Father Pitt

Update: The Highland Building has been expensively restored and looks beautiful.

Daniel Burnham designed many of the most distinguished buildings downtown. East Liberty, which once called itself the “second downtown,” is the only other neighborhood in the city with a Burnham building. It’s far from his biggest work in Pittsburgh, but the Highland Building is an elegant design that has been left shamefully derelict. Now that East Liberty is rapidly reviving, there are plans for a luxury hotel here, which would be a fine second use for a building that desperately needs to be loved.

Like everything else in the central business district of East Liberty, the Highland Building is a short walk from the East Liberty Station on the East Busway.