 The original Children's Museum facility in the former Allegheny Post Office building | |
| Location | 10 Children's Way, Allegheny Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,  United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°27′10″N80°00′23″W / 40.4529°N 80.0064°W |
| CPHD designated | December 26, 1972 [1] |
| PHLF designated | December 26, 1972 [2] |
The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh is a hands-on interactive children's museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is in the Allegheny Center neighborhood in Pittsburgh's Northside.
The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh was founded in 1983 in the old Allegheny Post Office, gifted to the museum by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, and is situated on Pittsburgh's North Side, formerly Allegheny City. The neighboring Buhl Planetarium building was vacated by 1991 when it was superseded by the nearby Kamin Science Center. The museum grew from a traveling mobile museum started at the Three Rivers Arts Festival in 1972, and was part of the first wave of children's museums spreading across the country at that time. [3]
In the early 2000s, it was announced the museum would be expanding from the old Beaux Arts-style post office into the neighboring vacant Art Deco Buhl Planetarium. A plan was devised by Koning Eizenberg Architecture, Inc. to connect the two historic structures with a modern glass addition over what was a street called Allegheny Square. The street was vacated and realigned and the addition was built.
The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh became the largest Silver LEED certified museum in the country in March 2006. This validates that the museum's expansion has been designed and constructed using sustainable practices with particular attention to site development, water conservation, energy management, using recycled materials, waste management, reusing resources, indoor air quality as well as developing new programs for visitors. To offer teaching moments about the new green museum, many of the building's structural and mechanical systems are left exposed.
In 2010, officials announced plans to rehab a rundown park in front of the museum. The centerpiece of the new park will be a fog sculpture by Ned Kahn. The park opened on June 23, 2012, during a community celebration. [4] [5]
In its seasonal "Backyard", [6] the museum grounds includes an interactive environment called "Allegheny Waterworks" which incorporates preserved local architectural relics. [7]
A garden on the grounds once displayed sculptures of Guyasuta, Christopher Gist and others, designed by sculptor Charles Keck and rescued from the Manchester Bridge when it was razed in 1970. The garden was removed in the 2000s to make room for more parking. The Guyasuta and Gist sculptures have been reinstalled near Stage AE in the North Shore neighborhood. [8]
The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh houses several ongoing exhibits as well as rotating exhibits. The MAKESHOP, Kindness Gallery, Studio, Backyard, Garage, Garden, Theater, Waterplay, and Nursery areas are ongoing interactive exhibits and encourage touch and play. [9] Also located within the museum are iconic items from the show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood . These include the original puppets, one of Fred Rogers' sweaters, and his sneakers. [10]
The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh presents a wide variety of programs for children in fields ranging from dance and rocket building to quilting and robotics. Visiting artists offer workshops in a host of media, including pottery, Japanese paper cutting, animation and painting. The museum's extensive outreach program offers performances, workshops, after school programs, artist days and festival programs for schools and groups throughout the year. Educational field trips are offered for local schools, scouts and other groups. The museum has collaborated with a number of regional institutions and programs, such as the University of Pittsburgh and the Create a Comic Project . [11] [12]
The addition has received numerous awards, including a 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Trust for Historic Preservation award, LEED silver certification, and an award from American Institute of Architects.
Children's Museum Executive Director Jane Werner received the Green Building Alliance [13] 2006 Shades of Green Leadership Award which celebrates leaders who have helped transform the Pittsburgh region into a more sustainable place to live and work. Werner's contributions cited include launching a new program/initiative supporting green-building related activities; raising significant community awareness and outreach of green issues through materials, programs and events; and influencing the adoption of a program/policy through advocacy efforts and implementing green management and operation policies within the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.
Wilkinsburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough has a population of 14,349 as of the 2020 census. Wilkinsburg is located as part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The borough was named for John Wilkins Jr., a United States Army officer who served as Quartermaster General of the United States Army from 1796 to 1802.
Oakland is the academic and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and one of the city's major cultural centers. Home to three universities, museums, hospitals, shopping venues, restaurants, and recreational activities, this section of the city also includes two city-designated historic districts: the mostly residential Schenley Farms Historic District and the predominantly institutional Oakland Civic Center Historic District, as well as the locally-designated Oakland Square Historic District.
Charles Keck was an American sculptor from New York City, New York.
Guyasuta was an important Native American leader of the Seneca people in the second half of the eighteenth century, playing a central role in the diplomacy and warfare of that era. Although he became friends with George Washington in 1753, he sided with the French against Britain during the French and Indian War and fought against the British in Pontiac's War. He later supported the British during the American Revolutionary War. In his final years, he engaged in peacemaking to end the Northwest Indian War.
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is a nonprofit organization that operates four museums in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The organization is headquartered in the Carnegie Institute and Library complex in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The Carnegie Institute complex, which includes the original museum, recital hall, and library, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 30, 1979.
The Carnegie Science Center, soon to be The Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Science Center, is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is located in the Chateau neighborhood. It is located across the street from Acrisure Stadium.
Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) is a public community college in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. With four campuses and four centers, the college offers associate degrees, certificates, and diplomas.
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden set in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a City of Pittsburgh historic landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Allegheny Center is a neighborhood on Pittsburgh's North Side. Its zip code is 15212, and it has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by both council members for District 6 and District 1 (Northside).
The Allegheny County Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is part of a complex 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 culture of Pittsburgh stems from the city's long history as a center for cultural philanthropy, as well as its rich ethnic traditions. In the 19th and 20th centuries, wealthy businessmen such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry J. Heinz, Henry Clay Frick, and nonprofit organizations such as the Carnegie Foundation donated millions of dollars to create educational and cultural institutions.
The Miniature Railroad & Village (MRRV) is a large and detailed model train layouts diorama of western Pennsylvania from 1880 to 1930. It is a long-running display currently located in the Kamin Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the MRRV has been a Pittsburgh tradition for over 50 years.
The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
The Senator John Heinz History Center, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is the largest history museum in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. Named after U.S. Senator H. John Heinz III (1938–1991) from Pennsylvania, it is located in the Strip District of Pittsburgh.
Chatham Village is a community within the larger Mount Washington neighborhood of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and an internationally acclaimed model of community design. It is roughly bounded by Virginia Avenue, Bigham Street, Woodruff Street, Saw Mill Run Boulevard, and Olympia Road, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2005 as a remarkably well-preserved example of Garden City Movement design.
The Allegheny Post Office is a historic building in the Allegheny Center neighborhood on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1897 as the main post office for what was then the independent city of Allegheny and later became part of Pittsburgh. After the post office closed in 1967, the building was slated for demolition as part of the Allegheny Center urban renewal project. However, the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) mounted a successful campaign to save the building, raising about $835,000 to purchase and restore it for their own use. In 1972, the building reopened as the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Museum, exhibiting items from PHLF's collections of historic artifacts.
Koning Eizenberg Architecture (KEA) is an architecture firm located in Santa Monica, California established in 1981. The firm is recognized for a range of project types including: adaptive reuse of historic buildings, educational facilities, community places, and housing. Principals Hank Koning, Julie Eizenberg, Brian Lane, and Nathan Bishop work collaboratively with developers, cities and not-for-profit clients. Their work has been published extensively both in the US and abroad, and has earned over 200 awards for design, sustainability and historic preservation.
The Manchester Bridge, also known as the North Side Point Bridge, was a steel Pratt truss bridge that spanned the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Hamnett Historic District is a historic district in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. Bordered roughly by Rebecca Avenue, the rear property lines on the east side of Center Street, Sewer Way, and Lytle Way, it encompasses 77 buildings and 114 acres.
The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science Building, also known as the "People's Observatory", is located at 10 Children's Way in the Allegheny Center neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
