Been to Pittsburgh, May not ever come back

[Katiana]

I agree with scranBarre that amateur pictures capture the feel of a city better than professional ones do. After all, professional pictures can make any place look great. I always enjoy picture threads, and have enjoyed many of ScranBarre's.

[creepsinc]

Yeah, this is a pretty silly situation. I could easily drive into San Francisco from the south, find a crappy motel in a crappy neighborhood and write the whole city off based on that experience. That would be without ever seeing water, or bridges, or the other things people seem to like about San Francisco. You should have at least gone to the Monroeville Mall to see where they filmed Dawn of the Dead! I still haven't done that. Too many other things to do in this town.

Somebody needs to buy a guide book.

[johnnytang24]

Originally Posted by guylocke

People and student's from all over the world travel to Pittsburgh to seek out and study old, dynamic, new, and amazing architecture from nearly every decade and design.

In fact, there is a certain style of architecture that is becoming extremely popular again (the name escapes me, something like art deco or something) and Pittsburgh is quickly becoming an even hotter destination for architectural study.

I've never heard of anyone coming to Pittsburgh to study its architecture. Any sources on this? I don't like to come off as a jerk, but I like to see some sort of confirmation.

Also, I don't see how Victorians, which can be found through out the country, are considered amazing, in an architectural sense. Ando's museum in Fort Worth is amazing. Fallingwater (much as I personally dislike it) is amazing.

It sort of doesn't surprise me that someone may have had this sort of experience from Monroeville or Oakland (Oakland that is right up against Pitt, mind you, it's a wreck of construction and essentially a campus).

I can't say I sympathize, though, as it's been mentioned that they obviously didn't venture or do their homework. I mean, every city has parts I wouldn't exactly stay in or want my first impression to be.

That's like heading to New York City and staying in Harlem and then naively thinking that's all New York City is or has to offer. I'm not making this comparison in admittance that Pittsburgh is a dump (because I most certainly don't believe such), but New York City is absolutely filthy disgusting on many fronts but it is still one of the best cities in the world!
.

It's more like going to Westchester Co and saying 'NYC is all strip malls. Pfft.. I can get the same food and stores anywhere.'

[fleetiebelle]

Henry Hornbostel, H.H. Richardson, and Charles Klauder (to name a few) are world-class architects who left a legacy in Pittsburgh's built environment. The Cathedral of Learning and the Allegheny County Courthouse are famous in architectural history. People also come to see the Mies van der Rohe building on Duquesne's campus. And just to be pedantic, there really is no "Victorian" architecture. The Victorian era lasted for almost 70 years, and there were dozens of architectural styles under that umbrella.

The archive of Charles Rosenblum's architecture articles in the City Paper: http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gy...ry=oid%3A14814

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by johnnytang24

Also, I don't see how Victorians, which can be found through out the country, are considered amazing, in an architectural sense. Ando's museum in Fort Worth is amazing. Fallingwater (much as I personally dislike it) is amazing.

Every era and architectural movement has buildings of particular significance. For example, the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail is one of the more famous buildings by Henry Hobson Richardson (although his most famous is Trinity Church in Boston). Although Richardson worked within the Victorian Era, he developed a distinct style of his own which was eventually much imitated, such that there is actually an entire style named after him (Richardsonian Romanesque). For a nice example of another building in this style in Pittsburgh but not by Richardson himself, you can see the Shadyside Presbyterian Church, designed by some people who originally worked for Richardson and carried forward his style (George Shepley and Charles Coolidge).

Incidentally, Richardson was one of the primary influences on Frank Lloyd Wright, particularly with respect to his use of massed stone. In that sense Falling Water is actually a distant cousin of the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail, which personally I think you can kinda see.

Edit: and I see was beaten to the bunch on naming this building, but I guess that shows it really is famous!

[Katiana]

Mod deleted

http://www.city-data.com/forum/denve...er-no-8-a.html

Like all such lists, it's nonsense, but it shows there is more than one idea about architecture out there.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Katiana

http://www.city-data.com/forum/denve...er-no-8-a.html

Like all such lists, it's nonsense, but it shows there is more than one idea about architecture out there.

That is kinda an odd approach to doing a multi-city ranking (apparently they polled people in each city to see what they thought about their own city's architecture, so it seems closer to a specialized civic-pride survey than an architectural study). That said, Denver does have some pretty cool architecture, and as the article discusses they are doing a lot of LEED buildings, which is also cool.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

That is kinda an odd approach to doing a multi-city ranking (apparently they polled people in each city to see what they thought about their own city's architecture, so it seems closer to a specialized civic-pride survey than an architectural study). That said, Denver does have some pretty cool architecture, and as the article discusses they are doing a lot of LEED buildings, which is also cool.

Well, I said it was nonsense. Just wanted to show another perspective. Which considering, look at this:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/omaha...mates-out.html

Regarding the LEED stuff, yes. My daughter was working on a Habitat for Humanity house Saturday in Boulder that is trying to get some donations of solar collectors. It's very trendy here.

[luvlee]

Originally Posted by Bob Osborne

Out of pepsi? Oh, the humanity.

I once went to GC Murphy's downtown, to the lunch counter, you know way back when it was open, and they were out of hamburgers...

I mean just the horrow, here I was maybe twenty, twenty one years old and they had the nerve to still be open for business with no burgers to sell.

And the waitress had the audacity to offer me the special of the day, which just happened to be liver and onions...she musta been mad I tell you...MAD!!