A REVIEW OF PITTSBURGH'S BUILDING STONES AND ARCHITECTURE STYLES FROM 1764 TO 1938

The early history of Pittsburgh is recorded in the pioneer settlements along the river valleys and the initial mining of the Pittsburgh coal seam on Pittsburgh’s “coal hill” in 1762. The first Pittsburgh houses were log huts with wood roofs. In 1764, local sandstone and clay were quarried from the hillsides to construct the Fort Pitt Blockhouse that survives as the oldest building in Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh region rose to become the leading industrial area in the world based on the area’s geology and the discovery of coal, oil, and natural gas. These fossil fuels were instrumental as the primary source of energy fueling the region’s steel, railroad, mining, and glass industries, as well as their investments in the banking industry. Many Pittsburgh captains of the Gilded Age, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, the Mellon family, and Henry J. Heinz, funded the building of libraries, museums, churches, banks, and universities from 1889 to 1938.

The construction of these buildings was the most diverse architectural period in Pittsburgh, with styles ranging from Beaux-Arts, Richardsonian Romanesque, Baroque, Gothic, and Art Deco to Greek Revival. We reviewed 88 of these buildings designed by 41 architects between 1764 and 1938. The majority are recognized as historic landmarks by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation and/or the United States Department of the Interior. We compared the rock types used in the exterior and interior construction; the source and geologic age of the stone; the architects’ preferences in rock types; and 15 geographic locations in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. The most notable architectural style before 1893 was Richardsonian Romanesque, made famous by Henry Hobson Richardson. The period from 1894 to 1938 saw the significant arrival of the French Beaux-Arts.

The most common rocks used in the buildings’ exteriors are limestone, sandstone, brick from shale, limestone and sandstone in columns, and slate in roofing. Many buildings with dynamic interior spaces such as the Carnegie Museum of Natural History are internationally recognized for 32 varieties of marbles, polished limestones, and breccia colored marbles. Other buildings with noted interior architecture stones include libraries, universities, railway stations, banks, churches and government buildings.