The
Cathedral of Learning, a Pittsburgh landmark
listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is the
centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh
's main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
, United
States
. Standing at 535 feet (>163 m), the
42-story Late Gothic
Revival Cathedral is the tallest educational building in the
Western
hemisphere
and the second tallest university building (fourth
tallest
educationally-purposed building) in the world. The
Cathedral of Learning was commissioned in 1921 and ground was
broken in 1926. The first class was held in the building in 1931
and its exterior finished in October 1934, prior to its formal
dedication in 1937. The Cathedral is steel frame structure overlaid
with
Indiana limestone and
contains more than 2,000 rooms and 2,529 windows. An impressive
scenic building, it is often used by the University in photographs,
postcards, and other advertisements.
Use
Cathedral of Learning
The basement through floor forty are used for educational purposes,
although most floors above 36 house the building's mechanical
equipment. These floors include theaters, computer laboratories,
classrooms, and departmental offices. The basement contains a
black box theater and the ground
floor contains computer labs, classrooms, and the Cathedral Café
food court.
The "lobby" comprising the first through
third floors contains a massive gothic "Commons Room" that is used
as a general study area and for special events and is ringed by
three floors of classrooms including, on the first and third
floors, the 27 Nationality
Rooms
designed by members of the Pittsburgh community in
the styles of different nations and ethnic groups. 25 of
these serve as functional classrooms while more conventional
classrooms are located on the second floor and elsewhere throughout
the building. The first floor also serves as the home to the
offices of the Chancellor, Executive Vice Chancellor, and other
administration offices, as well as the Nationality Rooms Gift Shop.
The fourth
floor, previously home to the main stacks of the University's Library
, is now occupied by the McCarl Center for
Nontraditional Student Success. The Darlington Memorial
Library on the sixth floor houses a special collection on American
history and literature as well as rare documents. Additionally, the
University Honors College is located on the 35th and 36th
floors.
The Cathedral of Learning houses the Department of
Philosophy, considered one of the top five in the
United States, and the Department of
History and Philosophy of
Science, consistently ranked at the top of the field. Other
departments in the Cathedral include English, Religious Studies,
and the School of Social Work which maintains the highest
classrooms in the building located on the 23rd floor.
Floors 38-40 are
closed to the general public, as they contain electrical wiring for
the building, as well as the Babcock Room, a large conference room
on the 40th floor utilized for meetings, seminars, and special
events and which provides a panoramic view of downtown
Pittsburgh
, the rest of the University, and Carnegie Mellon
University
. The 40th floor balcony also houses a
nesting pair of
Peregrine Falcons.
A view from the top is available via a
webcam. Golden lights, dubbed victory lights,
surround the outside of the highest floors and are lit following
all Pitt football wins and other notable victories, giving the
upper part of the Cathedral an amber glow.
History
In 1921,
John Gabbert Bowman traveled to
the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
to become the tenth chancellor of the University. At that
time, the school consisted of a series of buildings constructed
along
Henry Hornbostel's plan for
the campus and included "temporary" wooden structures built during
World War I. He then began to envision a
"tall building", that would be later termed the Cathedral of
Learning, to provide a dramatic symbol of education for the city
and alleviate overcrowding by adding much needed more space in
order to meet present and future needs of the University.
His reasoning is summarized in this quote:
In attempting to find a suitable place for this building, Bowman's
eyes were drawn to a 14-
acre (57,000 m²) plot
of land named Frick Acres. In November 1921, with aid from the
Mellon family, the University bought
the plot, and began plans for a proper university building on the
site.
One of the
foremost Gothic architect of the
time, Philadelphian
Charles Klauder, was
hired to design the tower. The design took two years to
finish, with the final plan attempting to fuse the idea of a modern
skyscraper with the tradition and ideals
of Gothic architecture. The plans received strong resistance from
the community and from some University officials, who felt it was
too tall for the city.
Fountain outside of the
Cathedral
Local legend states that to counteract this resistance Bowman
ordered that the construction of the walls would start at the top
floor and work its way down, so the project could not be canceled.
This has been traced to an account in the
November 21,
1943 issue of
At Ease, a
tabloid related to local
military personnel on campus, which stated that "the masonry was
started from the top downward." Construction photographs show that
this was not the case, and that some stonework was done on the
first floor before any other stonework was begun. One engineer with
the company working on the Cathedral explained that the exterior
walls of the Cathedral are not load-bearing. Because of this, many
similar buildings would start construction at the third or fourth
floors. Practically, this makes sense, as it allows easy movement
of building materials and equipment into and out of the building.
Instead, in the Cathedral's case, the issue was one of the stone
that would be used in lower stories. In fact, the quarry was not
prepared to deliver the stone on schedule, so construction was
delayed, and work begun on the higher stories.
When
construction started on the Cathedral of Learning in 1926, it was
the tallest
building in Pittsburgh, although the Gulf Tower
(1932) was completed and surpassed it by the time
the Cathedral of Learning was official dedicated in 1937.
Today, it
remains the tallest educational building in the Western hemisphere,
the second tallest university building in the world behind the 36
story, 240 m (including a 57 m spire) Moscow State
University
main building completed in 1953, and the fourth
tallest educational building in the world behind behind Moscow
State University and Mode Gakuen Cocoon
(204 m) and Spiral Towers
(170 m), both completed in 2008 and located in
Japan
.
Funding
Fundraising for this project came in many forms, including
donations from industries, corporations, individuals and foreign
governments. To raise public views of the Cathedral, and at the
same time finance the construction, Bowman started a fundraising
campaign in 1925.
An important part of this campaign was a project reaching out to
the
children of the city entitled "Buy a Brick
for Pitt". Each schoolchild sent a
dime (
$0.10) and a letter to the University,
explaining how they earned the dime for the building. In exchange,
the child received a certificate for one
brick
contained in the Cathedral. A total of 97,000 certificates were
issued to children.
Commons Room
The main part of the Cathedral's first floor is the Commons room, a
Gothic-style hall that covers half an acre (2,000 m²) and extends
upwards four stories, reaching 52 ft (16 m) tall. The room was a
gift of
Andrew Mellon. It is a piece
of true Gothic architecture; no steel supports were used in the
construction of its
arches. Each arch is a true
arch, and they support their own weight. Each base for the arches
weighs five tons, and it is said that they are so firmly placed
that each could hold a large truck.
This perfection was insisted upon by Chancellor Bowman. The
architect, Klauder, objected due to the increased costs of this
construction method. Bowman responded with the comment: "You cannot
build a great University with fraud in it."
Joseph Gattoni designed the
stonework,
much of which depicts western Pennsylvania
plant life.
The walls are made of Indiana limestone and the floor is green
Vermont
slate.
The wrought iron in the room, including the large gates leading to
the elevators, were a gift from George Hubbard Clapp, and were
designed by the ironworker
Samuel
Yellin. Over the gates are two lines from an untitled poem by
Robert Bridges:
- “Here is eternal spring; for you the very stars of heaven are
new.”
During finals in the winter, fires in the enormous fireplace are
lit, to promote a comforting and pleasant atmosphere for the dozens
of students typically found studying into the late hours.
Nationality Rooms
The Cathedral is home to 27 Nationality Rooms, twenty-five working
classrooms and two display rooms, on the first and third floors.
Each nationality room is designed to celebrate a different culture
that had an influence on Pittsburgh's growth, depicting an era
prior to (or in the singular case of the French Classroom, just
after) 1787 which is year the University's founding and the signing
of the
US
Constitution.
The Nationality Room programs began in 1926 when Bowman decided
that he wanted to involve the community as much as he could in
constructing the Cathedral, so he proposed that each nationality
that had a significant number of people in Pittsburgh would be
allowed to design their nationality's room for the Cathedral. Each
group had to form a Room Committee, which would be responsible for
all fundraising, designing, and acquisition. The University
provided only the room and, upon completion, upkeep for perpetuity.
All other materials, labor, and design were provided by the
individual committees. These were sometimes aided by foreign
governments and the rooms contain many authentic artifacts and
materials from the country represented.
[74302] A typical room on the 1st floor (those built
between 1938 and the 1957) took between three and ten years to
complete, and cost the equivalent of $300,000 USD in 2006 dollars.
More recent rooms have cost in the range of $500,000 and up.
Classrooms
Proposed rooms
There are eight nationality rooms currently being planned to add to
the current 27.
[74303]
Other notable rooms
There are several other notable facilities and rooms within the
Cathedral of Learning. In addition, these spaces do not fall under
the auspices of the Nationality Rooms program.
Babcock Room
The E.V. Babcock Memorial Room was constructed on the fortieth
floor for use as the University
trustees'
boardroom and was funded by a Babcock
family grant of $327,000 and dedicated in November 1958. The room
is a plush, carpeted, wood-paneled conference room with an
adjoining kitchen and boasts a spectacular view of the surrounding
area. During the early 1970s at the height of
student activism, a group of protesting
students attempted to barricade the room during a trustees meeting.
Today,
the trustees have out grown the room and generally meet in the
Assembly Room of the William Pitt Union
. The Babcock room now serves as a seminar
and meeting room and is used for special events. A pair of
endangered
peregrine falcons nests
on the balcony outside the room.
Braun Room
The Braun Room in the Cathedral of Learning.
Following the opening of the Cathedral of Learning, the offices of
the Dean of Women moved to the twelfth floor of the Cathedral in
1938. The interior was unfinished but Dean Amos envisioned a
dignified and beautiful space for women to meet.
When Dean Amos died in 1941, the new quarters were still
unfinished. The Alumnae Association created the Thyrsa W. Amos Fund
to plaster the walls and to furnish Room 1217 in her name. Room
1217 was never finished, but after World War II the other rooms on
the twelfth floor were completed. Mrs. A.E. Braun, along with her
daughter and son-in-law, donated the furnishings and wood paneling
in 1946.
Dean Helen Pool Rush and her successor, Dean Savina Skewis, carried
on the traditions of Dean Amos until the Dean of Women's Office was
closed in 1969, and its functions and quarters were assumed by
other departments.
[74305]
Croghan-Schenley Ballroom
Croghan-Schenley Ballroom in the Cathedral of Learning.
The Croghan-Schenley room, situated on the first floor of the
Cathedral in room 156, is actually two adjoining rooms, the
Ballroom and the Oval Room, connected by a hidden passageway in the
Ballroom's fireplace.
The rooms were originally part of William Croghan Jr.'s mansion built in
1830 in the area known as Stanton Heights
, in Pittsburgh
. The
Greek
Revival rooms themselves were created in 1835 by the
Philadelphia carver Mordecai Van Horn.
His daughter,
Mary Elizabeth, went to
boarding school in New York, but in 1842 at the age of fifteen she
eloped with 43-year-old
Edward Wyndham Harrington
Schenley, a captain in the British military. The elopement
caused a family schism. Mary would not visit often, and in an
effort to convince her to move back to Pittsburgh, the new rooms
were commissioned. Following the death of William Croghan in 1850,
the mansion was run by caretakers with no permanent residents for
some 60 years. William S. Miller, then president of Steelwood
Corp., purchased the Croghan mansion following
World War II and it was soon leveled for a new
housing development, but the Croghan-Schenley rooms were
spared.
In 1955, the rooms, donated by Miller, were dismantled and rebuilt
in the Cathedral, except that the original ceilings had to be
lowered about 8 inches to accommodate the available space.
In 1982, the rooms were refurbished to their 19th century glory.
Highlighting the ballroom are the hand-cut glass chandelier and
four wooden, hand-carved Greek columns, surviving examples of
western Pennsylvania’s Greek classical revival period popular with
those of means in the 1830s.
The
Croghan-Schenley rooms are the last extant vestiges of the estate
of Mary Schenley, who before she died
gave much of her holdings and property to the city of Pittsburgh —
including Schenley farms, where the Cathedral sits, and Schenley Park
.[74306]
Stories tell of a ghost, speculated to that of Mary Schenley, that
is said to roam the Ballroom and Nationality Rooms. The doors to
the rooms are locked every night, but furniture is sometimes said
to found rearranged by daylight staff. The swinging of the
chandelier has been said to indicate her presence.
Frick Auditorium
The Frick Auditorium is a lecture hall in room 324 of the Cathedral
of Learning. It features stone
mullions,
chambranle, and other trim as well as
wooden lecture seating and a
coffered
ceiling. A centerpiece element in the room is a Nicholas Lochoff
reproduction of
The Resurrection
by
Piero della Francesca that
was purchased for the lecture hall by
Helen Clay Frick.
Frick would later
donate a large collection of Lochoff reproductions to the
university which are on display in the Nicholas Lochoff Cloisture
in the university's Frick Fine Arts Building
.
Humanities Center
The University of Pittsburgh's Humanities Center, part of
School of
Arts and Sciences, is housed in the Cathedral of Learning
sixth-floor space formerly occupied by the Darlington Memorial
Library. Following digitization and protective storage of the
libraries materials, its space was renovated in 2009 in order to
house the center which now includes office space for staff and
visiting fellows.
The Humanities Center space retains much of
the original character and many of the antique furnishings
originally bequeathed to the university by the Darlington family,
and features moldings and green walls that are duplicated from the
18th mansion Graeme
Park
, a Pennsylvania
colonial-era governor’s residence. The Center for
Humanities was finished in time for an open house that was part a
conference hosted by the center on November 14-15, 2009.
The space served as the home of The Darlington Memorial Library
from 1936 until its recent conversion to the Humanities Center. The
library was entered through a memorial vestibule and consisted of a
central room with eight alcoves and contained, among other notable
furnishings, a wrought iron entrance gate by
Samuel Yellin. The library had been given to
the University of Pittsburgh by the daughters of William McCullough
Darlington and Mary Carson Darlington. The initial gift of eleven
thousand volumes was made in 1918 by Mary O'Hara Darlington and
Edith Darlington Ammon. This was followed by Mary O'Hara
Darlington's bequest in 1925 of the remainder of the family's
library and a large part of the family estate. The Darlington
family's tremendous interest in historical research was the force
behind the creation of what was said to be the largest private
library west of the Alleghenies. The library collection is
particularly rich in material pertaining to the
French and Indian War and to the
history of
Western Pennsylvania
and the
Ohio Valley as both William and
Mary Darlington researched and published in these areas. While the
main focus of the collection is American history and literature,
other highlights of the collection include rare maps and atlases,
works on
ornithology and natural
history, and early travel narratives. The Darlington's son, O'Hara
Darlington, also amassed a collections of
Victorian literature, sporting books
and works of illustrators and caricaturists. The collection has
been additionally enriched over the years by the donations of other
individuals and organizations, particularly enhancing its content
on the history of the Western Pennsylvania region. Prior to the
renovation of the original library space, these materials were
digitized and placed on-line at The Darlington Digital Library. The
original, sometimes fragile, materials of the library were placed
in storage for availability to researchers upon request. A virtual
tour of the Darlington Memorial Library as it existed previously in
the Cathedral of Learning is available for the
entrance and the
main room.
McCarl Center for Nontraditional Student Success
McCarl Center
Located on the fourth floor of the Cathedral of Learning, the
$537,000 McCarl Center was opened in 2002 and occupies space that
once housed two levels of the main stacks of the University's
library. Made possible by a gift from F. James and Foster J.J.
McCarl, it serves as resource center for
non-traditional students and hosts
seminars and events. The space was designed by Alan J. Cueri and
his architectural firm Strada, LLC, and includes wood finishes,
double-height spaces with high ceilings and windows, a main
corridor conceived as an interior street, and many elements that
refer to the Cathedral of Learning's Gothic architecture including
decorative painted metal columns with contemporary buttress-style
arches. The center includes a resource library, meeting rooms, and
a student lounge, and is staffed with academic advisors and has
contains a reception area for the
College of
General Studies. Three unsigned and undated by glass-encased
murals that depict
Renaissance painting
styles and which have long belonged to the University but are of
unknown origin hang in a hallway outside the Center.
Mulert Memorial Room
Mulert Memorial Room
Located in room 204, the wood paneled Mulert Memorial classroom
features wood floors and
ionic columns.
Provided
for in the will of the late Mt.
Lebanon resident Justus Mulert, the room was dedicated on
December 21, 1942 and serves as a memorial to the Mulert's wife,
Louise and his son Ferdinand, who died in 1912 during his senior
year at Washington and
Jefferson College.
Studio Theater
Studio Theatre
The Studio Theatre, a facility utilized by the Department of
Theater Arts, is located in the basement of the Cathedral. The
Studio Theatre is a
black box
space that can be configured for almost any set requirements.
It is home to student-directed laboratory productions, play
readings, Dark Night Caberet, and plays host to Pittsburgh's
longest-running theater show,
Friday
Nite Improvs, started in 1989 by graduate theatre
students.
[74307]
University Honors College
The
University
Honors College, dedicated in 1986, is housed in a 2002-2003
renovated space on the 35th and 36th floors of the Cathedral. The
Honors College provides support and enriched opportunities for
scholarship among the University's undergraduates and offers a
Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil) degree.
The 2002-2003 renovation, by Rothschild Doyno Collaborative of
Pittsburgh's Strip District, showcased an existing two-story arched
window that is visible at night for miles around. The four-leaf
medieval
quatrefoil medallion at the top
of the Cathedral is a central motif in the design of the Honors
College. Stained glass behind the reception desk at the center of
the space was designed by Glenn Greene Glass of Regent Square and
centers on a design representing the four seasons, done in polished
agate. Wrought ironwork was produced by Vic Reynaud of Technique
Manufacturing in the spirit of
Samuel
Yellin who did the Commons Room ironwork.
[74308]
Recent proposed changes to the Cathedral
In the early 2000s, there was some controversy over whether
University funds should be used to illuminate the Cathedral at
night, or to clean the building's façade. The cleaning was
abandoned because it was too costly. Some Oakland residents spoke
out against the cleaning, stating that the years of soot should
stay as an homage to Pittsburgh's industrial past. However, the
University approved nearly $5 million for cleaning and restoration
of stonework on
February 28,
2007. The work was completed at the end of 2007,
restoring the exterior of the building to its original
condition.
In the wake of
September 11 the
Cathedral was deemed "at risk" because terrorists could easily
drive a vehicle into the ground floor. To address this concern, the
University has since installed
bollards that
rise out of the sidewalk. Also, the University is currently working
toward air-conditioning the first four floors, which contain many
classrooms.
[74309] They plan to complete the effort to centrally
cool the entire Cathedral by the end of the decade. Around 200
window air conditioners operate in the building.
References in Popular Culture and Student Life
- In Gwyn Cready's comedic romance
novel, Tumbling Through Time, the hero, Magnus Knightley, is a
visiting professor whose office is on the 32nd floor of the
Cathedral of Learning. Several scenes in the book take place in the
Cathedral.
- The Cathedral is sometimes referred to by Pitt students as the
"drunken compass" due to its prominence of visibility throughout
the neighborhood of Oakland that is used to guide students
returning from parties back to the dorms or apartments. Along with
the Early American
Nationality Room, and the Croghan-Schenley Ballroom, the
Cathedral Café food court on the ground level is purported to be
haunted.
- Assumption University in
Thailand
has constructed a 39-story, 522 feet (159 m)
building that is modeled and named after the Cathedral of Learning
and serves as the centerpiece of their Suvarnabhumi campus.
References and Notes
- Brown, Mark. The Cathedral of Learning: Concept, Design,
Construction, University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms
Program
- Bowman, John G. Unofficial Notes
- Nationality Rooms Guide Training Material
- University of Pittsburgh Website
- National Registry of Historial Places
- Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh
- Moscow State University, Moscow
- Campus Dining Locations, University of Pittsburgh,
2008-08-08, accessdate=2008-08-11
- Computer Services and Systems Development:
Computing Labs: Cathedral of Learning, 2006,
accessdate=2008-08-11
- College Planning & Management, 2006-01,
accessdate=2008-08-11
- Pitt
Philosophy
- The Philosophical Gourmet Report, date=Match
2009
- Department of History and Philosophy of Science
- Graduate Programs in History and Philosophy of
Science
- Classrooms on 23rd floor of Cathedral of Learning,
Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education,
2008-07-15, accessdate=2008-08-11
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Pittsburgh
- Emporis: Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower,
accessdate=2009-02-23
- Emporis: Mode Gakuen Spiral Tower,
accessdate=2009-02-23
- Alberts, Robert C. Pitt: the story of the
University of Pittsburgh, 1787-1987, pg. 264, University of
Pittsburgh Press, 1986, accessdate=2008-08-12
- Secrets of the Cathedral: Starting at the top,
University Times, 2003-09-11, accessdate=2008-08-12
- William H., Remembering Wes: Friends, family,
former colleagues reminisce, University Times, 2001-08-30,
accessdate=2008-08-11
- Alberts, Robert C. Pitt: the story of the
University of Pittsburgh, 1787-1987, pg. 398, 1986, University of
Pittsburgh Press, accessdate=2008-08-12
- For the birds, University Times, 2008-05-29,
accessdate=2008-08-12
- Pennsylvania Young Professionals: 2007 ImPAct
Conference, 2007, pg. 19, accessdate=2008-08-11
- STRADA, LLC - McCarl Center for Nontraditional Student
Success, Stradallc.com, accessdate=2008-08-11
- Continuing Education - McCarl Center Events,
University of Pittsburgh College of General Studies,
accessdate=2008-08-11
- Continuing Education - McCarl Center, University of
Pittsburgh College of General Studies,
accessdate=2008-08-11
- Secrets of the Cathedral: From 38 on down,
University Times, 2003-09-11, accessdate=2008-08-11
- [1]
- Amanda Leff, Cathedral of Learning to Be Featured April 16
on Travel Channel’s Made In America, Pitt Chronicle, 2008-04-14,
accessdate=2008-12-1
- Richard Rosengarten, Secrets of the Cathedral,
The Original Magazine, No. 4, pg. 50,
accessdate=2009-02-27
- Unigo: University of Pittsburgh-Pitt: University of
Pittsburgh Summary, accessdate=2009-02-27
- The Nationality Rooms: about nationality
rooms
External links
Panoramas
Video
Gallery
Image:CathedralfromFrick.jpg|South face of
the Cathedral from the Frick Fine Arts BuildingImage:CathedralLawn1.jpg|The Cathedral Lawn
to the east
File:Cathedral of Learning stitch
2.jpg|Cathedral and the Stephen Foster Memorial
from across Schenley Plaza
Image:CathoLearn.jpg|Northwest side of the
Cathedral from across the lawn of the Sailors and Soldiers Memorial
Image:TopofCathedralofLearning.jpg|Detail of
top floors on the western
faceFile:CathedralLearningEarlyevening.jpg|North face top
floorsFile:CathedralofLearninglookingup.jpg|Panther fountain on the
west entranceFile:CathedralofLearning BellefieldAvdSide.jpg|East
side and entranceFile:CathedralofLearningLampDetail.jpg|
Samuel Yellin ironwork lampFile:Outside Pitt
Cathedral of Learning.jpg|South
lawnFile:CathedralofLearningentrance.jpg|South entrance
detailFile:CathedralofLearningstoneworkDetail.jpg|Exterior
quatrefoil stonework detail prior to 2007
cleaningFile:QuoVadisClassof1940Window.jpg|
Charles Connick designed Class of 1940
Window in the Quo Vadis nicheImage:Cathedralcloister.jpg|Lightwell
containing the painted ceramic sculpture "Third Century" by Jerry
CaplanFile:CathedralofLearning1stFloorArchwayDetail.jpg|Detail of
Joseph Gattoni stonework on a first floor archwayFile:Commons Room
(Cathedral of Learning) - Pitt - IMG 0469.jpg|Detail of Commons
Room furniture carvingsFile:CoLCommonsRoom.jpg|Commons Room ceiling
vaultsFile:CommonsRoominCathedralofLearn.jpg|Commons
RoomFile:Commons Room (Cathedral of Learning) - Pitt - IMG
0463.jpgFile:Commons Room (Cathedral of Learning) - Pitt - IMG
0475.jpg
exhibit entitled "1934: A New Deal for
Artists".
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