Music Building (University of Pittsburgh)

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Music Building
MusicbuildPitt.jpg
Music Building at the University of Pittsburgh
Coordinates 40°26′47.88″N79°57′7.89″W / 40.4466333°N 79.9521917°W / 40.4466333; -79.9521917 Coordinates: 40°26′47.88″N79°57′7.89″W / 40.4466333°N 79.9521917°W / 40.4466333; -79.9521917
Built1884
Architect Longfellow, Alden & Harlow
Architectural style Richardsonian Romanesque
Part of Schenley Farms Historic District (#83002213 [1] )
Added to NRHPJuly 22, 1983
Music Building from Bellefield Avenue Pittmusicbuildingside.jpg
Music Building from Bellefield Avenue

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. [2] [3] 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.

University of Pittsburgh American state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The University of Pittsburgh is a state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded as the Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on the edge of the American frontier. It developed and was renamed as Western University of Pennsylvania by a change to its charter in 1819. After surviving two devastating fires and various relocations within the area, the school moved to its current location in the Oakland neighborhood of the city; it was renamed as the University of Pittsburgh in 1908. Pitt was a private institution until 1966 when it became part of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education.

Pittsburgh City in western Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. A population of about 301,048 residents live within the city limits, making it the 66th-largest city in the U.S. The metropolitan population of 2,324,743 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 27th-largest in the U.S.

Pennsylvania State of the United States of America

Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle. The Commonwealth is bordered by Delaware to the southeast, Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, Lake Erie and the Canadian province of Ontario to the northwest, New York to the north, and New Jersey to the east.

Contents

History

The original mansion was designed by Longfellow, Alden & Harlow as a sandstone Richardsonian Romanesque mansion in 1884. [4] The mansion was commissioned by Carrie T. Holland, youngest daughter of pioneer Pittsburgh iron manufacturer James K. Moorehead, as a gift for her husband William Jacob Holland, pastor of Bellefield Presbyterian Church at Fifth and Bellefield avenues in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. William Jacob Holland was also a nationally recognized zoologist, paleontologist, and entomologist and went on to become a trustee (1886) and then chancellor (1891–1901) of the University of Pittsburgh, then called the Western University of Pennsylvania. [5]

Longfellow, Alden & Harlow

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.

Sandstone A clastic sedimentary rock composed mostly of sand-sized particles

Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized mineral particles or rock fragments.

Richardsonian Romanesque Romanesque Revival architectural style, named for Henry Hobson Richardson

Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886), whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston (1872–1877), designated a National Historic Landmark. Richardson first used elements of the style in his Richardson Olmsted Complex in Buffalo, New York, designed in 1870.

The Holland's house sat across the street from Holland's church, Bellefield Presbyterian, a wooden structure that was replaced by a stone Richardsonian Romanesque structure designed by Frederick J. Osterling in 1890 that matched his house. The Hollands sold their house some time before 1912. It became a Knights of Columbus club before being purchased in 1936 by Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company for laboratory operations of its subsidiary, Columbia-Southern Chemical Corporation. [6] Pittsburgh Plate Glass donated the building to the University of Pittsburgh in 1953 in order for the university to establish it as the home for the city's first educational television station, WQED. [7] The building therefore became the original home of the Public Broadcasting Service station, and the original production site of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood , before becoming the home of Pitt's music department. [8]

Frederick J. Osterling American architect

Frederick John Osterling was an American architect, practicing in Pittsburgh from 1888.

Knights of Columbus Catholic fraternal service organization founded in 1882

The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded by Michael J. McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1882, it was named in honor of the explorer Christopher Columbus. Originally serving as a mutual benefit society to working-class and immigrant Catholics in the United States, it developed into a fraternal benefit society dedicated to providing charitable services, including war and disaster relief, actively defending Catholicism in various nations, and promoting Catholic education. The Knights also support the Catholic Church's positions on public policy issues, including various political causes, and are participants in the new evangelization. The current Supreme Knight is Carl A. Anderson.

PPG Industries global supplier of glass and chemical products

PPG Industries, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 company and global supplier of paints, coatings, and specialty materials. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 70 countries around the globe. By revenue it is the second largest coatings company in the world after AkzoNobel. It is headquartered in PPG Place, an office and retail complex in downtown Pittsburgh, and is known for its glass facade designed by Philip Johnson.

A one-story addition was added presumably in the 1920s which was given a Richardsonian Romanesque stone facing, estimated to have been added in the 1950s, that matched the original house. The university's Department of Music moved into the building in 1971 from its previous quarters on the ninth floor of the Cathedral of Learning. [9] The Music Building was renovated in 2003 which included the installation of elevators. [4] It also houses the Music Department Library, a piano lab, the electronic music studio, the ethnomusicology lab, a student/faculty lounge, practice rooms, teaching studios, offices, seminar rooms, and classrooms. [8] [10] It also contains the William Russell Robinson Recording Studio that is a 32-track digital recording facility which offer students hands-on experience in the latest recording techniques and technology. [11]

Cathedral of Learning academic skyscraper at the University of Pittsburgh

The Cathedral of Learning, a Pittsburgh landmark listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh's main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. 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 in the world, after the main building of Moscow State University. It is also the second tallest gothic-styled building in the world. 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.

William Russell "Bill" Robinson is a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

In 1967, the Bellefield Presbyterian Church merged with and moved to the First United Presbyterian Church at Fifth and Thackeray, which adopted its name. The old church was dismantled in 1985 except for its tower, which still stands. [5]

Library

Music Building at the University of Pittsburgh. Ruskin Hall can be seen behind the building on the left. Pitt Music BuildingEdit.JPG
Music Building at the University of Pittsburgh. Ruskin Hall can be seen behind the building on the left.

The Theodore M. Finney Music Library is located in the basement of the Music Building and contains a general music research collection as well as several collections of important musical materials. The library is named for the former head of the music department who donated his personal collection to the school. [12] The library's holdings include approximately 65,000 music scores and books, 25,000 sound recordings, 1,500 microforms, and 150 journals. Collections include Early American hymnals and tunebooks, volumes of sheet music with regional significance, seventeenth and eighteenth century prints of English sacred and secular works, and music belonging to the late William Steinberg and Fidelis Zitterbart. [13]

William Steinberg American conductor

William Steinberg was a German-American conductor.

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References

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.
  2. ↑ Mann, Christina, "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form: Schenley Farms Historic District" (PDF), Cultural Resources Geographic Information System, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, retrieved 2010-10-10
  3. ↑ Saja, Mike (1997-01-23). "Hearing set on historic landmark nomination for two Pitt buildings". University Times. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  4. 1 2 Pfaffmann, Rob (September 2005), University of Pittsburgh Civic Center Conservation Plan (PDF), Pfaffmann + Associates, PC and the Getty Foundation Campus Heritage Program, pp. 129–131, retrieved 2010-01-27
  5. 1 2 Alberts, Robert C. (1986). Pitt: The Story of the University of Pittsburgh, 1787-1987. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 39. ISBN   0-8229-1150-7 . Retrieved 2010-10-08.
  6. ↑ "Building Given Pitt for New TV Station". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 27 (4). Pittsburgh, PA. 1953-08-06. p. 13. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  7. ↑ "Building Given Pitt for New TV Station". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 27 (4). Pittsburgh, PA. 1953-08-06. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  8. 1 2 "Music Building". Pitt Tour. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  9. ↑ Colangelo, Jr., J. G. (Summer 1971). "Music: The Old New & the New New". Pitt. University of Pittsburgh. 27 (2): 23. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Facilities". Department of Music. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  11. ↑ "William Russell Robinson Recording Studio". University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 2010-01-20.
  12. ↑ "The University Libraries". Pitt. University of Pittsburgh. 28 (3/4): 19. Winter 1972–1973. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Theodore M. Finney Music Library". University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
Preceded by
Log Cabin 		University of Pittsburgh Buildings
Music Building
Constructed: 1884		Succeeded by
Chancellor's Residence
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