St. Michael’s cemetery occupies a large patch of precipitous ground on the South Side Slopes. The views from here are breathtaking and sometimes a little terrifying. Here we see Oakland in the distance across the Monongahela, with a few rows of typical Slopes frame houses in the middle distance.
A panoramic view of the skyline of Oakland from Schenley Park. Few Pittsburghers realize what an unusual phenomenon Oakland is: a second city within the city, and a city of the mind—a city whose towers are devoted to learning and research.
Central Catholic High School in Oakland is a fantasy medieval castle out of a German fairy tale. This is a view from the east side of some of the odd turrets and projections.
North Oakland is one of the few areas of Pittsburgh where large apartment blocks took root, and some of them are worth a look. Bayard Manor gives us a sort of deco interpretation of Gothic that fits well with the Cathedral of Learning a few blocks away.
The Cathedral of Learning from three different angles. Pittsburgh is a bit unusual in having one of its tallest skyscrapers outside the main skyscraper district. Currently this is our seventh-tallest building (at 535 feet), but it will be bumped down to eighth-tallest when the new Tower at PNC Plaza (554 feet tall) is finished.
Henry Hornbostel designed this memorial, which originally honored Civil War veterans from Allegheny County. It now honors veterans of all wars. This is one of at least half a dozen buildings in Pittsburgh inspired by the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and of all of them this one is the closest in scale to the original.
America, by Charles Keck, keeps watch over the main entrance.
A soldier: Parade Rest by Frederick Hibbard.
A sailor: Lookout, also by Frederick Hibbard.
Supposedly Mr. Hornbostel very much wanted the front of the building to face a long vista from Fifth Avenue, but the clients were very insistent that the front must face Bigelow Boulevard. Hornbostel finally had to agree. It was not until construction was considerably advanced on the building, which is quite square, that the clients discovered Hornbostel had built the thing his way after all.
Among the building’s many treasures is a large auditorium that seats 2500—about the same capacity as Heinz Hall. The Pittsburgh Symphony made some early ultra-hi-fi recordings in here, because William Steinberg thought the acoustics were far superior to what he heard in Syria Mosque across the street, which at that time was the usual home of the Pittsburgh Symphony.
Looking up at the masterpiece of Charles Z. Klauder, still the most convincing Gothic skyscraper in the world.
The Heinz Memorial Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh, designed in fantasy-Gothic style by Charles Z. Klauder, who designed a whole complex of fantasy-Gothic buildings for Pitt with the Cathedral of Learning at its center.
We took similar pictures in early spring; now here is the view in the late summer, considerably leafier.
