsible on the mid-term and final. All references below are to Toker, Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait. A capital "P." on the "key works and key features" line means the page number in that book on which the building is illustrated; a small "p." indicates the page on which the building is discussed, without an illustration. The majority of buildings cited below are illustrated in your text, and the class website illustrates nearly all the other buildings and projects, whether extant today or not. Older buildings can generally be found illustrated in the Lorant, Kidney, or Stotz books, on reserve.

Special events and deadlines:

A class fieldtrip by bus is planned for Sunday afternoon, 21 January, from 1 to about 4 p.m., for those who can make it. Cost is $10 cash, no reservations without payment; no refunds unless someone else takes your place. "Significant others" may come, too. No guarantee of seats unless you sign up on January 3, 10, or 17.

Building report on "lost Pittsburgh": topic must be selected before class meets on 24 January; everyone must meet instructor by 7 February; paper due 28 February. See end of this syllabus for details.

Wednesday 3 January: Pittsburgh before Pittsburgh

Geomorphology of western Pennsylvania from earliest times. Effect of the natural environment on the growth and development of Pittsburgh. Early Native American settlements and trails. [There follow below the key works or key features for which you will be responsible on the midterm and final examination]

--Benjamin Henry Latrobe: section through Pittsburgh's hills and rivers, 1812

--Map of western Pennsylvania, with Pittsburgh, Chestnut Ridge and Laurel Hill

--Pittsburgh at the close of the last Ice Age

--Rockshelter at Meadowcroft: 14,000 BCE

--Plan of Native American trails in Western Pennsylvania

--Map of French and British settlement in North America

In-class assignment tonight: impact of topography on Pittsburgh

Assignment passed out tonight for next week: lay out the future city of Pittsburgh

10 January: Pittsburgh in the eighteenth century

Read for this week: Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait, Introduction and "The Making of Pittsburgh" (pp. 1-17). For the lectures this week and next, consult a general history of Pittsburgh, such as Baldwin, Pittsburgh: The Story of A City, 1750-1865; Vexler, Pittsburgh: A Chronological and Documentary History, 1682-1976; or Lorant, Pittsburgh, The Story of An American City to familiarize yourself with the different chronological milestones of the city. Recommended reading: Buck, Planting of Civilization, on the beginnings of Western Pennsylvania, pp. 1-114. Tunnard and Reed, American Skyline on early American cities, pp. 29-74; Reps, Making of Urban America on the laying out of Pittsburgh, pp. 204-206.

Early European expolorers and military exploits. Failure of the Braddock expedition, 1755; success of that of Forbes, 1758. General Forbes names "Pittsborough," December 1, 1758. Establishment of the "core" of Pittsburgh (Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt), followed by the first of seven expansions from the core: the George Woods plan of Pittsburgh and David Redick's plan of North Side.

--George Washington: map of his exploratory route to the Forks of the Ohio, 1753

--Plan of Fort Duquesne, 1754

--George Washington's Fort Necessity, on route 40 nr Farmington PA, 1754

--Route of the Braddock expedition, 1755

--Route of the Forbes expedition, 1758

(George Washington's grist mill at Perryopolis, 1776)

--Fort Pitt, 1759-61 (Harry Gordon, engineer), p.9-10, 22-24.

--Ft. Pitt Blockhouse, 1764 (Col. Bouquet, builder), P. 10, 22, 24.

--William Clapham's "plan of eight subdivisions," April 14, 1761.

--John Campbell's "plan of military lots," 1764.

--George Woods and Thomas Vickroy, plan of Pittsburgh, 1784, p. 20, 34.

--David Redick's plan of Allegheny City, 1787--88, p. 8.

(Plans of Harmony, Beaver, Old Economy, and Perryopolis)

17 January: Pittsburgh in the classical tradition in architecture (1790--1850)

Read for this week: Pittsburgh, "The Golden Triangle," early buildings; "The South Side" and "The North Side" (pp. 131-186). Also, familiarize yourselves with the main architectural styles of Pittsburgh: see the Pittsburgh index, p. 336--337 and the illustrations found in the book.

--Neill Log house, Schenley Park, 1769 or 1787, P. 10, 259-60.

--John & Presley Neville house "Woodville," Collier Township (route 50 south), 1785, p. 286-87.

--Adam Wilson: Isaac Meason House, Mt. Braddook (route 119, n. of Uniontown), 1802, P. 317.

--James Anderson house, North Side, ca. 1832, p. 171.

--"Newington," the Shields house, Edgeworth, 1820s-30s, P. 295.

--Old Economy settlement, Ambridge, 1826-31 ca., P. 296-98.

--First Allegheny County courthouse, ca. 1795.

--Benjamin Henry Latrobe: Allegheny Arsenal, 1812-14, P. 10, 201, 202.

--John Chislett: Burke Building, 1836 ca., P. 10, 36-37.

--Beulah Church, Churchill, rebuilt l837, P. 313.

--"Picnic," the William Croghan house, ca. 1835

--"Homewood," the William Wilkins house, 1835, p. 223.

--John Shoenberger house, Downtown, l847.

--Chislett, second Allegheny County courthouse, 1836-42.

--Nathaniel Bedford: plan of Birmingham, 1811, p. 132.

--Mexican War Streets," North Side, 1830sff

24 January: Romanticism and the railroad (1820--1890) I: impact on urbanism

Read for this week: "Penn Avenue and the Railroad Suburbs," "Fifth Avenue and the Streetcar Suburbs" (pp. 187-262). Recommended: Baldwin on Pittsburgh up to the Civil War. Tunnard & Reed, American Skyline on 19th-century American cities, pp. 77-108.

In Pittsburgh, the "romantic" era is associated above all with the second expansion from the core, fed by the introduction of the telegraph to Pittsburgh in 1846 and the coming of the railroad in 1852.

--Transportation innovations:

Pennsylvania Canal, 1829, p. 44.

Pennsylvania Railroad, 1852, p. 8, 44.

Omnibuses, 1840s

Horsecars, 1859.

Inclines (Monongahela 1869; Duquesne 1877)

John Roebling's Sixth Street suspension bridge 1859

Gustave Lindenthal's Smithfield Street Bridge 1882 (lenticular truss)

--Heastings & Preiser, landscape architects: Evergreen Hamlet, 1851, P. 10, 300.

--development of Sewickley

--first stirrings of Oakland

--Pennsylvania Salt's company town in Natrona, 1850; P. 310.

31 January: Romanticism and the railroad (1820--1890) II: impact on architecture

The so-called "romantic" taste in architecture, particularly the Gothic Revival, entered Pittsburgh fairly early, with the Gothic Revival Trinity Church in 1825. The architecture of the "Brown Decades" in Post-Civil-War America. Importation of other new styles: Italianate and Renaissance Revival, Second Empire, Romanesque Revival. Importation of new architects: Hopkins, Notman, and Furness.

--John Henry Hopkins, Second Trinity Church, 1824-5

--John Chislett, plan & gatehouse, Allegheny Cemetery, 1844-48, p. 203-204.

--John Notman, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 1851, P. 10, 70, 126-127.

--Joseph Kerr, designer: Evergreen Hamlet, 1851, P. 10, 300.

--John Singer house, Wilkinsburg, 1865, P. 226.

--Baywood, the Alexander King house, Highland Park, ca. 1872, p. 213.

--Frank Furness, B & O railroad station, 1880s.

--Furness, Farmers National Bank, 1892.

--Furness, Pennsylvania Railroad station, Edgewood, 1904-06, p. 229.

7 February: Industrial Pittsburgh (1850--1910)

Read for this week: Pittsburgh: "Around Pittsburgh, the Three Rivers and Inland," pp. 263-320; Tunnard and Reed on industrial cities, pp. 111-175; Lubove's Pittsburgh: descriptions of industrial Pittsburgh, pp. 8-29.

Industry on the South Side and The Strip. The third expansion from the core, producing industrial architecture and industrial satellites in the Allegheny, Ohio, and Monongahela river valleys.

--Dunlap Creek Bridge, Brownsville, 1830s. Oldest surviving cast-iron bridge in USA.

--Pennsylvania Salt Company, workers' housing, Natrona, 1850; P. 310.

--B. F. Jones's American Iron Works cold rolling mill, South Side, 1853; p. 267.

--Clinton Furnace, South Side (first true blast furnace in Pittsburgh), 1856

--James Laughlin's Eliza Furnace, Second Avenue (South Oakland), 1859, p. 267.

--Jones & Laughlin's Hazelwood Cokeworks, 1884.

--Alexander Holley, engineer laying out Andrew Carnegie's Edgar Thomson Works at Braddock, 1873-75, P. 274.

--Pittsburgh Bessemer (later Carnegie) steelworks, Homestead, 1881; p. 270.

--Heinz food processing plant, North Side, 1889, P. 181-83.

--Westinghouse Airbrake works and planned community, Wilmerding, 1890 (F.J. Osterling, arch. and planner), P. 276.

--Westinghouse Electric Corporation East Pittsburgh Works, 1894 (Thomas Rudd, architect?), p. 276.

--Vandergrift: Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., planner, 1896; p. 20.

--Jones & Laughlin Aliquippa Works, 1905-12, P. 297.

(Watson-Standard Building, Smithfield Street, and other cast-iron storefronts of the Golden Triangle, 1860s and 1870s)

--Smithfield Street Bridge, Gustave Lindenthal, 1882 (lenticular truss)

--Robert A. Cummings, engineer; Taylor-Wilson Manufacturing Company plant, McKees Rocks, 1905

--Titus de Bobula, St. John Greek Catholic Cathedral, Munhall, 1907, P. 272.

14 February: midterm, followed by The Triangle Made Golden (1870-1915) I: Richardson and his impact

--Isaac Hobbs, Dollar Savings Bank, Downtown, 1871; P. 39, 40.

--H.H. Richardson, Emanuel Episcopal Church, North Side, 1883, P. 166.

--Richardson, Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail, 1084-88, P. 70, 73, 75-76.

--Duquesne Club, 1889, by Richardson associates Longfellow, Alden, & Harlow

--Alden & Harlow, "Sunnyledge," the McClelland House, 1887; P. 245.

21 February: The Triangle Made Golden (1870--1915) II: After Richardson

Read for this week: Pittsburgh: "The Golden Triangle," especially the Beaux-Arts buildings (pp. 19--78).

Lingering "romantic" styles in commercial architecture: Furness and Osterling. Impact of the Beaux-Arts style downtown, beginning with Richardson's Courthouse. Real-estate baronies carved out by Phipps, Oliver, and Frick. Burnham and the new sumptuousness in corporate buildings. Frick's plans for Grant Street.

--Frank Furness, Farmers Deposit National Bank, 4th Ave., 1884.

--Furness, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, Water St., 1889.

--Osterling: Bell Telephone Building, Seventh Avenue, 1891, p. 63-64.

--Longfellow, Alden, & Harlow, Carnegie Building, 1893.

--George B. Post: Bank of Pittsburgh, 1895.

--Post, Park Building: 1896, P. 44.

(Charles Bartberger, Jr.: Industrial Bank, Fourth Avenue, ca. 1901, P. 40-41)

--Daniel Burnham: Pennsylvania (Union) Station, 1901, P. 58-60.

--William G. Burns: Pittsburgh and Lake Erie (P&LE) Station, South Side, 1901, P. 135.

--Grosvenor Atterbury: Fulton Building for Henry Phipps, 1906, p. 52-53.

--Daniel Burnham, Frick Building: 1902, P. 70-71.

--Burnham: Frick Annex (Allegheny) Building, 1906

--Janssen and Cocken: William Penn Hotel, 1914-1916

--F.J. Osterling: Union Arcade (Union Trust), 1916, P. 72.

--Plan for a monumental rebuilding of Grant Street, ca. 1905, here attributed to H.C. Frick as speculator.

--F.L. Olmsted, Jr., Downtown Planning Report, 1910, including proposals for what eventually became Liberty Tunnel, Liberty Tubes, Crosstown Expressway, and Boulevard of the Allies

28 February: Oakland and the City Beautiful (1890--1910) (this topic will occupy two weeks)

Read for this week: Pittsburgh: "Oakland" (pp. 79--130).

The fourth expansion from the core, encompassing the new settlements and the spread of civic infrastructure to Oakland and the adjoining neighborhoods in the East End: Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, and Highland Park. Role of Edward Manning Bigelow.Political boss and urban catalyst: Christopher Lyman McGee. Donations from Mary Schenley. Carnegie and the creation of his Library, Institute, and Technical School. Frick's impact on the East End. Franklin Nicola and the invention of Oakland.

--Edward Manning Bigelow's parks and boulevards, 1890-1910: Schenley, Highland, and Frick Parks (donated 1935); and Bigelow (originally Grant), Beechwood, and Washington boulevards

--Frederick Osterling, rebuilding of "Clayton," the Frick house, 1891; P. 224.

--Longfellow, Alden, & Harlow: Carnegie Institute, 1895 and 1907, P. 94-100.

--Rutan and Russell: Hotel Schenley for Franklin Nicola, 1898, (today William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh), P. 91.

--Franklin Nicola, Schenley Farms and the other "quarters" of Oakland, 1903-20; p.80-81.

--Henry Hornbostel: Plan for Carnegie Technical Schools, 1903, p. 81, 105-9.

--Hornbostel: Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, 1906, P. 121.

--Hornbostel: Rodef Shalom Temple, 1907, P. 114.

--Hornbostel: University of Pittsburgh campus, 1908, p. 83-94.

--Egan & Prindeville: St. Paul's Cathedral, 1902-06, P. 70, 111.

--Ralph Adams Cram: Calvary Episcopal Church, Shadyside 1907, P. 243.

(Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue: First Baptist Church, Oakland, 1910, p. 113)

--Benno Janssen: Pittsburgh Athletic Association, 1909-11, P. 122.

--Janssen: Masonic Temple, 1911-14, P. 122.

--Janssen: apartment house project for Frick Acres, 1916.

[No class 7 March: University not in session during Spring Break]

14 March: Oakland and the City Beautiful (1890--1910) (second of two weeks on this topic)

21 and 28 March: Modernism and antimodernism between the two World Wars (1910--1940) (topic covering two weeks)

Recommended reading: Roy Lubove, Twentieth Century Pittsburgh, chapters 1--5 details the frustrations of the professional planners from around 1915 to 1945.

This was the era of the fifth expansion from the core, encompassing interwar improvements to link Pittsburgh with its first suburbs. Allegheny County public works improvements to its road and bridge infrastructure: Liberty Tubes to the South Hills; Allegheny River Boulevard to Oakmont; and Ohio River Boulevard to Sewickley. Creation of Boulevard of the Allies to the expanded "suburb" of Squirrel Hill. Transfer of parts of the East End to Fox Chapel. The first airport. Mellon monuments and Edgar Kaufmann's private universe through architecture.

--Alden & Harlow, R.B. Mellon house, Mellon Park, 1905.

--Frederick Scheibler, Old Heidelberg Apartments, 1905-08, P. 225.

--Scheibler, Highland Towers, 1913, P. 248.

--Scheibler, Vilsack Row, 1914, P. 214.

--Scheibler, Parkstone Dwellings, 1922, p. 225.

--Kiehnel & Elliott, Lincoln-Larimer Fire Station No. 38, Lemington Avenue at Missouri Street, 1908

--Benno Janssen: Kaufmann's Department Store, 1910 and ca. 1930, P. 42-43.

--Stanley Roush, Allegheny County Airport, 1925-31; P. 281.

--Janssen: YM-YWHA, Oakland, for Edgar Kaufmann, 1924, p. 89-90.

--Janssen: "La-Tourelle," Kaufmann house in Fox Chapel, 1924-28, P. 304.

--Louis Ballinger, New Granada Theater, The Hill, 1927, P. 240

--Joseph Urban's Art Deco ballroom in William Penn Hotel, 1928

--Frank Lloyd Wright: "Fallingwater," Mill Run PA, 1934-37, P. 315.

--Wright, office in Kaufmann's Department Store, 1938, p. 43.

--Mellon Bank (Trowbridge & Livingston with E.P. Mellon), 1923, P. 68.

--Koppers (Graham, Anderson, Trobst and White with E.P. Mellon), 1929, p. 62.

--Gulf Building (Trowbridge & Livingston with E.P. Mellon), 1930, p. 62.

--E.P. Mellon, rejected project for new University of Pittsburgh lower campus, 1924

--Charles Klauder: Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh, 1924--1937, P. 84.

--Benno Janssen: Mellon Institute, 1931-37, P. 88.

--Ralph Adams Cram: East Liberty Presbyterian Church, 1929-35, P. 209.

--Chatham Village: Clarence Stein & Henry Wright, planners; Ingham and Boyd, architects, for Buhl Foundation: 1932 and 1936, P. 138-39.

--Terrace Village Housing, 1937-41: Marlier, Lee, Boyd, & Prack, P. 240.

--Walter Gropius & Marcel Breuer: Robert Frank house, Woodland Road, 1938-39, P. 256.

--Walter Gropius & Marcel Breuer: Aluminum City Terrace, New Kensington, 1941; P. 311.

4 April: Renaissance I (1939-1975)

Read for this week: Pittsburgh, "The Golden Triangle," postwar buildings. Recommended reading: Roy Lubove, Twentieth Century Pittsburgh, chapters 6 and 7.

The sixth expansion from the core: the Turnpike and Parkway to the postwar suburbs and the second airport. Prelude: the Robert Moses plan of 1939. Creation of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and the Urban Renewal Authority. Flood and pollution control. Creation of Gateway Center and Mellon Square. Also, impact of Renaissance I on three districts outside of Downtown: The Hill (Civic Arena); East Liberty redevelopment; and Oakland (University of Pittsburgh expansion).

--Henry Hornbostel, Grant Building, 193O, p. 77.

--Robert Moses downtown planning report, 1939.

--Frank Lloyd Wright: projects for the Point: 1947-48.

--Mitchell & Ritchey: Civic Arena (planned 1947), 1962, P. 235.

--Gateway Center, 1947-1968: Gateway Plaza by Eggers & Higgins and Clavan, 1950--53, P. 20, 22, 26.

--Mellon Square (Mitchell, Deeter, Ritchie, with Simonds & Simonds), 1951, P. 68-70.

--Harrison and Abramovitz: U.S. Steel/Mellon Bank Building, 1950 (now Mellon II), p. 69.

--Harrison and Abramovitz: Alcoa Building, 1951, P. 68.

--Curtis and Davis: IBM (now U.S. Steelworkers') Building, 1962, p. 28.

--Harrison and Abramovitz: Four Gateway, 1964, p. 26.

--Harrison and Abramovitz: U.S. Steel Building (now USX Tower), 1971, P. 64.

--URA's East Liberty Redevelopment, 1960s; p. 209.

--Panther Hollow and the reconfigured University of Pittsburgh campus (Harrison and Abramovitz planners and partial architects), 1960s and 70s.

--Tasso Katselas, Allegheny Commons East, North Side, 1966, P. 159.

--Tasso Katselas, Community College of Allegheny County, North Side, 1974, P. 165

11 April: Renaissance II (1975--1985) and the megacity today

Recommended reading: Jonathan Barnett, "Designing Downtown Pittsburgh," Architectural Record (January 1982):90-107 on public efforts to shape the renewed growth of the downtown. Robert McLean, Countdown to Renaissance II, observes the same process from the point of view of a real-estate broker.

Politics and planning in the 1960s and later. History and powers of the Department of City Planning. Other planning and land-use bodies in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, such as ACCD, RIDC, and Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. Role of city planning in creation of Convention Center, Oxford Centre, and PPG Industries headquarters.

--Edward Larabee Barnes: Scaife Gallery, Carnegie Institute, 1974; P. 96-97.

(Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (S.O.M.): Equibank Building (now PNC2) 1976, p. 51)

--Helmuth, Obata, & Kassabaum: Oxford Centre, 1983, P. 77-8.

(Welton Beckett Associates: One Mellon Bank Center (originally Dravo), 1983, P. 72)

--Philip Johnson & John Burgee: PPG Place, 1979-84, P. 32.

(Celli-Flynn Associates: original David Lawrence Convention Center, 1978-85; p. 59)

--UDA, TAC, and Burt, Hill, Kosar, Rittelman: Liberty Center, 1982--87, P. 58.

--Kohn, Pedersen, Fox: Dominion Tower (ex-CNG, originally Allegheny Industries), 1985-87, P. 55.

--Hugh Stubbins Associates, Fifth Avenue Place, 1985-88, P. 27.

--The Design Alliance, with Agus Rusli: ALCOA Corporate Center, 1998,

(Lazarus Department Store, now converted into Piatt Place, Wood and Fifth, 1998)

--Michael Graves: O'Reilly Theater and parking garage, downtown, 1999.

--Rafael Viñoly: David L. Lawrence Convention Center (rebuilding), 2003

--MacLachlan Cornelius & Filoni: CAPA/August Wilson School (Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts), 2003

Seventh expansion from the core, encompassing the creation of edge-cities at Monroeville, SouthPointe, and Cranberry (alleged 42% physical expansion of Pittsburgh 1980-2000); the third airport. Who guides this expansion? Who makes decisions in Pittsburgh? If there is an eighth expansion from the core it will have to be a mental expansion from the "old Pittsburgh" to the global village that is traveled not by roadways and streets but in cyberspace.

--The "T" subway, late 1970s--1984.

--Martin Luther King, Jr., East Busway, ca. 1984.

--Tasso Katselas, Pittsburgh International Airport, 1993.

(Tasso Katselas, Allegheny County Jail, 1995.)

18 April: Preserving Pittsburgh: Preservation, Recycling, Contextualism and Infill (1960 to today)

One of the strengths of the physical environment of Pittsburgh--helped in some ways by its declining population, but hurt in other ways--is the density and consistency of its building coverage. This requires not expansion of the city but more intense use of what we have by preservation (Mexican War Streets, Manchester); recycling, infill architecture (some modern or post-modern buildings fit in well in South Side and Shadyside despite their obvious break with the older environment), "new urbanism" and contextual architectural designs that blend new buildings with old. Our focus is on local architects Tasso Katselas, UDA Associates, and Arthur Lubetz.

--Heinz Hall, 1971

--Station Square, 1979

--William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, 1983

--Benedum Center, 1986

--The Pennsylvanian, 1987

--Andy Warhol Museum, 1995

--Senator H. John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, 1996

--John Tomich, Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church, Whitehall, 1967--71, P. 382

--Sri Venkateswara Temple, Penn Hills, 1979, P. 383.

--Arthur Lubetz: Pfeiffer house, 5553 Northumberland Street, Squirrel Hill, 1982, P. 258.

--Lubetz: Lubetz Offices, Oakland, 1982; P. 118

--UDA Associates: Village of Shadyside townhouses and apartments, 1981-88, p. 250.

--Peter Eisenman: failed Carnegie Mellon Technology Center, ca. 1987.

(Pittsburgh Technology Center: buildings by Burt, Hill, Kosar, Rittelman for University of Pittsburgh; Bohlin, Cywinski, Jackson, Powell for Carnegie-Mellon University; also their Software Engineering Institute, Oakland).

--Michael Dennis: East Campus of Carnegie Mellon, 1992-99.

--UDA and associated architects: Crawford Square, The Hill, 1991ff

--Goody Clancy of Boston and associated architects: Oak Hill housing, 1998

--Washington's Landing (Montgomery Rust, architects and planners), 1992-98.

--The Waterfront, Continental Properties, Homestead, 1999ff

--South Side Works, URA and Sofer Development, 1999ff

--Summerset at Frick Park, URA and private developers, 2003

25 April: Final exam: regular class time and place

Theme and objective of the course

I keep thinking and writing about Pittsburgh, and I have two books coming out on the topic (The Buildings of Pittsburgh, April 2007) and a revision of my Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait, for 2008), but it has been four years since I last taught this class. The course studies the physical environment of Pittsburgh: the topography, early patterns of settlement, the expansion of its industrial center, the creation of residential neighborhoods, the post-War renewal, and the urban implications of the current shift from production to a service-based economy.

All of you currently live in Pittsburgh, even if you do not come from here, so studying its architecture and urbanism will be like conducting an archaeological investigation of your back yard: you will be dealing with material of the highest familiarity, yet there will be great surprises in store. And the educational value of the course should be no less high, because you will be working with original materials (deeds, plans, oral interviews) and deducing the patterns that underlie things you took for granted all your life.

"Pattern" (or "structure," in a more current term) is the base of all knowledge, and finding pattern in the physical environment of Pittsburgh is both the theme and objective of this course. We will discover the pattern to the growth of Pittsburgh in relation to other American cities, the chronological pattern that affected each area of Pittsburgh (and other American cities) at about the same time, and the topographic pattern that determined the special character of each neighborhood and satellite community. The lectures will get us to know the major monuments and districts of the city through scans and, I hope, a fieldtrip. The format of the course is chronological, but each evening will focus on a particular theme.

COURSE INFORMATION

MEETING THE INSTRUCTOR: My office is on the balcony of the Frick Library reading room. Student meeting hours are Thursday mornings 9 to 11, or by appointment; telephone 412.648.2419; email ftoker@pitt.edu.

COURSE WEBSITE: for the website that accompanies this course, and especially its illustrations, go here.

STYLE TERMS FOR PITTSBURGH ARCHITECTURE: So that no one will feel intimidated by style terms that are commonly used for architecture in the United States, including Pittsburgh, here follows a list of those terms, with local exemplars and a guide to their illustrations. Marcus Whiffen's American Architecture since 1780, on reserve, gives more details.

--Colonial (1760s to 1800: this is a catch-all term, of no real architectural significance): Blockhouse, The Point, P. 24

--Georgian (1760s to 1800: effectively as vague as "colonial," but here applied to buildings of greater architectural pretension): Meason House, Mt. Braddock, P. 317

--Federal (1780s to 1820s): Beulah Church, Churchill, P. 313

--Neoclassical (1795 to 1815): Allegheny Arsenal, P. 202

--Greek Revival (1810 to 1860): Burke Building, P. 36

--Gothic Revival (1825 to 1840 for early phase; returned with Civil War for houses and churches, in a second phase): Singer House, Wilkinsburg, P. 228

--Italianate (1850s through 1870s): Gertrude Stein House, North Side, P. 165

--Second Empire (1860s through 1870s): Suitbert Mollinger House, Troy Hill, P. 185

--High Victorian Gothic (1870s through early 1890s): house at 80 Berry Street, Ingram, P. 291

--Romanesque Revival/Richardsonian Romanesque (1870s through 1890s): Carnegie Hall and Library, North Side, P. 160

--Queen Anne (1870s and 1880s): 814-816 Cedar Street, North Side, P. 178

--Stick Style (rare, between Civil War and 1900): Ober House, Troy Hill, P. 185

--Shingle Style (1870s to 1900, ocassionally later): 424 Denniston Avenue, Shadyside, P. 249

--Colonial Revival (1876 to 1910, then returned 1920s and never entirely left): Mesta House, West Homestead, P. 271

--Beaux Arts (Civil War to World War I): Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Hall, Oakland, P. 121

--Art Nouveau (rare, around 1900): St. John's Greek Catholic Cathedral, Munhall, P. 273

--"Modern Gothic" (a phrase often used for the third flourishing of Gothic style, from 1890s almost to 1950): First Baptist Church, Oakland, P. 113.

--Cotswold (interwar--between WWI and II): Longue Vue Club, Penn Hills, P. 307

--Georgian Revival (interwar): Chatham Village, P. 139

--Art Deco (late 1920s to early 1940s): New Granda Theater, The Hill, P. 240

--Moderne (close to Art Deco, late 1920s to early 1940s): Swan Acres, North Hills, P. 301

--International Style (late 1930s to early 1950s): Frank House, Squirrel Hill, P. 256

--Late Modernism (1950s to today: grows out of International Style): Gateway Center, P. 27

--Post-Modern (1970s to today): Arthur Lubetz office, Oakland, P. 118

READINGS: The course text is Franklin Toker's Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait. This is currently out of print, but it has been reproduced (legally) by the University of Pittsburgh Press, and is on sale at the University Book Centre. Amazon.com has a few copies also, but at higher cost. You are responsible for the whole book, but with emphasis on those neighborhoods and buildings discussed in detail in class.

RESERVE SHELF (in Frick Library):

Baldwin, Leland. Pittsburgh: The Story of A City, 1750-1865

Barnett, Jonathan. "Designing Downtown Pittsburgh," Architectural Record January 1982, 90-107.

Buck, Solon and Elizabeth. The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania.

Kidney, Walter. Landmark Architecture: Pittsburgh and Allegheny County (1997 edition has entries on hundreds of standing or destroyed buildings)

Lorant, Stefan. Pittsburgh, The Story of An American City

Reps, John. Making of Urban America (on city-planning)

Stotz, Charles. The Architectural Heritage of Early Western Pennsylvania (later republished as The Early Architecture of Western Pennsylvania; ends in 1840s--good for certain surviving buildings in the Pittsburgh periphery, such as "Woodville")

Toker, Franklin. Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait.

Tunnard & Reed. American Skyline

Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture since 1780: A Guide to the Styles

OTHER USEFUL BOOKS, BUT NOT ON RESERVE (other bibliography can be found at the back of Toker's Pittsburgh and in the other reserve or recommended books)

Alberts, R. The Shaping of the Point.

Andrews, Wayne. Architecture, Ambition, and Americans.

Aurand, Martin. The Progressive Architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler, Jr.

_____. The Spectator and the Topographical City.

_____. Carnegie Mellon University Architecture Archives

Bauman, John and Edward Muller: Before Renaissance (a planning history of Pittsburgh, 1896-1943)

Fleming, G.T. Pittsburgh: How to See It. (A guidebook from 1916).

Floyd, Margaret. Architecture after Richardson: Regionalism before Modernism: Longfellow, Alden , & Harlow in Boston and Pittsburgh.

Jucha, Robert. "The Anatomy of a Streetcar Suburb: A Development History of Shadyside," Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 62 (1979):301--19.

Kidney, Walter. Landmark Architecture: Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

Killikelly, S. History of Pittsburgh: Its Rise and Progress.

Lorant, Stefan. Pittsburgh, The Story of An American City

Lubove, Roy. Pittsburgh (Anthology of readings on the city.)

Lubove, Roy. Twentieth Century Pittsburgh, 2 vols., the second entitled The Post-Steel Era.

Lynch, K. The Image of the City.

McLean, Robert. Countdown to Renaissance II

Reps, John. Making of Urban America

Richman & Toker "James Van Trump: Studies on the Architecture of Pittsburgh"

Schuyler, M. "The Buildings of Pittsburgh", Architectural Record, 1911 (excellent overview of Pittsburgh in the City Beautiful era)

Toker, Franklin. "Bibliography and Research Sources on Pittsburgh Architecture and Urbanism." (A special guide to historical research sources)

_____. Fallingwater Rising: Frank Lloyd Wright, E. J. Kaufmann, and America's Most Extraordinary House

_____. & Helen Wilson. Roots of Architecture in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

Van Trump, J. Life and Architecture in Pittsburgh (old buildings and neighborhoods).

Van Trump & Ziegler Landmark Architecture of Allegheny County

Vexler, Robert. Pittsburgh: A Chronological and Documentary History, 1682-1976

OTHER RESOURCES:

http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh for atlases of Pittsburgh in the eighteenth century, then 1872-1939 etc.; a chronology of the city; wonderful photographs, and a link to the Historical Society catalogue.

GRADING will be based 30% on a midterm test and 30% on the final exam (both combining multiple-choice and an essay); 20% on attendance, participation, and in-class exercises; and 20% on a short assignment on destroyed Pittsburgh buildings. Consistent class participation will be highly important in factoring your term grade. Please be reminded of the University policy on plagiarism: "Plagiarizing is an act that violates the Student Conduct Code, and will not be tolerated in this class. Plagiarized assignments will result in a failing grade for that assignment."

THE BUILDING REPORT: This will be a paper of five to ten pages on a Pittsburgh building or site that is no longer standing, or no longer intact. Selection of a topic (NOT necessarily one of those below: your original ideas are much welcomed) has to be done by email to ftoker@pitt.edu BEFORE 24 January. Send along your first, second, and third choices. Be sure to include your name ("heathengoddess@aol.com" sounds intriguing, but does not identify you). The instructor will respond with a confirmation, and email you a separate guide to research, including bibliographic format.

The next step is to do preliminary research, then meet with the instructor in his office between 24 January and 7 February: no paper will be accepted unless this meeting has taken place.

The paper is due in class 28 February: along with the original, send in a copy for the instructor to retain. You need to illustrate the report, but no fancy covers, please: staples only, but one-sided printing, please.

Possible topics, in approximate chronological order:

Fort Duquesne

Bower Hill, the Neville house destroyed in Whiskey Rebellion.

The Allegheny Arsenal, especially its destroyed buildings

"Monument Hill," North Side

Shoenberger house, Penn Ave.

Shoenberger summer house in Lawrenceville (grounds now in part Allegheny Cemetery?)

"Pic-Nic," the Groghan house

"Homewood," the William Wilkins mansion in Pt. Breeze

Trinity Church in octagonal form, Downtown

Trinity Church as rebuilt by J. Henry Hopkins 1825, Downtown

Bartberger's old St. Paul's Cathedral, Downtown

Notman's old St. Peters, Downtown, then moved to Oakland

Clinton Furnace (=P&LE station site)

Eliza furnace, Second Avenue

LTV/J&L South Side furnaces

Westinghouse Electric Works, East Pittsburgh (some remnants standing)

old Wabash station, site of Gateway Center

old Exhibition Hall at Point, either (or both) the ca. 1880 version and the ca. 1908 version

old Market Hall 1820 in Market Square

old Market Hall 1902 in Market Square

First courthouse in Market Square ca 1790

Second courthouse on Grant Street, 1842

old Post Office, Grant Street, ca. 1879

old City Hall, Smithfield street, ca. 1860

old Allegheny City Hall, ca. 1858

Pre- and Post-Civil War mansions in Oakland on Fifth Avenue: Colter, Eichbaum, Craft, etc.

Oliver mansion, Ridge Street, Allegheny

Original Concordia Club, North Side

Heinz mansion, Pt. Breeze

Armstrong mansion, Pt. Breeze

Westinghouse mansion, Pt. Breeze

Mesta house, Beechwood Boulevard

Thaw house, Beechwood Boulevard

Thomas Carnegie House, Pt. Breeze

Richard Beatty Mellon House, corner Beechwood and Fifth.

(All these houses are in Palmer's Pictorial Pittsburgh, 1909)

St. Margaret's hospital, Lawrenceville

Rockwell estate, Hutchison Avenue, Edgewood

Jenkins Arcade, Downtown

LectroMelt factory in Strip