
The octagonal rotunda of the Allegheny County Jail, designed by H. H. Richardson.

The octagonal rotunda of the Allegheny County Jail, designed by H. H. Richardson.

Above, on the Grant Street front; below, on the Fifth Avenue side.


From the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue (and try to explain that to an out-of-towner).

The Bridge of Sighs connected the Allegheny County Courthouse with the jail across Ross Street. Now it connects the bureaucracy in the courthouse with more bureaucracy in the repurposed jail building, so that the name is just as appropriate. In the picture above, for a bit of a change of pace, old Pa Pitt gives you a bus driving away from you, which gives us a good sense of scale.

