PA & NY 2023: Pittsburgh - Downtown Walking Tour, Point State Park, The Strip

To get a better sense of downtown Pittsburgh, we took a guided walking tour with the organization “Walk the Burgh” who also led guided cycling tours.  Our guide started with the history of the area, which was originally inhabited by the Shawnee and Lenape Native American tribes.  We heard about how the meeting of three rivers, the Allegheny, Monogahela, and Ohio Rivers formed a triangular spit of land designated as “The Point”, making this an ideal location for settlement as the waterways provided power, transportation and access to coal and iron ore.  As a result, it was heavily fought over between the British and the French in the 18th Century.  In 1754, Fort Duquesne was erected while the area was under French rule.  The fort was named after the presiding governor general of New France, the Marquis de Duquesne, whose legacy is still prominent within the region today with a University, an Incline and a private club bearing his name.  After many battles, the British finally triumphed in 1758, destroying the French fort and erecting Fort Pitt, named after British statesman William Pitt the Elder, after whom the city of Pittsburgh was also named.   We would see remnants of both these historic forts later in the day.  Pittsburgh also has a connection to the Lewis and Clark Expedition since Lewis spent time here in 1803 before launching his keel boat on the Allegheny River to meet up with Clark.

For the most part, the rest of our walking tour was more of an architectural tour as we were brought to one gorgeous building after another, with the names Frick, Carnegie and Mellon coming up time and time again.  We started at the Koppers Building, once the headquarters for Koppers Gas and Coke Company, a global chemical and materials company founded in 1912 and acquired by industrialist Andrew Mellon in 1914.  The 34-story, 475-foot tall Art Deco-styled Koppers skyscraper was commissioned by Mellon and completed in 1929.  It has a distinctive green copper roof and was constructed with Indiana limestone and polished granite.  As impressive as the exterior of the building is, the interior is even more stunning with marble walls, ornate elevator doors, decorative clocks, brass railings, art-deco styled chandeliers, a gilded mailbox and an enormous, multi-paned window above the entrance.

Originally the Union Arcade, a shopping mall with 240 shops commissioned by Henry Clay Frick and designed by architect Frederick Osterling in 1915-16, the building was purchased in 1923 and became the Union Trust Building.  Constructed in a Flemish Gothic style, the building features a mansard roof, terra cotta dormer windows and ornamentation added to the terra cotta and sandstone facades. At the top of the building are multiple “chapel-like” structures which camouflage the mechanical towers and act as a tribute to the St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Cathedral that used to occupy the site.  Inside we marveled at the eleven-story grand atrium with a breathtaking 40-foot-wide Tiffany glass dome, stained glass windows and a gilded mosaic ceiling in one section.  The royal blue carpet and lavender chairs add to the majestic feel of the space.

The Beaux-Arts William Penn Hotel opened in 1916, once again developed by Henry Frick.  It was hailed at the time as the “grandest hotel in the nation” and also the largest after an addition of another wing in 1929 brought the total number of guest rooms to 1600. The hotel changed hands multiple times and underwent many renovations resulting in the number of rooms reducing to 602 in the present day.  The exterior is noted for its three towers of red brick while the interior features Renaissance Revival design elements.  Unfortunately, we did not get to see it on our tour, but the hotel is known for the Urban Room, a grand Art-deco ballroom with 14 murals.  We did get to admire the beautiful, multi-tiered grand lobby with its decorative ceiling and chandeliers and Art-deco flooring.  A “hidden” bar in the basement of the hotel named “The Speakeasy” serves Prohibition-era inspired cocktails.  It is said that back in the day, the hotel staff invented band leader Lawrence Welk’s famous bubble machine.  Many famous people have stayed at the hotel including John F. Kennedy, and Bob Hope who proposed to his wife there in 1934.

Although we did not go inside, we saw several buildings that had interesting architectural features.  The Park Building was constructed in 1896 in the Beaux-Arts style and was one of the first steel-skeleton skyscrapers standing at 15 stories.  It is recognized from afar because of the 30 sculptures depicting kneeling Atlas figures holding up the top cornice of the building.  We spotted the Keenan Building (now Midtown Towers) from blocks away because of its distinctive red dome that was initially gold-coloured.  Built in 1907 at a height of 239 feet with 18 stories, the building was named after Colonel Thomas Keenan, owner of the Pittsburgh Press newspaper.  Along the sides of the building are bas-relief carvings of prominent figures of the time including the mayor George Guthrie and Governor Edwin Stuart, as well as historical figures such as George Washington, William Pitt and William Penn.  It was rumoured that wild parties and other scandalous activities were held in the space inside the dome, but these proved to be unfounded.

We passed by the Duquesne Club, originally a private members club founded in 1873 which did not allow women to join until 1980.  New memberships are only accepted by invitation/recommendation from existing members.  The club offers fine dining, social events, hotel and conference facilities and a fitness centre.  Entering the theatre district, we passed by the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts that is currently home for ballets and operas.  It was originally the Stanley Theatre, a grand movie palace known as “Pittsburgh’s Palace of Amusement”.  Nearby, the Agnes Katz Plaza opened in 1999 and was named for a local patron of the arts. The plaza is decorated with a 25-foot high tiered water fountain with heated water that flows all year round, and eyeball-shaped benches designed by artist Louise Bougeois.  From this area, we could spot the Andy Warhol Bridge that spans the Allegheny River, leading directly to the Andy Warhol Museum, which we would visit the next day.  Painted on the side of a building on Smithfield St is a mural titled “Two Andys” which depicts Andy Warhol and Andrew Carnegie at a beauty salon, each with curlers in his hair, sitting under a hairdryer.  The mural was completed in 2005 and humorously depicts two important figures in Pittsburgh’s history.

Next we walked through what looked like a palace made of glass.  It was PPG Place, the headquarters of a company that was founded in 1883 as the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, manufacturing high-quality plate glass used in glass doors, mirrors and windows.  Over the years the company diversified, adding paints, chemicals, fiber glass, optical products, coatings and resins to their products. The PPG complex sits on 5.5 acres of land across a 3-block site and consists of a main neo-Gothic styled 40-story tower with tall, pointed spires, plus 5 other buildings all with black glass façades consisting of nearly 1 million square feet of PPG’s energy-efficient clear reflective glass.  In a covered alcove between buildings, we saw a collection of colourful dinosaur statues like the one we spotted when we first passed through the outskirts of Pittsburgh.  These were part of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s “DinoMite Days” fundraiser from 2003 and include a T-Rex named “Mr. Dig”, a Torosaurus shaped like a Heinz ketchup bottle named “Ketchupsaurus” and a Stegosaurus named “Philliposaurus” after architect Phillip Johnson who designed PPG Place.

Our tour ended in Market Square, a historic spot originally known as “Diamond Square” when it was first built in 1784. It was the site of the first Allegheny County Courthouse, jail and newspaper.  Today it is a central hub of activity that hosts a public market, the city hall, cafes, bars, restaurants and shops.  Events are held here throughout the year including farmers’ markets, holiday markets, yoga classes, concerts and festivals.  Some famous establishments include Primanti Brothers Restaurant and Bar, serving sandwiches piled high with French fries, coleslaw and other toppings since early 1900s and Nicolas Coffee, selling coffee blends and teas since 1919.

Another historic establishment located in Market Square is the Original Oyster House, established in 1870 and now the oldest restaurant/bar in Pittsburgh.  Since we both love oysters, my husband Rich and I decided to have lunch here.  The menu focuses mainly on fried seafood dishes including fried oysters, crabcakes and fish sandwiches.  We both ordered the Key West fried oyster dinner with potato chips that came with  either coleslaw or a side salad.  We started with an order of crab cake, which was good but the main attraction for me was the oysters.

The Original Oyster House has interesting and historic interior décor including a long counter/bar area that stretches the entire length of the dining area and features a large poster of boxer Rocky Marciano behind the counter.  There are many more sports photos of boxers, baseball teams, football players and a series of beauty pageant black and white photographs.  Access to the washrooms was interesting.  To get to the “Women’s Room”, I had to request a key from the cashier, and walk past the kitchen to a separate dining area.  The “Men’s Room” was in the main restaurant, but you had to wait to be “buzzed” in by an attendant behind the counter.

After lunch, we walked from the Market Square towards Point State Park, a 36-acre state park located around the meeting point of the three rivers.  To get to this point, which is also known as the “Golden Triangle”, we had to walk under the Interstate 376 Expressway which actually formed a nice arch that framed the view which we were heading towards.  Once we reached the other side, we saw the granite outline marking the spot of the old French Fort Duquesne along with a marker indicating the centre of the fort.  Over to one side is a Block House which is the only remnants of the English Fort Pitt.  It is now a museum which commemorates the French and Indian wars of 1754-1763.

A highlight of Point State Park is the massive 150-foot fountain whose water comes from a subterranean sand and gravel aquifer (rock that holds groundwater) 54 feet below the surface which was formed in the last ice age. It has become an urban legend that this water source is a mythical “fourth river”.   The fountain is a popular attraction which and draws tourists, strollers, cyclists and buskers to the area and is illuminated at night with white and gold lights.  Looking across to the opposite shore, you can see views of the Acrisure (formerly Heinz) Stadium and the Carnegie Science Centre.  We would get a closer look at these sites the following day.

We also caught a glimpse of the Duquesne Incline with a funicular that we intended to take a ride on, as well as the Andy Warhol Bridge.  From the point, we walked east along a section of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail which is a 24-mile regional trail running along the banks of the three rivers.  Our part of the trail led us towards the area called “The Strip”.  Along the way, we found a 300-yard long mural exhibit created in 2021 by artist Camerin “Camo” Nesbit.  Titled “Black Flowers”,  it features alternating images of flowers and monarch butterflies with portraits of notable Black Pittsburgh residents including Broadway/TV actor Billy Porter and rapper Wiz Khalifa.

Our last stop of the day was The Strip district, a vibrant and historic neighbourhood spanning multiple streets along a half-square mile area with the Allegheny River to the north, Liberty Avenue to the South, running between 11th to 33rd Streets.  It is known for its international grocery stores, produce stands, meat and fish markets, sidewalk vendors, boutique shops and eateries, restaurants and bars.  This area reminds me of Toronto’s Kensington Market.

Historically this was an industrial area filled with mills, factories and warehouses and you can still see remnants of this by the ghost signs faintly printed on the sides of some buildings.  The Senator John Heinz History Centre is located in The Strip and is easily spotted by nature of the Heinz sign with the tilted Ketchup bottle.  The museum showcases exhibits on the history of Pittsburgh innovations including the Ferris Wheel and the Big Mac.  There are also exhibits dedicated to Heinz innovations and artifacts from Mr. Rogers’ Neighbourhood.  Unfortunately it had already been a long day and we did not have the time or energy to explore this museum.  Maybe on a return visit..