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Harris Theater (Pittsburgh)

Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic LandmarksPittsburgh building and structure stubsTheatres completed in 1931Theatres in Pittsburgh
Harris Theater Pittsb jeh
Harris Theater Pittsb jeh

The Harris Theater is a landmark building at 809 Liberty Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Cultural District. The 200-seat theater is owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Built as Art Cinema, it was the first Pittsburgh venue to show only "art movies". In the 1960s, it featured pornographic films at a time when Liberty Avenue was a red-light district. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust purchased and refurbished the theater as part of its plan for the Cultural District. In 1995 it was renamed The Harris with a gift from the Buhl Foundation, in honor of John P. Harris, who was a co-founder of the Nickelodeon—the first theater solely dedicated to the showing of motion pictures—and a Pennsylvania State Senator. The name "Nickelodeon" was coined by Harry Davis and John P. Harris, who opened their small, storefront theatre under that name on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh in June 1905. Davis and Harris found such great success that their concept of a five cent theatre running movies continuously was soon imitated by other entrepreneurs, as was the name of the theatre itself.

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Harris Theater (Pittsburgh)
Exchange Way, Pittsburgh

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 40.443 ° E -79.9987 °
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908 Penn Avenue Apartments

Exchange Way
15222 Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania, United States
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Harris Theater Pittsb jeh
Harris Theater Pittsb jeh
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K&L Gates Center
K&L Gates Center

K&L Gates Center is a skyscraper office building located in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The building (long known as One Oliver Plaza and briefly as FreeMarkets Center and later Ariba Center) was completed in 1968. It has 39 floors, and rises 511 feet (156 meters) above downtown Pittsburgh. The building sits at the intersection of Liberty Avenue, Sixth Avenue and Wood Street. Facing the EQT Plaza tower across the street, it shares a city block with One PNC Plaza, Two PNC Plaza and Three PNC Plaza; this "superblock" was created by the closing of part of Oliver Avenue in the late 1960s. Located across the building is Wood Street Station, a subway station on Pittsburgh's light rail network. In 2007, the international law firm K&L Gates entered into an agreement to become the largest tenant in the building by 2010. In 2009, extensive construction began on the building lobby, the exterior facade of the first two floors and the plazas surrounding the building. The K&L Gates signage replaced Ariba at the top of the building. K&L Gates also removed a sculpture in the building's lobby in order to maintain a consistent decor. The artwork, a large enamel-on-steel mural by Virgil Cantini, has been donated to the University of Pittsburgh by the building's owner. The lobby was reopened in February, 2010. In March 2010, K&L Gates became the building’s largest tenant, having sponsored both the renaming of the building and a revitalization of the building’s ground-floor lobby, exterior entry facade and adjoining plaza.Among the building's artwork is a new, illuminated entry portal connecting the building with the street, with five "Light Columns" created by artist Cerith Wyn Evans illuminating the interior space as well as the outside plaza. These columns are complemented by the neon wall sculpture "Mobius Strip", also by Wyn Evans, at the entry reception desk. The use of light within architectural environments is a cornerstone of Wyn Evans’s practice, with this site-specific piece having been created exclusively for the K&L Gates Center.