The main tower of Allegheny General is one of the few classic skyscrapers outside downtown, and a landmark of Art Deco in Pittsburgh, as well as a landmark of the style Father Pitt calls Mausoleum-on-a-Stick, where the top of the tower is modeled after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. It was designed by York & Sawyer, who made a specialty of hospitals, and built in 1930. Today we’re going to pay particular attention to the grand entrance on North Avenue, which is covered with extravagant terra-cotta decorations, so we have more than thirty pictures to show you.
Old Pa Pitt walked over to the hospital just as the sun was setting, so the west side of the entrance was bathed in golden sunset light.
The whole entrance is festooned with terra-cotta panels representing healers throughout history.
If this fellow represents the twentieth century, could we perhaps go back to Hippocrates?
The terra cotta is just as abundant under the roof of the entrance.
A ceiling of Guastavino tile completes the impression of extravagance.
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