Father Pitt

Why should the beautiful die?


Faces on the Keenan Building

Keenan Building

The Keenan Building, designed by Thomas Hannah for the Colonel Keenan who had built the Press into the city’s leading newspaper, was elaborately decorated. Although the shaft was modernized somewhat half a century ago, most of the decorations remain, and among them we find portraits in terra cotta of people who were considered important to Pittsburgh when the building was erected in 1907.

William Penn

William Penn, the Proprietor, who gave Pennsylvania a republican form of government.

William Pitt

William Pitt, friend of the Colonies, for whom Pittsburgh was named.

George Washington

George Washington, Father of His Country.

Stephen Foster

Stephen Foster, at the time Pittsburgh’s most famous composer.

Mary Schenley

Mary Schenley, who owned half the city and donated Schenley Park.

Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie, who was a big deal.

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States.

Edwin Stuart

Edwin Stuart, Governor of Pennsylvania.

George Guthrie

George Guthrie, Mayor of Pittsburgh.

Terra-cotta ornaments
Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

There are faces on the second floor as well, but they are identical decorative faces.



2 responses to “Faces on the Keenan Building”

  1. Karri

    Hey, there are also hidden faces at Strawberry Way right behind the old Arbys building Downtown. I just noticed them last week.

    1. Thank you for pointing those out. You can see pictures of the faces here. The alley is actually Coffey Way (which connects Strawberry Way and Sixth Avenue), and it’s apparently a misspelling, or archaic spelling, of “coffee.” The old Arby’s building is much older than most people suspect: it was built for Arbuckle & Company, the inventors of mass-distributed packaged coffee, at about the end of the Civil War. Although the front has been altered beyond recognition, the back preserves what turn out to be some of the oldest public sculptures in Pittsburgh outside cemeteries.

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