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    Pittsburgh Skyline

    4.6 (10 reviews)

    Pittsburgh Skyline Photos

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    Dominik D.

    Thankfully this is a city of hills. There are many steep, winding roads that will let you see the picturesque skyline from across.

    Joe D.

    Our skyline has to be one of the most beautiful skylines in the country. It's a mixture of concrete, steel, glass, limestone, aluminum and lights. The tallest building is the US Steel tower which is the building that has UPMC's name in screaming white letters. It's 64 stories and 841 feet tall. Originally, US Steel wanted to build the tallest building in the world when their new headquarters was being designed, but due to costs and decline in the steel industry, it was scaled back. It's built with a steel invented by US Steel called Cor-ten, the outer skeleton is actually rust, and as the building ages that rust becomes harder, stronger and darker, and non-corrosive. The university of Pittsburgh Medical Center is the largest tenant and had their logo put on top of the building in 2008. The second tallest building is the 54 story, 750 foot tall BNY-Mellon center. Originally built to be the home of Dravo, before the building was even completed Dravo moved their headquarters to Tennessee and Mellon Bank bought it and was headquartered there. Mellon merged with the Bank of New York and the headquarters moved to Manhattan. BNY-Mellon center is the local headquarters for that company and 3200 people are employed here for that company. In 1985 the city went through a huge building boom, such buildings as 5th Avenue Place, Federated Investors, and what is now the Westin Convention Center Hotel were changing the Skyline. But, the crown jewel was the forty story, 660 foot tall PPG Place. It's actually 5 buildings, 1 PPG place is the tallest building, 2 PPG place is fourteen stores and buildings 3 through 5 are all five stories. A mixed use building, it's home to shops, restaurants, and office space. It's the home of PPG Industries, formerly the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. Founded in 1883, at one time PPG out produced all the glass manufacturers in the United States by a 2-1 margin. Over a million square feet of glass cover those five buildings. The HJ Heinz corporation is a major tenant at PPG Place. The decorative spires that adorn the roofs of all five buildings were inspired by Parliament's spires in England. When looking at the Skyline from Mt Washington along the river fronts edge you'll see a row of smaller, older buildings called First Side. Many of these buildings were built after the 1845 great fire, which destroyed much of the area today known as downtown. First side is a reminder of how downtown looked in the late 1800's. There has been a great debate about the corporations in the city putting their names and logos on the buildings. recently, UPMC, Highmark, PNC Bank, First Niagara, Reed-Smith, BNY-Mellon, K&L Gates, and Citizens Bank have added to the "sky-graffiti" of the skyline. Some people love it, saying it give Pittsburgh that big town feel, while other say it distracts from the beauty of the architecture. It's an ongoing debate. The skyline will be changing by 2014 when the new 40 story PNC bank international headquarters will be built. PNC promises it will be the "greenest" building in the world. The Grant Building was Pittsburgh's first skyscraper, completed in 1930, it's 485 feet tall, with 37 stories. This iconic building is known for the beacon on top. At night, the beacon comes to life blinking the word "Pittsburgh" in morse code. Other iconic buildings in downtown are the art deco Gulf Tower and Koppers Building. Each building has unique lighting. For many years the Gulf Tower with it's pyramid shaped top would light up at night in either orange or blue, (the corporate colors of Gulf Oil) orange meaning fare weather, blue meant fowl weather. It's 44 stories and 585 feet tall, and was completed in 1932. The Koppers building has 34 stories and is 475 feet tall. It's chateauesque style roof makes this building one of a kind. These two buildings along with the Grant Building were the tallest building in the city until 1969 when the US Steel tower was completed. Yes, we have a unique skyline, one that is a mixture of old and new, glass and steel, at one time the two top industries in the city. What a beautiful city we have. The most livable in America!

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    Mattress Factory Art Museum - Azza El Siddique's Echoes to Omega

    Mattress Factory Art Museum

    3.9(248 reviews)
    1.9 kmNorth Side

    The Mattress Factory excels at site-specific imersive installation art, and their permanent…read morecollection has some origami art by some of the biggest names in installation art. The museum also hosts private events, a few of which I've attended, and they were outstanding. The staff are very welcoming. The museum gives back to the local community in a big way.

    I've visited the Mattress Factory many times over the years, and it's always a place I enjoy…read morereturning to. I love the main building and how the exhibits are constantly changing, while some of the iconic spaces--like the mirror rooms--remain favorites that you can always count on seeing again. During this visit, I noticed the Dollhouse building has been completely redone. The new exhibit is much darker and heavier in tone, which honestly made me a little disappointed since the dollhouse installation used to be a staple of my visits and something I always looked forward to. The third building had construction going on on the first floor, but from what I could see it looks like it's going to be an incredible new display once it's finished. I was also a little sad to see the delayed recorder projector piece gone, but the new installation in its place was still interesting. One thing I still absolutely love is the water flowing down the handrails--it's such a small detail but always one of my favorite parts of the experience. Overall, it's still a place I enjoy visiting and seeing how the exhibits evolve over time.

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    Mattress Factory Art Museum - Small wall work from Luke Stettner's State of the Sky

    Small wall work from Luke Stettner's State of the Sky

    Mattress Factory Art Museum - Lots like junk, right?

    Lots like junk, right?

    Mattress Factory Art Museum - This is an exhibit of trash.

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    This is an exhibit of trash.

    Pittsburgh Skyline - localflavor - Updated May 2026

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