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 Cathedral of Learning, designed by Charles Z. Klauder, is the second-tallest Gothic building in the world (after the Woolworth Building in New York), and by far the most successful adaptation of Gothic style to the skyscraper. Like many of the most memorable feats of architecture in Pittsburgh, it confidently approaches the boundary between genius and madness without ever stepping all the way over that line. The Commons Room, a Perpendicular-style fantasy in stone, is one of the most impressive spaces in a city full of impressive spaces.

The Turkish room, just completed in 2012, has a panoramic view of Istanbul (not Constantinople). Old Pa Pitt is much taken with the clever arrangement of fold-down desks.