Питтсбург университетінің Оқу ғимараты

Building at the University of Pittsburgh

The Cathedral of Learning is a 42 story skyscraper that serves as the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh's (Pitt) main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 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 (fifth tallest educationally purposed building) in the world, after the main building of Moscow State University. It is also the second tallest gothic styled building in the world, after the Woolworth Building in Manhattan. The Cathedral of Learning was commissioned in 1921 and ground was broken in 1926 under general contractor Stone & Webster. The first class was held in the building in 1931 and its exterior finished in October 1934, prior to its formal dedication in June 1937. It is a Pittsburgh landmark listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Colloquially referred to as "Cathy" by Pitt students, the Cathedral of Learning is a steel frame structure overlaid with Indiana limestone and contains more than 2,000 rooms and windows. It functions as a primary classroom and administrative center of the university, and is home to the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Social Work, and many of its departments, as well as the Federick Honors College. It houses many specialty spaces, including a studio theater, food court, study lounges, offices, computer and language labs, 31 Nationality Rooms, and a half acre (2000 m2, 22,000 ft2), 4 story high, vaulted, gothic study and event hall. The building contains noted examples of stained glass, stone, wood, and iron work and is often used by the university in photographs, postcards, and other advertisements.

On July 26, 1940, as World War II was starting, a bomb threat was made against the structure with extra guards being posted to secure it and the authorities not ruling out possible wartime sabotage. During the war effort, the cathedral was assigned to house, feed and instruct roughly 1,000 of the Army Air Corps (forerunner of today's U. S. Air Force) as well as dozens of Army engineers. The building had at least 12 floors dedicated for military use from 1943 until 1945.

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.

The main part of the cathedral's first floor is the Commons Room, called one of the "great architectural fantasies of the twentieth century", is a fifteenth century English perpendicular Gothic style hall that covers half an acre (2,000 m2) and extends upward four stories, reaching 52 feet (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. The large central piers act only as screens for the structural steel that holds up the upper floors of the building. Despite its heavy use, the Commons Room is kept quiet by the use of Guastavino acoustical tiles as the stones between the ribs of vaulting. Klauder considered the Commons Room to be his greatest achievement.</blockquote>

Also located in the corridors surrounding the Commons Room are plaques featuring calligraphy designed and hand cut in slate by Edward Catich, including one featuring a poem by Lawrence Lee titled "The Cathedral," as well as stained glass windows by Charles Connick.

The cathedral is home to 31 Nationality Rooms located on the first and third floors: 29 working classrooms and two rooms used mostly for display or occasional special events. 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, the year of the university's founding and of the signing of the U. S. 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 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. A typical room on the 1st floor (those built between 1938 and 1957) took between three and ten years to complete and cost the equivalent of US$300,000 in 2006 dollars. More recent rooms have cost in the range of $750,000 and up.

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.

The Edward V. Babcock Memorial Room is a plush, carpeted, wood paneled conference room constructed on the 40th floor for use as the university trustees' boardroom. Funded by a Babcock family grant of $327,000 ($ in dollars) and dedicated in November 1958, The room's square shape is modified by four alcoves, in one of which is a portrait of Babcock by Malcolm Stevens Parcell. The walls, featuring intricate geometric patterns, are paneled in Appalachian white oak with burled walnut inlays and touches of rosewood. The windows, adorned by leaf patterned curtains, boast a spectacular panoramic view of the surrounding area. The room is also adjoined by a kitchen. Access to the room is limited to a spiral staircase and an elevator, both requiring a key, that originate on the 36th floor. Today, the trustees have outgrown 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 also used for special events.

Following the opening of the Cathedral of Learning, the offices of the Dean of Women moved to the 12th floor of the Cathedral in 1938. The interior was unfinished but Dean Thyrsa 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 including room 1201, now known as the Braun Room. Mrs. A. E. Braun donated the furnishings and floral carved mahogany wood paneling which she had purchased in 1941 from the library of the home of Grant McCargo in the East End of Pittsburgh. The Braun Room was dedicated in 1946 and serves, along with its furniture, as an example of a modern reproduction of Louis XV design. Original blue carpeting was replaced in 1955 with a Persian rug, named "The Iron Rug of Persia", that was donated by the daughter and son in law of A. E. Braun. Restored in 2015, the rug was made for a regional Khan in the northern part of Iran around 1810. Other features of the room include a low bookcase, bordered and topped with classic carving, that was crafted by university carpenters to replace the original fireplace whose inclusion was impractical on the 12th floor, along with two crystal drop chandeliers. 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. The Braun Room is used for meetings and study abroad scholarship selection panels.

The Croghan Schenley room, situated on the first floor of the Cathedral in room 156, is actually two adjoining Greek Revival 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, known as the Picnic House, built in 1830 in the Stanton Heights area of Pittsburgh. The rooms themselves were created in 1835 by the Philadelphia carver Mordecai Van Horn, and they have been regarded as being among the most lavish examples of Greek Revival designs in America. 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. Stories tell of a ghost, speculated to be 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 be found rearranged by daylight staff. The swinging of the chandelier has been said to indicate her presence.

The Frick Auditorium is a lecture hall in room 324 of the Cathedral of Learning. Originally conceptualized as the Fine Arts Lecture Room intended to complement the Fine Arts Department then located on the seventh floor, the room was completed in 1939 and 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 Cloister in the university's Frick Fine Arts Building.

The University of Pittsburgh's Humanities Center, part of School of Arts and Sciences, is housed in the Cathedral of Learning's room 602, which was a sixth floor space once occupied by the Darlington Memorial Library. Following digitization and protective storage of the library's materials, its space was renovated in 2009 by architect Rob Pfaffmann 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. Among other notable furnishings, it contained a wrought iron entrance gate by Samuel Yellin. Before renovation of the original library space, its materials were digitized and placed online 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 previously existed in the Cathedral of Learning is available at the main entrance and the main room.

Located on the fourth floor of the Cathedral of Learning, the current home of both the Cultural Studies, Film Studies, and Gender, Sexuality, & Women's Studies (GSWS) programs, was the prior home of the McCarl Center for Nontraditional Student Success until it moved to Wesley W. Posvar Hall in 2014. The space occupies what once housed two levels of the main stacks of the university's library. The space was previously opened as the $537,000 McCarl Center in 2002. Made possible by a gift from F. James and Foster J. J. McCarl,

Located in room 204, the walnut paneled Mulert Memorial classroom was designed by Philadelphia architect Gustav Ketterer and university architect Albert Klimcheck. The room features wood floors, fluted ionic columns, red velvet draperies, and student chairs with leather seats. The room's doors have fluted jams and panelings of Greek rosettes. A Mulert family coat of arms and memorial inscription is located on the rear wall of the room. The room was 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 Mulert's wife, Louise and his son Ferdinand Max, who died in 1912 during his senior year at Washington and Jefferson College.

The Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre, a facility utilized by the Department of Theatre Arts, is located in the basement of the cathedral. The Rauh 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 Cabaret, and played host to Pittsburgh's longest running theatre show, Friday Nite Improvs, started in 1989 by graduate theatre students. In 2017 the Studio Theatre was named in honor of Pitt alumnus Richard E. Raugh who donated $1 million to support it and the university's theater productions.

The Federick Honors College, dedicated in 1986, is housed in a 2002 2003 renovated space on the 35th and 36th floors of the cathedral. The Federick 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.

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 the September 11 attacks, the cathedral was deemed "at risk" because no obstacles were in place to prevent a vehicle from driving into the entrances of the building. To address this concern, the university installed bollards that rise out of the sidewalk. , around 200 window air conditioners operated in the building. During the 2000s, the university focused upon providing air conditioning to the first four floors, which contain many classrooms. The plan called for the complete central cooling of the entire Cathedral of Learning by the end of the decade. In 2014 the Property and Facilities Committee approved a plan for a $10.4 million upgrade of the building's elevator system. This is the second major upgrade of the elevators implemented in the building's history. Originally manually controlled and later automated to Westinghouse Selectomatic in 1971, the system was completely modernized into Otis Compass+ destination dispatch in 2016.

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 of Learning is described in Michael Chabon's novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. In Bethesda Softwork's Fallout 3: The Pitt, the Cathedral of Learning appears as the headquarters of the rulers of a post apocalyptic Pittsburgh. The Cathedral of Learning was profiled on John Ratzenberger's Made in America TV show on the Travel Channel. The Cathedral of Learning and Nationality Rooms were featured on the Canadian French language travel channel Évasion in the Pittsburgh episode of 15 bonnes raisons d'aller à that first aired in September 2012. 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. Richard Gere's character in The Mothman Prophecies (2002) appears in a scene where he is sitting on a bench on the Cathedral of Learning lawn. as well as in the backdrop of the graduation scene, filmed on the lawn of Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, for fictional Rosman University in the movie Sorority Row (2009). It can also be seen in the movie Wonder Boys (2000), a film adaptation of Pitt alumnus Michael Chabon's 1995 novel of the same title,
Artist Harry Scheuch painted the Cathedral of Learning during its construction in the 1930s as a series for the Public Works of Art Project. The works are now part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's exhibit entitled "1934: A New Deal for Artists". Artist Felix de la Concha painted the Cathedral of Learning 365 times, in One a Day. 365 Views of the Cathedral of Learning. The collection is now on display at the Alumni Hall (University of Pittsburgh), a building just in front of the cathedral. In one of the most famous photographs in baseball history by George Silk and published in Life magazine, students from the University of Pittsburgh are seen cheering on the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960 World Series from their vantage atop the Cathedral of Learning high above Forbes Field. 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. The Cathedral of Learning features in Chris Kuzneski's 2009 novel, The Prophecy. On October 27, 2018, the cathedral was darkened following Pitt's victory over Duke out of respect for the 11 victims killed in the Tree of Life synagogue shooting which had occurred earlier that day in nearby Squirrel Hill. The Cathedral of Learning features in the song "Cathy" by Dhyan, released in 2019 as a single, from the album My Hero. In 1987, the Cathedral of Learning appears in a panel of The Amazing Spider Man issue 292, where Spider Man goes to Pittsburgh.