After years of work, the Liberty Tubes (spelled “Tunnels” but pronounced “Tubes”) are finally getting their new facades at both ends. This is the downtown end, seen from the end of the Liberty Bridge. The new facades will be very much like the 1924 originals, which were replaced by a pair of mid-century boxes that were a satire on International-style architectural trends, masking a naturally arched structure with a false rectangular front. At left, we can see the wooden arch form in place; at right, the completed arch for the southbound tube.
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New Facade for the Liberty Tunnels
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Downtown from the North Shore
The whole North Shore of the Allegheny opposite downtown has been turned into parkland, where you can stroll, bike, or even rent a kayak—or just sit and enjoy a spectacular urban landscape. -
Alcoa Building, North Shore
The new Alcoa Building, like the old, is a tribute to aluminum. Here we see the end of it that faces Sandusky Street, at the foot of the Andy Warhol Bridge.
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Fulton Building and Byham Theater
The Fulton Building, with its enormous arch, has been turned into a luxury hotel right in the heart of the theater district. It is so much in the heart, in fact, that the entrance to the Byham Theater goes right through the Fulton Building, and the marquee is on the Sixth Street front of it. Many theater-goers probably never realize that, by the time they have navigated the long foyer and ended up in the real lobby of the theater, they have gone all the way through one building and ended up in another. That low brick building to the left of the Fulton Building is the theater itself—downtown’s oldest working theater, built in 1903 as the Gayety vaudeville house (originally with its entrance on the river side), and later known as the Fulton until the Byham family paid for a major renovation in 1996. Behind the theater is the CNG Tower, a landmark of 1980s postmodernist architecture that presents radically different views from different angles.
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Yarn-Bombing the Andy Warhol Bridge
The Seventh Street or Andy Warhol Bridge is covered with knitting—supposedly the biggest “yarn-bombing” project in history. If terrorism were always so cheerful, old Pa Pitt would be completely in favor of it.
As a secret fan of De Stijl, old Pa Pitt was particularly taken with this piece.
The “Knit the Bridge” project has generated quite a bit of news coverage across the country:
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Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)
A Silvery Checkerspot butterfly (Chlosyne nycteis) rests on a leaf of Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) in Beechview.
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Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
A Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) visits a Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii) in Beechview.
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Carrick from the South Side Cemetery
In many city neighborhoods you’ll find a cemetery or two much older than the neighborhood itself. Cemeteries were established in the countryside outside the city; the city grew to engulf them, but they often remain little oases of rural stillness in the urban bustle. The South Side Cemetery has graves going back well before the Civil War, when Carrick was farmland and wilderness, and the hilly location gives us spectacular views in all directions. The contrast between the dense and cluttered urban neighborhood and the calm peace of the cemetery seems as though it ought to be a metaphor for something.
