Father Pitt

Why should the beautiful die?

IBM Building, Allegheny Center

Commonly attributed to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, this building seems actually to have been designed by a less famous architect, Bruno P. Conterato, who worked for Mies’ firm, according to a correction made to this Post-Gazette article. That would explain the startling departure from Mies’ usual style. Almost all of Mies’ most famous buildings are black boxes on stilts, but this one is a white box on stilts. IBM no longer lives here, so the building is now known simply as Four Allegheny  Center.

Allegheny Center is a short walk from the North Side subway station.

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Father Pitt

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2 responses to “IBM Building, Allegheny Center”

  1. Kevin Schifino

    I remember reading an article in The Pittsburgh Press in the late ’70s announcing the construction of Four Allegheny Center. The building was completed in 1978 or so. Mies van der Rohe died in 1969, so unless this was on his drafting board prior to his death, then he could not have designed this building since it was constructed almost a decade after his death. It is more likely that it was designed by the architect named in this article. The similarity to Mies work makes sense given that Architect Bruno Conterato at one time worked for Mies’ firm. This was the last office building constructed at the Allegheny Center development. One Allegheny Center and Two Allegheny Center are the other two office buildings at the center that were both there when it opened in 1967.

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  2. Mellon Hall, Duquesne University – Father Pitt

    […] in other cities, that this is the only building by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Pittsburgh. (The IBM Building in Allegheny Center was by his architectural firm, but the design was actually by one of his […]

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