A Thai “spirit house” in the Thai Tropical Forest, Phipps Conservatory. The spirits live better than the people in some parts of Thailand, but fortunately they can fit into very small spaces.
-
A Leafy Suburb in the City
The Cathedral of Learning seen from Schenley Farms, a century-old suburb surrounded by the monuments and institutions of Oakland.
-
Stones of the Courthouse
A few years ago, when the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail (the masterpiece of H. H. Richardson) was being restored and the jail turned into offices for county bureaucrats, one of the high stone walls was taken apart, giving us a glimpse of the stonework. It turns out to be brick with a facing of large granite blocks, as we see here.
Incidentally, Pittsburghers who visit Minneapolis will find a startlingly familiar building: the Minneapolis City Hall is an unabashed copy of the Allegheny County Courthouse.
-
Stone and Brick
The courtyard of the Penn Brewery in Dutchtown at the base of Troy Hill. This was the old Eberhardt and Ober brewery; the building is still the same, but the beer is now some of the best in the world. The restaurant serves some of the best German food in Pittsburgh.
-
Landscapes in Glass
Glassmaker Dale Chihuly has filled Phipps Conservatory with whimsical creations that look like mad experiments in botany. Chihuly may be the only installation artist working today who consistently manages the extraordinary feat of appealing equally to three-year-old children and old grumps.
-
Luminarias
The plaza at the center of PPG Place is now filled with a skating rink in the winter. But a few years ago, before the skating rink, on Light-Up Night it used to be filled with luminarias—paper bags weighted with sand and lit by candles. (Luminarias, normally associated with Latin American culture, are an old tradition in Pittsburgh for some reason.)
-
A Canyon in the City
Streets in downtown Pittsburgh are extraordinarily narrow by American standards. Here Oliver Avenue cuts through a narrow gorge formed by some celebrated buildings (the Union Trust Building, the William Penn Hotel, the Oliver Building) and some slightly less celebrated buildings.
-
A Stroll Among the Millionaires
The sidewalk of Lincoln Avenue in Allegheny West. A hundred years ago, this neighborhood had more millionaires per square mile than anywhere else on earth.
-
A Proper School
The Linden Avenue School in Point Breeze. Learning must be something beautiful and important if it takes place in a building like this.
