Father Pitt

Tag: Carnegie Mellon University

  • Alumni House, Carnegie Mellon University

    A relic from the days when this part of Squirrel Hill was a wealthy exurb full of houses like this. Enlarge the picture and note the fine cornice woodwork along the roofline.

  • The Mall, Carnegie Mellon University

    Many styles of buildings have been put up on the campus since Henry Hornbostel laid out the original plan for Carnegie Tech, but it’s remarkable how much the original Hornbostel plan has been respected. The campus is still built around these broad open green spaces, with the various buildings kept within matching heights and setbacks, even when they are in wildly different styles.

    The Mall, Carnegie Mellon University, looking toward Hammerschlag Hall

  • College of Fine Arts, Carnegie Mellon University

    Front of the building

    Built to be an inspiring showcase of the world’s best traditions in art, the College of Fine Arts building was positioned at the top of the Mall, as if the arts might be of some importance even in a technical school.

    Looking up the stairs
    Oblique view

    Niches along the front of the building pay tribute to various architectural and sculptural traditions.

    Corinthian, Doric, Ionic
    Gothic
    Egyptian, Moorish, Indian
    Interior
    Interior
    Through the trees

  • Baker Hall, Carnegie Mellon University

    Baker Hall from the Mall.

    From the beginning, the campus of Carnegie Tech was designed by Palmer and Hornbostel as a warren of interconnected buildings surrounding pleasant green spaces. The older buildings, like Baker Hall, celebrate the engineering and architecture they were designed to teach. Old Pa Pitt particularly loves this stairwell window, which expresses the idea of stairs with a clarity that modernist architects of a later generation would not have been able to match.

    Frew Street side of Baker Hall.

  • Hamerschlag Hall, Carnegie Mellon University

    Hamerschlag Hall

    Hamerschlag Hall, the centerpiece and symbol of Carnegie Mellon University, was named for the first president of the Carnegie Technical Schools, Arthur Hamerschlag. This was one of the original Carnegie Tech buildings designed by Palmer and Hornbostel, whose campus design has been followed surprisingly faithfully by succeeding generations of architects. It is perfectly positioned for a view down the Mall that captures the Cathedral of Learning, centerpiece and symbol of Pitt, looming in the background.

    With Oakland in the background
    With the Cathedral of Learning
    Through the trees

  • Hamerschlag Hall

    Hamerschlag Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, seen from the Carnegie Museum parking garage.