Mellon Institute | |
| |
Coordinates | 40°26′46.04″N79°57′03.72″W / 40.4461222°N 79.9510333°W |
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Area | Schenley Farms Historic District |
Built | 1937 |
Architect | Benno Janssen |
Architectural style | Neoclassical |
Part of | Schenley Farms Historic District (ID83002213 [1] ) |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | July 22, 1983 |
Designated PHLF | 2003 [2] |
The Mellon Institute of Industrial Research was a research institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that became part of Carnegie Mellon University. It was founded in 1913 by Andrew Mellon and Richard B. Mellon as part of the University of Pittsburgh, and was originally located in Allen Hall. After becoming an independent research center and moving to a new building on Fifth Avenue in 1937, the Mellon Institute merged with the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1967 to form Carnegie Mellon University. While it ceased to exist as a distinct institution, the landmark building bearing its name remains located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Bellefield Avenue in Oakland, the city's university district. It is sited adjacent to The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and the University of Pittsburgh's Bellefield Hall and is across Bellefield Avenue from two other local landmarks: the University of Pittsburgh's Heinz Memorial Chapel and the Cathedral of Learning.
Designed by architect Benno Janssen (1874–1964), the Mellon Institute building has neo-classical architecture and elegant construction, with its signature monolithic limestone columns (the largest monolithic columns in the world). [3] Andrew Mellon, who served as United States Secretary of the Treasury, specified to Janssen a building with a monumental ionic colonnade similar to the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. The proportions of the Mellon Institute's street facades are nearly those of the long lateral facade of the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. The Mellon Institute building was completed and dedicated posthumously to the Mellon brothers in May 1937.
The Mellon Institute building houses the Office of the Dean for Carnegie Mellon University's Mellon College of Science, as well as the administrative offices and research laboratories for the Department of Biological Sciences and Department of Chemistry. From 1986 until 2006, it also housed the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.
The Mellon Institute of Industrial Research was first established as the Department of Industrial Research at the University of Pittsburgh. It conducted research for firms on a contractual basis; a company would contract the institute to solve a specific problem, and the institute would then hire an appropriate scientist to do the research. The results of the research then became the property of the contracting company.
In 1928, the institute was incorporated as a nonprofit, independent research center and planning for a new Mellon Institute building began that same year. When completed in 1937, the institute moved into its new building which sat directly across from the newly completed Cathedral of Learning, and handed its original facility, now known as Allen Hall, back to the University of Pittsburgh. The original design called for two more pillars than architect Janssen decided on.[ citation needed ] The two extra pillars were buried in the large lawn beside the Cathedral of Learning.[ citation needed ] The pillars are set to be unburied in 2014[ citation needed ] as a new pipe system is installed in the basement of the Cathedral. [4]
In 1967, declining use of independent research institutes for the outsourcing of corporate industrial research led Mellon Institute to merge with the Carnegie Institute of Technology to form Carnegie Mellon University. The "Carnegie Institute of Technology" name was retained to refer to the engineering portion of Carnegie Mellon's "College of Engineering and Science".
In 2013, the American Chemical Society recognized the Mellon Institute as a National Historic Chemical Landmark for its contributions to industrial research and training from its inception in 1913 until its merger with the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Researchers at the Mellon Institute had contributed more than 4,700 papers, 1,600 patents, and other research products, including George O. Curme, Jr.'s discovery of a method for producing acetylene from petroleum that resulted in the production of ethylene and research in organosilicones and the resulting establishment of the Dow Corning Corporation. [5]
For decades, the columns of the Mellon Institute building have served as a popular background for photographers shooting Pittsburgh wedding parties.
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The institution was originally established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology and began granting four-year degrees. In 1967, it became the current-day Carnegie Mellon University through its merger with the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, founded in 1913 by Andrew Mellon and Richard B. Mellon and formerly a part of the University of Pittsburgh.
The Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering is the academic unit that manages engineering research and education at Carnegie Mellon University. The College can trace its origins from Andrew Carnegie's founding of the Carnegie Technical Schools. Today, The College of Engineering has seven departments of study and is ranked 4th nationally.
The Mellon College of Science (MCS) is part of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. The college is named for the Mellon family, founders of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, a predecessor of Carnegie Mellon University.
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 Zeller Klauder was an American architect best known for his work on university buildings and campus designs, especially his Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, the first educational skyscraper.
Henry Hornbostel was an American architect and educator. Hornbostel designed more than 225 buildings, bridges, and monuments in the United States. Twenty-two of his designs are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Oakland City Hall in Oakland, California and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum and University Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Frederick John Osterling was an American architect, practicing in Pittsburgh from 1888.
Benno Janssen was an American architect.
Alumni Hall at the University of Pittsburgh is a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark that was formerly known as the Masonic Temple in Pittsburgh. Constructed in 1914-1915, it was designed by renowned architect Benno Janssen of Janssen & Abbot Architects. Other buildings in Pittsburgh's Oakland Cultural District designed by Janssen include the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, Mellon Institute, and Pitt's Eberly Hall.
The Music Building is an academic building of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, and a contributing property to the Schenley Farms National Historic District. A Longfellow, Alden & Harlow-designed mansion that was originally the home of the pastor of a neighboring church and former university chancellor, it also served as the home to a local chapter of the Knights of Columbus, as chemical laboratories, and as the first home of educational television station WQED and that station's original production site for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Today it is home to the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Music and the school's Theodore M. Finney Music Library.
Allen Hall at the University of Pittsburgh is a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark and a contributing property to the Schenley Farms National Historic District. Completed in 1914 and originally serving as the home to the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, the six story Greek Revival building designed by J. H. Giesey now serves as the home of the university's Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Bellefield Hall is a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark and is a contributing property to the Schenley Farms Historic District on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh across Bellefield Avenue from Heinz Memorial Chapel and the lawn of the university's Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. A 1924 italianate structure by architect Benno Janssen, it originally served as a Young Men's and Women's Hebrew Association, but now houses rehearsal spaces, classrooms, offices, and a Digital Recording Studio for the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Music, as well as a university gymnasium, fitness center, indoor swimming pool, and a 676-seat auditorium.
Fifth Avenue is one of the longest streets in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It begins downtown and moves eastward for over five miles (9 km). Fifth Avenue passes by the Carlow University, the Cathedral of Learning and other buildings of the University of Pittsburgh, then forms the borders between Shadyside on the north and Squirrel Hill and Point Breeze to the south. Finally, after passing Chatham University, The Ellis School, and Mellon Park, it turns north and forms the border between Larimer on the west and North Point Breeze and Homewood (Pittsburgh) on the east. At the intersection with Frankstown Avenue its name becomes Washington Boulevard and descends a branch of Negley Run to meet Allegheny River Boulevard near the Highland Park Bridge.
Forbes Avenue is one of the longest streets in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It runs along an east–west route for a length of approximately 7 mi (11 km).
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is an independent, state-related, doctoral/research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. For most of its history, Pitt was a private institution until it became part of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education in 1966.
The Schenley Farms Historic District, also referred to as the Schenley Farms–Oakland Civic District, is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places that is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
Franklin Felix Nicola (1860–1938) was an American real estate developer.
Bellefield Boiler Plant, also known as "The Cloud Factory" from its nickname's use in Michael Chabon's 1988 debut novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, is a boiler plant located in Junction Hollow between the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University in the Oakland district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Longfellow, Alden & Harlow, of Boston, Massachusetts, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was the architectural firm of Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. (1854–1934), Frank Ellis Alden (1859–1908), and Alfred Branch Harlow (1857–1927). The firm, successors to H. H. Richardson, continued to provide structures in the Romanesque revival style established by Richardson that is often referred to as Richardsonian Romanesque.