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Allegheny County Jail

Buildings and structures in PittsburghCity of Pittsburgh historic designationsGovernment buildings completed in 1886Henry Hobson Richardson buildingsHistory of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic LandmarksRichardsonian Romanesque architecture in Pennsylvania
FormerAlleghenyCountyJail
FormerAlleghenyCountyJail

The old Allegheny County Jail in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is part of a complex (along with the Allegheny County Courthouse) designed by H. H. Richardson. The buildings are considered among the finest examples of the Romanesque Revival style for which Richardson is well known. The jail was built by the Norcross Brothers between 1884 and 1886 (the year of Richardson's death), and the courthouse was finished in 1888 under the supervision of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge. The two structures are linked across Ross Street by a "Bridge of Sighs" (so called for its similarity to the famous bridge in Venice, Italy). Additions were made 1903–1905 by Frederick J. Osterling. In 1892, anarchist Alexander Berkman was held here awaiting trial for the attempted murder of industrialist H. C. Frick. In 1902, condemned brothers Jack and Ed Biddle escaped from the jail with the aid of the warden's wife. (The 1984 film Mrs. Soffel, based on the incident, includes shots of the jail exterior.) The jail and courthouse were added to the List of City of Pittsburgh historic designations on December 26, 1972. They were added to the List of National Historic Landmarks on May 11, 1976. A new jail opened in spring 1995, and the original jail now houses the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Family Division.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Allegheny County Jail (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Allegheny County Jail
Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh

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N 40.438472222222 ° E -79.995527777778 °
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Old Allegheny County Jail

Forbes Avenue
15219 Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania, United States
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FormerAlleghenyCountyJail
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BNY Mellon Center (Pittsburgh)
BNY Mellon Center (Pittsburgh)

BNY Mellon Center is a 55-story skyscraper located at 500 Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Standing 725 ft (221 m) tall, it is the second-tallest building in the city. Announced on March 27, 1980, the tower was completed in June 1984. It was initially planned to be the world headquarters of the Dravo Corporation (now Carmeuse Corporation) by its majority owner at the time and current neighbor U.S. Steel until Dravo was purchased in 1983. Upon opening, the building was named One Mellon Center after Mellon Financial Corporation, which used the tower as the company's global headquarters. In 2007, the company merged with Bank of New York to form The Bank of New York Mellon; the resulting corporation continues to use the building as one of its major offices. In 2008, the building was renamed to its current moniker as part of a branding initiative by The Bank of New York Mellon.Prominent features of the building include its eight-sided design and mansard roof. The tower is connected to the U.S. Steel Tower through a tunnel which passes through Steel Plaza subway station. BNY Mellon Center is the ninth-tallest building in Pennsylvania (as well as the second-tallest within the state outside of Philadelphia) and 195th-tallest skyscraper in the world, and also the building with the highest taxable property value in Allegheny County, surpassing even the U.S. Steel Tower. On clear days, it is possible to spot the building from as far as 50 miles away, usually from the top of Chestnut Ridge.

Frick Building
Frick Building

The Frick Building is one of the major distinctive and recognizable features of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The tower was built by and is named for Henry Clay Frick, an industrialist coke producer who created a portfolio of commercial buildings in Pittsburgh. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tower was built directly adjacent to a building owned by his business partner and rival Andrew Carnegie, on the site of Saint Peter Episcopal Church. Frick, who feuded with Carnegie after they split as business associates, had the building designed to be taller than Carnegie's in order to encompass it in constant shadow.The Frick Building was opened on March 15, 1902 and originally had twenty floors. It was the tallest building in the city at that time. A leveling of the surrounding landscape that was completed in 1912 caused the basement to become the entrance, so some sources credit the building with twenty-one stories. It rises 330 feet (101 m) above Downtown Pittsburgh. Its address is 437 Grant Street, and is also accessible from Forbes and Fifth Avenues. The building's architect was Daniel H. Burnham of D.H. Burnham & Company, Chicago. Of the eleven executed designs for Pittsburgh by D.H. Burnham & Company, the Frick Building is one of only seven survivors.The top floor, which was reserved for The Union Club of Pittsburgh, includes a balcony around the perimeter of the building, a high, handcrafted ceiling, and heavy, elaborate brass door fixtures. Originally, H.C. Frick used it as his personal office and as a meeting place and social club for wealthy industrialists. On the 19th floor was Frick's personal shower. At the time, no other shower had been built that high above ground level, because water could not easily be pumped that high with the technology of the time. The shower, non-functioning, still exists on the 19th floor today. Fittingly for a building created for a man who vowed to be a millionaire by age thirty, the lobby features an elegant stained-glass window by John LaFarge, depicting "Fortune and Her Wheel" (1902). The two bronze sentinel lions (1904) in the lobby were created by sculptor Alexander Proctor. A bust of Frick by sculptor Malvina Hoffman (1923) is displayed in the rear lobby, which extends from Forbes to Fifth Avenue.For a time, the building was home to the headquarters for Frick's family whiskey business, Old Overholt. The headquarters oversaw a network of sales offices around the United States.