Another of Benno Janssen’s imposing clubs. We have seen this building from the front before; this corner view gives us an impression of the scale of the whole structure. It is now Bellefield Hall of the University of Pittsburgh.
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Young Men and Women’s Hebrew Association, Oakland
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Masonic Temple, Oakland
Another magnificent clubhouse by Benno Janssen; it is now Alumni Hall of the University of Pittsburgh.
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Pittsburgh Athletic Association
One of Benno Janssen’s masterpieces; here we see it from the Cathedral of Learning grounds.
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Mellon Institute at Twilight
The colossal columns of the Mellon Institute illuminated from within.
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Pittsburgh Athletic Association, Oakland
This grand Renaissance palace by Benno Janssen has a lighting scheme that emphasizes its architectural details.
In the foreground, the silhouette of one of the cannons on the grounds of Soldiers and Sailors Hall.
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Porch of the Mellon Institute
Behind the world’s largest monolithic columns on the porch of the Mellon Institute.
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Pittsburgh Athletic Association, Oakland
The Pittsburgh Athletic Association, one of the prolific Benno Janssen’s most elaborate designs, as it was in 2000 before the recent renovation. Above, from across Fifth Avenue; below, from the grounds of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial. Old Pa Pitt took these pictures with a Kodak Retinette, which comes close to his ideal of the perfect 35-millimeter camera.
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Young Men and Women’s Hebrew Association, Oakland
If your club was prospering, you could have a clubhouse by Benno Janssen, Pittsburgh’s favorite club architect. Among the club buildings he designed that are still standing we may mention the Twentieth Century Club, the Keystone Athletic Club, the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, the Masonic Temple, and this one, a cultural and athletic center that was one of the ancestors of today’s Jewish Community Center. Like several of Janssen’s other club buildings, this one, built in 1924, takes the form of a Renaissance palace. The building now belongs to Pitt, of course, which calls it Bellefield Hall and still keeps up its splendid indoor swimming pool.
The university has glassed in the huge arch that forms the main entrance; old Pa Pitt has ruthlessly manipulated this picture to bring the inscription out from behind the glass.
Father Pitt imagines the sculptor, having worked months to intertwine the letters Y, M, W, and H in this artistic cartouche, proudly presenting his work to Mr. Janssen and being told, “You left out the A.”
A view of the building from Heinz Chapel’s new formal garden across the street.
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Terra-Cotta Decorations on the Buhl Building
The Buhl Building, an earlier work of Benno Janssen, is covered with Wedgwood-style terra-cotta decorations. Below, the Market Street end of the building.
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Institute Calls to Institute
The titanic columns of the Mellon Institute reflected in the Software Engineering Institute.
