Father Pitt

Tag: Neoneoclassical Architecture

  • FBI Building, South Side

    FBI building

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Pittsburgh field office, officially the Martha Dixon Building, looks like a Hollywood producer’s idea of a building FBI agents would work in. It is an outstanding example of the style old Pa Pitt calls neoneoclassical, in which the symmetry and forms of classical architecture are stripped of all ornaments like carved capitals or sculptured pediments that would shock the sensibilities of moderns. “To glamorize the four-story, 160,000 sq ft (15000 m2) structure, precast concrete components were used on the façade of the building.” So says an article in PCI Journal for November–December 2002, and Father Pitt would like to mark it as the first time he has seen the word “glamorize” applied to anything having to do with precast concrete. The result is a building that is designed to offend no one’s taste, and if you think that is easy you should try it some time. The architects were DRS Architects of Pittsburgh, who have also done offices for the DEA as well as some prominent buildings for local universities.

    Central section
    FBI building
    FBI building
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
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  • O’Reilly Theater and Theater Square

    O’Reilly Theater

    A quarter-century ago, the O’Reilly opened with a brand-new play by August Wilson (King Hedley II). That makes it a newcomer by Penn Avenue standards. But Penn Avenue has been the heart of the theater district for a century and a half, and the O’Reilly stands on the exact site of Library Hall, whose auditorium was used as the Bijou, Victorian Pittsburgh’s most prestigious theater, where touring stars like Dion Boucicault played. The site had been a parking lot for more than sixty years before the O’Reilly was built, but we can think of this theater as continuing the Bijou tradition.

    O’Reilly Theater

    The building was designed by Michael Graves, the postmodernist whose brand of neoneoclassicism was influential in the movement. Mr. Graves also designed Theater Square next door, which houses the Greer Cabaret and a well-dressed parking garage.

    O’Reilly Theater and Theater Square
    Penn Avenue with the O’Reilly Theater
    Nikon COOLPIX P100.

    Old Pa Pitt has been dumping quite a load of pictures in these pages for the past few days. He realized that the pictures have been backing up and decided he ought to try to catch up with them. But how backed up were they? Here is a picture of the O’Reilly taken with a Kodak Signet 40 in June of 2000, when the building was only six months old. Father Pitt has never published it here before.

    O’Reilly in 2000
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  • Nordenberg Hall, University of Pittsburgh

    Nordenberg Hall

    Mark A. Nordenberg Hall, built in 2011, is a perfect example of what old Pa Pitt calls the neoneoclasssical style: it uses the shapes and symmetry of classical architecture without the embarrassing ornamentation. In this building, some of the effect of that missing classical ornamentation is simulated by a pleasing variation in the materials. The architects were the St. Louis firm of Mackey Mitchell Architects, with our own MCF Architecture (the successors to Edward Stotz) coming along for the ride.

    This building replaced the 1926 University Place Office Building by Edward B. Lee, a much smaller building that, in its sparse detailing, almost anticipated the neoneoclassical style.

  • The Oaklander Hotel

    Oaklander Hotel in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh (architects Raintree Architecture)

    Built in 2017 from a design by Raintree Architecture, the Oaklander is a good example of what old Pa Pitt calls the neoneoclassical school of architecture. It fits well with its classical neighbors, but it is free from the ornamentation that makes them such an embarrassment to modern architectural tastes. Also, it is much cheaper. Father Pitt is not a great lover of the neoneoclassical school, nor does he dislike it strongly. It is unobjectionable. It does its job of making buildings that are good citizens of their neighborhoods. They are not very interesting, but they cooperate with the older architecture that surrounds them. “Look past me,” says this building. “I’ll get out of your way while you admire the Pittsburgh Athletic Association next door.”

  • Peoples Center and World War II Veterans Memorial, North Shore

    The Peoples Center is one of a number of buildings that have gone up on the North Shore in the past two decades in the style old Pa Pitt calls neoneoclassical, in which cheap modern materials are arranged in forms that echo classical architecture, but without any embarrassing artistic detail. The buildings look traditional and unobjectionable. They make decent citizens of the urban landscape. They have nothing to excite interest in themselves, but they have nothing to excite disgust or dismay, either.

    The lighted World War II memorial in front gives this night view a drama it would not have otherwise.