ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM OF THE PITTSBURGH REGION

This syllabus is available in hard-copy from Copy Cat at 3945 Forbes (8 a.m. to midnight) or you can print it out from the website that accompanies this course: go to www.pitt.edu/~tokerism and click on "Pittsburgh Course." It consists of three parts: a schedule of course meetings, general course information, and specific information on the term paper and a listing of research resources for its fulfillment.

COURSE MEETINGS

The theme of each course 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; a P. means the page number on which the building is illustrated; a p. means the page on which it is discussed without an illustration. The majority of buildings cited below are illustrated there, though some are described as text only. The accompanying website gives illustrations to 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, all of which are on reserve.

Week One: Tuesday 1 September: Pittsburgh Overview I: Urbanism; Thursday, 3 September: Pittsburgh Overview II: Architecture Term-paper topics (streets or highways) topics may be chosen as early as 1 September or at any time until 24 September.

The first lecture will discuss the main lines of the development of the city as a sequence of expansions from its core. The illustrations will be repeated later on throughout the semester.

The second lecture will isolate the main architectural styles now or formerly prominent in the city, with the approximate dates in which this style flourished in Pittsburgh. Note that these will not necessarily be the same dates for this style elsewhere in the country: see Marcus Whiffen's American Architecture since 1780, on reserve, for more details. Nor will a particular building always fall in these days. Pittsburgh's Beulah Church was built in Federal style in 1837, although the Federal style was "dead" here and elsewhere a good many years before.

This lecture will concentrate on the following buildings, most of which will also be shown later on: --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

Week Two: 8 and 10 Sept: Prehistoric Pittsburgh 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.

Scope and layout of prehistoric and pioneer Pittsburgh. Geomorphology from earliest times. Effect of the natural environment on the growth and development of Pittsburgh. Early Native American settlements and trails. Early European expolorers and military exploits. Failure of the Braddock expedition, 1755; success of that of Forbes, 1758.

--Map of Western Pennsylvania at the close of the last Ice Age. --Rockshelter at Meadowcroft, 14,000 BC --Plan of Native American trails in Western Pennsylvania. --Map of the French and the British in North America.

Week Three: 15 and 17 Sept: Pittsburgh in the eighteenth century Read for this week: 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.

Establishment of the "core" of Pittsburgh in 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. Transfer of city-planning concepts to America: the Antique, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical traditions. Comparison of Pittsburgh with other early American cities. Early vernacular buildings in the post-colonial period.

--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, p. 8. --Neill Log house, Schenley Park, 1787, P. 10, 259-60. --Presley Neville house "Woodville," Collier Township, 1785, P. 286-87.

Week Four: 22 and 24 Sept: 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 Pittsburgh index, p. 336--337 and the illustrations found there. 24 September is the last day in which to chose a Street-report topic

Federal and Greek Revival styles. The first two professional architects in town: Latrobe and Chislett. Shape of the preindustrial city. The detached settlements of Allegheny City and Birmingham.

--First Allegheny County courthouse, ca. 1795. --James Anderson house, North Side, before 1832, p. 171. --Adam Wilson: Isaac Meason House, Mt. Braddook (n. of Uniontown), 1802, P. 317. --Benjamin Henry Latrobe: Allegheny Arsenal, 1812-14, P. 10, 201, 202. --Nathaniel Bedford, plan of Birmingham, 1811, p. 132. --"Newington," the Shields house, Edgeworth, 1820s-30s, P. 295. --Beulah Church, Churchill, rebuilt l837, P. 313. --Old Economy settlement, Ambridge, 1826-31 ca., P. 296-98. --"Picnic," the William Croghan house, ca. 1835 --"Homewood," the William Wilkins house, 1835, p. 223. --John Shoenberger house, l847. --John Chislett, Burke Building, 1836 ca., P. 10, 36-37. --Chislett, second Allegheny County courthouse, 1836-42.

Week Five: 29 Sept., 1 October: Romanticism and the railroad (1820--1890) 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.

Gothic, and the "romantic" taste in architecture, entered Pittsburgh fairly early, in 1825. But the romantic era is associated above all with the second expansion from the core, with the coming of the railroad in 1852 through the "Brown Decades" of Post-Civil-War America. Importation of new styles: Gothic Revival, Italianate and Renaissance Revival, Second Empire, Romanesque Revival. Importation of new architects: Hopkins, Notman, Furness, Richardson. Integration of the building and landscaping traditions.

--Transportation innovations: Pennsylvania Canal, 1829, p. 44. Pennsylvania Railroad, 1852, p. 8, 44. Omnibuses, 1840s Horsecars, 1859. --John Henry Hopkins, Second Trinity Church, 1824-5 --John Notman, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 1851, P. 10, 70, 126-127. --John Chislett, plan of, and gatehouse for, Allegheny Cemetery, 1844-48, p. 203-204. --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. --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. --Frederick Osterling, rebuilding of "Clayton," the Frick house, 1891; P. 224.

Week Six: 6 and 8 Oct: 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 the country. --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. --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 (Thos. 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, First Hungarian Reformed Church, Hazelwood, ca. 1905, p. 270. --de Bobula, St. John Greek Catholic Cathedral, Munhall, 1907, P. 272.

Sunday 11 October: city tour by bus, 1 to about 5 p.m., including class party at instructor's house. Cost will be around $8 to $10.

Week Seven: 13 and 15 Oct: The Triangle Made Golden (1870--1915) Read for this week: Pittsburgh: "The Golden Triangle," Beaux-Arts buildings (pp. 19--78). One-page summary and bibliography for the street-report due on 15 October.

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.

--Isaac Hobbs, Dollar Savings Bank, Downtown, 1871; P. 39, 40. --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 (now Union) Station, 1901, P. 58-60. --William G. Burns: Pittsburgh and Lake Erie (P&LE) Station, South Side, 1901, P. 135. --Burnham, Frick Building: 1902, P. 70-71. --Grosvenor Atterbury: Fulton Building for Henry Phipps, 1906, p. 52-53. --F.J. Osterling: Union Arcade for Henry Frick, 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

Week Eight: 20 and 22 Oct: Oakland and the City Beautiful (1890--1910) Read for this week: Pittsburgh: "Oakland" (pp. 79--130). Street-report summary returned, with comments, 22 October.

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. Edward Manning Bigelow and his system of parks and boulevards. 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.

--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.

Week Nine: MIDTERM TEST on Tuesday 27 October

Thursday 29 October: Housing Pittsburgh: from the Mellons' Mansions to Rosie the Riveter

--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. --H.D. Gilchrist: Mudge House, Morewood Avenue, 1922, p. 244. --Chatham Village: Clarence Stein & Henry Wright, planners; Ingham and Boyd, architects: 1932 and 1936, P. 138-39. --Terrace Village Housing, 1937-41: Marlier, Lee, Boyd, & Prack, P. 240. --Walter Gropius & Marcel Breuer: Aluminum City Terrace, New Kensington, 1941; P. 311.

Week Ten: 3 and 5 November: Modernism between the Wars (1910-1940)

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. Edgar Kaufmann's private universe through architecture.

--Kiehnel & Elliott, Lincoln-Larimer Fire Station No. 38, Lemington Avenue at Missouri Street, 1908 --Stanley Roush, Allegheny County Airport, 1925-31; P. 281. --Louis Ballinger, New Granada Theater, The Hill, 1927, P. 240 --Benno Janssen: Kaufmann's Department Store, 1910 and ca. 1930, P. 42-43. --Janssen: YM-YWHA, Oakland, for Edgar Kaufmann, 1924, p. 89-90. --Janssen: "La-Tourelle," Kaufmann house in Fox Chapel, 1924-28, P. 304. --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. --Walter Gropius & Marcel Breuer: Robert Frank house, Woodland Road, 1938-39, P. 256.

Week Eleven: 10 and 12 Nov: Corporate Pittsburgh: the Mellons Downtown and Uptown (1910--1950) Recommended reading: Roy Lubove, Twentieth Century Pittsburgh, chapters 1--5 details the frustrations of the professional planners from around 1915 to 1945.

The Mellons virtually invented venture finance in the United States, and their corporate buildings downtown reflected this. The Cathedral of Learning and other Mellon buildings uptown as the philanthropic side of corporate culture.

--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. --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. --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.

Week Twelve: 17 and 19 Nov: 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. Street/highway reports deadline is 19 November

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.

--Henry Hornbostel, Grant Building, 193O, p. 77. --Robert Moses downtown planning report, 1939. --Frank Lloyd Wright: projects for the Point: 1947-48. --Gateway Center, 1947-1968: Gateway Plaza by Eggers & Higgins and Clavan, 1950--53, P. 20, 22, 26. --Harrison and Abramovitz: Four Gateway, 1964, p. 26. --Harrison and Abramovitz: U.S. Steel Building (now USX Tower), 1971, P. 64. --Curtis and Davis: IBM (now U.S. Steelworkers') Building, 1962, p. 28. --Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (S.O.M.): Equibank Building (now PNC2) 1976, p. 51.

Week Thirteen: Tuesday 24 November only: Renaissance I outside of Downtown Impact of Renaissance I on three districts outside of Downtown: The Hill (Civic Arena); East Liberty redevelopment; and Oakland (University of Pittsburgh expansion).

--Mitchell & Ritchey: Civic Arena, 1962, P. 235. --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. --B. Kenneth Johnstone, Frick Fine Arts Building, 1965; P. 101.

Week Fourteen: 1 December: Renaissance II (1975--1985) 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 since the 1960s. 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. --Tasso Katselas, Community College of Allegheny County, North Side, 1974, P. 165 --Helmuth, Obata, & Kassabaum: Oxford Centre, 1983, P. 77-8. --Philip Johnson & John Burgee: PPG Place, 1979-84, P. 32. --Welton Beckett Associates: One Mellon Bank Center (originally Dravo), 1983, P. 72. --Celli-Flynn Associates: David Lawrence Convention Center, 1978--85; p. 59. --UDA, TAC, and Burt, Hill, Kosar, Rittelman: Liberty Center, 1982--87, P. 58. --Kohn, Pedersen, Fox: CNG Tower (originally Allegheny Industries), 1985-87, P. 55. --Hugh Stubbins Associates, Fifth Avenue Place, 1985--88, P. 27.

3 December: Pittsburgh Learns to Recycle

The phenomenon of recyled buildings and revitalized neighborhoords (the Mexican War Streets, Manchester, South Side, Shadyside, and Regent Square) came relatively late to Pittsburgh, only in the 1970s, but it has found much support here. This lecture looks at the more outstanding examples:

--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 --The Bank Library Center (Carnegie Library and Point Park College), uniting three Beaux-Arts banks on Smithfield Street; restoration by Syl Damianos, 1997

Week Fifteen: Tuesday 8 December: Contextualism, Incident, and Infill (1960 to today) One of the strengths of the physical environment of Pittsburgh--helped, no doubt, by its declining population--is the density and consistency of its building coverage. This requires not a further expansion of the city but infill. Some notable examples of infill architecture have been modern or post-modern buildings that fit in well despite their obvious break with the older environment, but Pittsburgh is particularly strong also in the "new urbanism" and "contextual" architectural design that deliberately seek to blend new buildings with our older building heritage. Prominent examples of the last two decades: Allegheny Commons East, Doughboy Square in Lawrenceville, Crawford Square on The Hill, the Village of Shadyside, and Washington's Landing. A useful if not essential requirement of contextualism is an architect who knows the local environment. Three such local architects are Tasso Katselas, UDA Associates, and Arthur Lubetz.

--Peter Berndtsen, Steinberg house, Morewood Heights, 1952, P. 245. --Tasso Katselas, Allegheny Commons East, North Side, 1966, P. 159. --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 --Richard Meier: Giovanitti house, Woodland Road, 1981-83, p. 257. --Robert Venturi: Abrams house, Woodland Road, 1983, P. 257. --UDA Associates: Village of Shadyside townhouses and apartments, 1981-88, p. 250. --UDA: Jewish Community Center, Squirrel Hill, 1987. --UDA: Crawford Square, The Hill, 1991++. --Washington's Landing (Montgomery Rust, architects and planners), 1992-98.

Thursday 10 December: The Megacity Today Seventh expansion from the core, encompassing the creation of edge-cities at Monroeville, SouthPointe, and Cranberry. Creation of the third airport. Who guides this expansion? Who makes decisions in Pittsburgh? Case-studies of the new Lazarus, the proposed baseball stadium, and the airport busway. The eighth expansion from the core 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. --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). --FORE Systems Inc., Studios Architecture of San Francisco, Warrendale, 1997, --Michael Dennis: East Campus of CMU, 1992-99. --Tasso Katselas, Pittsburgh International Airport, 1993. --Tasso Katselas, Allegheny County Jail, 1995. --Lazarus Department Store, Wood and Fifth, 1998 --Michael Graves: Theater Square, downtown, 1999.

Final exam: FRIDAY 18 DECEMBER: 10:00--11:50 a.m., regular classroom COURSE INFORMATION

THEME AND OBJECTIVE OF THE COURSE: Welcome to a course I have thought about a great deal, and which I keep changing. 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 postwar renewal, and the urban implications of the current shift from production to a service-based economy.

Many of you come from Pittsburgh, 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. Once we understand how the city works as a physical environment we are ready to undertake a parallel study in the history of Pittsburgh architecture. This focuses on images of individual buildings from Fort Pitt to the new skyscrapers. The format of this part of the course will be chronological, but each week will focus on a particular theme.

COURSE FORMAT. My lectures are basically chronological, but they are also intertwined with your text, which approaches Pittsburgh topographically. September covers the first century of Pittsburgh; October its "Golden Age" to about the first World War; November the transformations of the city through the 1980s; and December, the city today. About half the buildings are illustrated in the class text; all key buildings and urban schemes are illustrated on the website.

READINGS: The course text is Franklin Toker, Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait (most recent printing: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995), available at the University Book Centre and elsewhere around town. It corresponds very closely to the material in this course, except that it is organized topographically rather than chronologically. The syllabus tells you which chapters are particularly important as preparation for which lectures.

GRADING will be based 20% on the mid-term on 27 October, 40% on the final on 18 December, and 40% on a short write-up of a Pittsburgh-area building, which is due 15 October as a summary (10%) and 19 November in final form (30%). There may also be quizzes that will factor into your grades. Consistent class participation will also be noted in factoring your term grade. Both the mid-term and the final will involve analytical skills as well as evidence of thought about the lectures. A strong performance on the final examination and the building report can improve weak grades on the mid-term. Please note that W (withdrawal) grades are assigned by the Dean's office alone, not by professors, and that I give G (incomplete) grades only for documented illness, accidents, or emotional stress, and for no other reasons. There is no way you can earn "extra credit" from me, and I don't raise grades after the final examination for any reason other than mathematical error: the way to earn a good or brilliant grade in this course is to start working on it now. This course rigorously follows this Department's statement on academic integrity: "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." Plagiarism is here defined as the use of six words in a row without a quotation mark and/or clear indication of their origin. Note that in the world of the Internet, plagiarizing has gotten ever more easy: it is mandatory that the full URL address be given for every website you draw upon for your research. Cheating in any form will result in a failing grade for the course.

STUDENT MEETING HOURS: I would enjoy talking with you in my office (balcony of Frick Library reading room) any Wednesday between 2 and 4 p.m. That's also a good time to reach me by phone: 648.2419. My email address is ftoker@pitt.edu.

BOOKS ON THE RESERVE SHELF. Your text, Toker's Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait, and all the required readings on the syllabus are on reserve in Frick Library. The total list of reserve books follows:

A Legacy in Bricks and Mortar: African-American Landmarks in Allegheny County Aurand, Martin. The Progressive Architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler, Jr.. Aurand, Martin. Pittsburgh architecture : a guide to research (1991: synopsis of what resources are found in which libraries) Andrews, Wayne. Architecture, Ambition, and Americans. 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. Dennis, Stephen. Historic houses of the Sewickley Valley. Fifield, Barringer. Seeing Pittsburgh (a rip-off of Toker's book, but with some amusing urban tales) Fleming, G.T. Pittsburgh: How to See It (1916 guidebook, useful on many then-new streets) Floyd, Margaret. Architecture after Richardson: Regionalism before Modernism: Longfellow, Alden , & Harlow in Boston and Pittsburgh. Kidney, Walter. Landmark Architecture: Pittsburgh and Allegheny County (1997 edition has entries on hundreds of standing or destroyed buildings) Jucha, Robert. "The Anatomy of a Streetcar Suburb: A Development History of Shadyside," Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 62 (1979):301--19. Kelly, J.M. Handbook of Greater Pittsburg (1895 guidebook). Lorant, Stefan. Pittsburgh, The Story of An American City Lubove, Roy. Twentieth Century Pittsburgh, 2 vols., the second entitled The Post-Steel Era. McCullough, C. Hax, Jr. Bound photocopies of twenty-eight columns on Pittsburgh streetnames (only parenthetically on the streets themselves), from Making History newsletter. McLean, Robert. Countdown to Renaissance II (on PPG and other 1980s skyscrapers) Pittsburgh Neighborhoods (1983, general notes on neighborhoods) Reps, John. Making of Urban America (on city-planning) Stotz, Charles. The Architectural Heritage of Early Western Pennsylvania (ends in 1840s; good for certain surviving buildings in the Pittsburgh periphery, such as "Woodville" or stone houses in Crafton and the South Hills). Tannler, Albert. Pittsburgh's Landmark Architecture 1785--1950: A Concise Bibliography (on hard-to-find publications on specific buildings and architects). Tannler, Albert. A List of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County Buildings and Architects, 1950--1996 (nearly all significant buildings of that period, many with bibliographies). Tarr, Joel. Transportion Innovation and Changing Spatial Patterns in Pittsburgh, 1850-1934. Chicago, 1978. Toker, Franklin. Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait. Toker, Franklin and Helen Wilson. Roots of Architecture in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County (research sources on architecture and urbanism). Tunnard & Reed. American Skyline Urban Design Associates. The Olden Triangle: A Sequence of Forgotten History. Pittsburgh, 1977. (Beginnings of downtown) Urban Design International 5/1 (Spring, 1984) issue devoted to the urban design of Pittsburgh; papers by Jonathan Barnett, David Lewis, Robert Lurcott, and Franklin Toker. Van Trump, J. Life and Architecture in Pittsburgh (essays on selected buildings and some neighborhoods). Van Trump & Ziegler Landmark Architecture of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 1967 (basically superseded now by Kidney book). Vexler, Robert. Pittsburgh: A Chronological and Documentary History, 1682-1976 Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture since 1780 (excellent guide to styles in American architecture). THE TERM PAPER, AND RESEARCH RESOURCES WITH WHICH TO WRITE IT

THE "STREET-REPORT." HA&A 1510 has long had as one of its requirements a term paper embodying original research on Pittsburgh architecture or urbanism. This year I have chosen the topic of streets and highways. I touch on hundreds of streets and highways in and around Pittsburgh in my Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait, but neither I nor anyone else (with the partial exception of Hax McCullough: see below) has ever made them a real focus of study. Consequently, you are about to become pioneers!

Your street- or highway-report will have three distinct components: 1) Physical history of the street/highway. When did it first appear? Who commissioned it? How has it changed over the years? (Changes of name, widening, paving, trolley-tracks put on and then removed, earlier streets incorporated into it, etc.)

2) Architectural history of the street/highway. From its earliest beginnings until today, what have been the main architectural elements of your street or highway? For Fort Pitt Boulevard (formerly Water Street) two outstanding buildings were long ago destroyed: the Monongahela House hotel and the Baltimore & Ohio railroad station of the 1880s. But the Smithfield Street Bridge remains, and also select cast-iron buildings. "Architectural elements" does not just mean "masterpieces," however: it means characteristic buildings, too. These are the anonymous houses, stores, factories etc. that typify a street or highway over the years. This part of your paper will combine historial research of what was formerly standing, with looking closely at what is standing now.

3) Social history of your street/highway. Streets "stand" for something: to say "Beechwood Boulevard" or "Walnut Street" or "Braddock Avenue" immediately brings up certain mental images of social situations: corseted women drinking on the porch of the Frick mansion, people eating bagels on a Sunday morning, hippies partying, elegantly dressed African-American church-goers walking about on Easter Sunday. Broadly speaking, you could call these street rituals. Highways evoke social rituals of a different kind: traffic jams, of course, but also teenagers cruising on Friday nights, maybe drag races, the early motels and drive-ins along Route 30, certainly the malls on McNight Road and the transformation from what used to be cornfields. For this too, you will need to study the historical materials but also cruise the street or highway yourself, on foot, by bike, bus, or car.

Let me give you an example of a street that intrigues me, but of which I have no "hard" information. West Liberty Avenue snakes its way through Dormont and Mt. Lebanon. Something about it suggests to me that it existed as a country road before it was linked in the 1920s to the Liberty Tubes under Mt. Washington--but that's just a guess. I am impressed that both the social and architectural character of the street (which is also a kind of highway) comes from two building types: churches and car-dealerships. The churches I see right now seem in the main to post-date the 1920s, but I suspect there were earlier churches that preceded these. Also, I wonder if there used to be blacksmiths and stables that preceded the car-dealerships? If true, then West Liberty Avenue has had the same kind of social rituals for perhaps 150 years, but under very different circumstances.

The paper is due in three stages: select your street or highway from the list below or propose one of your own choice. This will be first come, first served at any meeting up to and including 24 September. (Note: as a locator of "your" street or highway, use the two maps enclosed with this syllabus.) A one-page bibliography of printed or archival resources and a summary of your "plan of attack" is due 15 October: it will be handed back to you the next week, with comments. The paper itself is due on 19 November. Your final paper will, of course, be handed back to you, but it must be handed in with three "extras" that will not be handed back: a clean copy, illustrations, and select photocopies of your research materials. The paper will not receive a grade without those three extras and a proper bibliography (if your sources are, in part, oral, these must be documented too.) You might wish to make a video as all or part of your assignment: that's great, particularly for your comments on the architectural and social character of the street/highway, but you will still need the bibliography and the "physical history" handed in as hard-copy. I'd like to retain the videos, please; so be sure to make a back-up copy for yourself.

Three further notes about the paper: all papers, early or late, must be delivered into my hands or under my door on the Frick Library balcony only: I will neither chase down nor give credit for papers that were supposedly mailed to me or put in someone's box. Late papers will be penalized 10% for each week of lateness, and none will be accepted beyond the last class lecture.

SOME SUGGESTED STREETS AND HIGHWAYS. Here follow some of the streets and highways that I think would be particularly rich for you to research. For each, I give a locator by neighborhood or region (the streets corresponding to the first appended map; the highways corresponding to the second map). For most, I also add some comments of why I find these streets or highways particularly intriguing. Nearly all these streets and highways are mentioned somewhere in Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait (here abbreviated as P:AUP), so my references here will be for exceptional cases only. I strongly encourage you to tackle the "tougher" entries, such as those long streets that go through multiple districts. Besides the satisfaction of doing tougher work, students may be assured that a decent job on a tougher entry will score as high or higher in grading than a fine job on an easier entry.

Grant Street, Golden Triangle. Bigelow Boulevard, from GT, through Polish Hill to Oakland. Parkway East, from GT to I-76 (as Rte. 22 and I-376), with mention of early proposal by Robert Moses. Parkway West (GT to new airport), which has some "dotted-line" indications even in the 1930s, a decade before it was built. I-279 North, including Veterans' Bridge to meeting with I-79. Crosstown Boulevard (I-379) from Boulevard of the Allies to Veterans' Bridge and junction with Bigelow Boulevard. Ft. Duquesne Boulevard, formerly ? street. Ft. Pitt Boulevard, ex-Water Street. Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76) within Allegheny County, but with background information on the rest of it. Penn-Lincoln Highway (Route 30) within Allegheny County, as above. I-79 within Alleghey County, as above Peoples' Plank Road, North Hills Babcock Boulevard, North Hills McNight Road (truck Rte. 19), North Hills, up to Allegheny County border Penn Avenue, from GT to Churchill Liberty Avenue, from GT to East Liberty Frankstown Road (also Bennett Street), from East Liberty to I-76 Lincoln Avenue and Road, from East Liberty to Penn Hills Forbes Avenue, from GT though Oakland and Squirrel Hill Fifth Avenue, from GT though Oakland and Squirrel Hill Beechwood Boulevard, Squirrel Hill Boulevard of the Allies, from GT through Schenley Park Hobart, Douglass, and Phillips streets, Squirrel Hill (a coherent group) Murray Avenue, Squirrel Hill, with emphasis on coming of the trolley Walnut Street, Shadyside West Liberty Avenue, Dormont and Mt. Lebanon, including Liberty Tubes Washington Boulevard, Mt. Lebanon and as Rte. 19 to Washington PA Dorseyville Road, North Hills Wm. Flinn Highway (Rte. 8), North Hills Federal Street, Perrysville Avenue, Perry Highway (Rte. 19) north to Ingomar Grandview Avenue, Mt. Washington and Duquesne Heights Mt. Royal Road, North Hills Mexican War streets (bounded by Federal, Jacksonia, Brighton, and West North avenues) Stanton Avenue, from Lawrenceville to Highland Park Centre Avenue, from GT through Hill to East Liberty Baum Boulevard Shady Avenue Route 28, from Manchester (Ridge Avenue), through East Ohio Street, to Allegheny County line Saw Mill Run boulevard, from Ohio River (truck Rte. 19), then as Rte. 51 within Allegheny County Rte. 50/519, old Washington Road, from Carnegie to Washington PA Curry Hollow and Lebanon Church Road, from South Park to Monongahela River, South Hills Braddock Avenue, from East Liberty to end at Turtle Creek Rte. 130, from the Allegheny almost to the Monongahela rivers, as Sandy Creek and Beulah Road to Turtle Creek Hutchison Avenue, Edgewood Business Rte. 22 (William Penn Highway and Old Wm. Penn) in Wilkins and Monroeville Allegheny River Boulevard, from Washington Boulevard to Oakmont Ohio River Boulevard, from Chateau Street to Ambridge E. Carson Street, South Side Butler Street, Lawrenceville

RESEARCH RESOURCES FOR THE STREET-REPORT

Books, guides, and periodicals on Western Pennsylvania architecture (In locations other than the Frick Libary reserve shelf)

The single most useful source for determining the history and layout of streets are in maps, generally called atlases and plat-books. For Pittsburgh, these began in the 18th century but in their printed form they date from the later l9th century. Their titles may be found in PITTCAT under "Pittsburgh--Maps". Among the best are: Warrantee Atlas of Allegheny County, from 1790's; reprinted 1980s. Atlas of the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny and Adjacent Boroughs (l872 and later, by G.M. Hopkins) Real Estate Plat-Book (l896 and later) Insurance Map of Pittsburgh (l924 on, published by Sanborn Map Company) Ward Books (Pittsburgh Magazine Company, 1911, for each of the 27 wards).

The above books are hard to find, because they became so beat up with constant use. Microfilms of all are in Carnegie Public Library and the Heinz Regional History Center; some in Hillman and Carnegie Mellon.

The best libraries for you to use are:

HILLMAN LIBRARY: The Archives of Industrial Society (third floor) includes the City Photographer collection (50,000 glass negatives, 1900 to 1960), very helpful for views of the laying out of certain streets, such as those of Squirrel Hill. (The curator is Miriam Meislik, 648.8190; I will try to put on reserve a more detailed listing of her holdings.) There may be other documents from the City Council minutes that would be helpful to street history. There are a number of neighborhood histories that have been written up over the years in MA and Ph.D. theses. The most interesting for our purpose is Bruce Buvinger's "The Origin, Development and Persistence of Street Patterns in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" (1972), which is really about the theory of streets than on many particular streets.

CARNEGIE PUBLIC LIBRARY, Oakland Branch, has miscellaneous resources in the microfilm collection, second floor: all city directories and Sanborn insurance maps of Pittsburgh on microfilm for 1884 (partial); 1893; 1906; 1927; 1951. These show every street and building in the city. In addition, the Pennsylvania Department, also second floor, contains the Pittsburgh Photograph Library of thousands of large-format contact prints. There are also full clippings files on streets as well as neighborhoods and buildings. Here are numerous histories of certain neighborhoods and nearby towns that will help with street and highway data. (For example, John Collins's Stringtown on the Pike, a history of East Liberty, talks of all the major streets that intersect there.)

The Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional Historical Center, 1212 Smallman Street in The Strip (tel. 454-6000) is the new shape of the old HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. Its marvelous holdings include books, pamphlets, and clippings on Pittsburgh neighborhoods, streets, nearby towns, and buildings of all sorts. Here are the originals of hundreds of atlases, plat-books, insurance maps, and city-planning maps that will give you instant information on the development of the neighborhoods you are studying. Some originals can be consulted, otherwise microforms. (Library open 10 to 5, Tuesday through Saturday; they will probably have a term-pass for students in this course, around $5.)

The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, Station Square, also has scholarly resources, but they are not generally open to the public: I will be happy to be your intermediary if you wish to consult something they have that you think can be found nowhere else.

Certain articles on neighborhoods (and therefore streets) have appeared in: -Carnegie Magazine, l927-present. (Carnegie, Frick); indexed at Carnegie Library. -Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 1918-present; since 1990 published as Pittsburgh History. Good for tracing history and urban change in Pittsburgh (Carnegie, Heinz, indexed).