The Cathedral of Learning: A Pittsburgh Icon

The Cathedral of Learning, a towering architectural marvel, stands as the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh's main campus. Commissioned in 1921 by Chancellor John G. Bowman, this 42-story skyscraper embodies a vision of inspiring the city's youth to pursue higher education. Its construction, a long and expensive venture, resulted in an iconic symbol of the university and a remarkable educational edifice.

Genesis of a Vision

Chancellor John G. Bowman of the University of Pittsburgh commissioned the Cathedral of Learning to be built in 1921. Initially, Bowman envisioned a 52-story tower that would inspire the children of Pittsburgh to seek higher education-pun intended! It was a long and expensive venture, but Bowman’s vision came to fruition. The Cathedral of Learning quickly became an iconic symbol of the university and a remarkable educational edifice.

In 1921, John Gabbert Bowman became the tenth chancellor of the university. At that time, the school consisted of a series of buildings constructed along Henry Hornbostel's plan for the campus and included "temporary" wooden structures built during World War I. The building was to be more than a schoolhouse; it was to be a symbol of the life that Pittsburgh through the years had wanted to live. Bowman looked at a 14-acre (5.7 ha) plot of land named Frick Acres.

Planning and Funding

Before construction could commence, meticulous planning was essential. The university needed to acquire land, commission an architect, formulate a budget, and raise the necessary funds. Fortunately, the land acquisition was swiftly resolved.

Charles Zell Klauder, of Philadelphia, was commissioned to bring Bowman’s vision to life. Klauder was the foremost Gothic architect of the time and spent two years working on the design plans. The final plan was an attempt at fusing traditional Gothic architecture with a modern skyscraper. And a skyscraper it was.

The proposed cost of the building was estimated to be between $10-15 million-quite the sum in those days. Funding for this project came in the form of monetary and material donations and grants from corporations, individuals, and foreign governments. Bowman also made sure to involve the community. He dreamed of a tower that would inspire children, so in 1925, he launched a fundraising campaign with them in mind. “Buy a Brick for Pitt” encouraged school children in the area to give $0.10 to Pitt. In return, they would receive a certificate stating that they owned a part of the cathedral. In 1925, Marcus Aaron, chairman of the city’s board of education, summoned the district’s teachers to start a “Buy a Brick” campaign. The teachers told students to give 10 cents to Pitt and tell the university how they earned it. Parents also gave.

Construction and Completion

They broke ground for the tower in 1926. All in all, it took about a decade to complete construction. Workers completed the steel structure on October 21, 1929-one week before the stock market crash which resulted in the Great Depression. John Bowman had the honor of driving in the final rivet for the 42nd story. At 535 feet tall, the Cathedral of Learning holds the title of second tallest university building in the world-to this day. Most of the masonry was completed in a top-down approach. The exterior walls of the Cathedral are not load-bearing, which means construction of the Indiana limestone façade could start at the top of the structure. This strategy allowed for easy movement of building materials and equipment in and out of the building. The steel skeleton of the building was erected in 1929. After the stock market crashed, the 52-story design was shortened to 40. Still, it was the tallest academic building in the world when it was finished in 1937.

The Cathedral hosted its first class in 1931 despite construction of the exterior continuing on until 1934. Despite interior construction carrying on into the 1940s, the official dedication of the building took place in June 1937.

Architectural Grandeur

Standing at 535 feet (163 m), the 42-story Late Gothic Revival structure 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 constructed of Indiana limestone and built with the pennies, nickel and dimes of area schoolchildren.

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. The Cathedral of Learning located in the center of the University of Pittsburgh campus. Commissioned in 1921 and completed in 1934, The Cathedral is a 42-story, 535-foot-tall gothic revival skyscraper. It is the second-tallest educational building in the world after Moscow’s Main Building.

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The exterior walls of the Cathedral are not load-bearing. Because of this, similar buildings would start construction at the third or fourth floors. Practically, this makes sense, as it allows easy movement of building materials and equipment into and out of the building. Instead, in the cathedral's case, the issue was one of the stone that would be used in lower stories.

By 1969, the Cathedral of Learning - lovingly called Cathy by Pitt alum - was 37 years old and showing its age. Decades of soot and other elements had darkened and eroded its Indiana limestone exterior, creating a two-tone effect running up and down the landmark skyscraper.

Interior Spaces and Functionality

With 40 floors (plus a ground floor and two basements) and 2,000 rooms, the Cathedral of Learning is home to many at the University of Pittsburgh. Cathy houses scores of classrooms and administrative offices. In particular, the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Social Work, and the University Honors College are each primarily located in the Cathedral of Learning.

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 a number of its departments, as well as the Frederick Honors College. It houses multiple 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 basement and floors up to (and including) floor 40 are used for educational purposes, although most floors above 36 house the building's mechanical equipment. These floors include theaters, computer laboratories, language laboratories, classrooms, and departmental offices. The basement contains a black box theater and the ground floor contains computer labs, language labs, classrooms, and the Cathedral Café food court. Floors 38-40 are closed to the general public, as they contain electrical wiring for the building, as well as the Babcock Room, a large conference room on the 40th floor used for meetings, seminars, and special events and which provides a panoramic view of downtown Pittsburgh and the rest of the university. The 40th floor balcony also houses a nesting pair of Peregrine falcons.

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The Commons Room

The Commons Room- a gift from Andrew Mellon-is the main room of the first floor and has always been a spot for students to congregate. This study and event hall is a piece of true Gothic architecture. The architect, Charles Klauder designed the space to be four stories tall with a vaulted ceiling and real stone arches, strong enough to support their own weight. The use of Guastavino acoustical tiles between the ribs of vaulting helps to keep the room quiet and limit echoes. The most notable area in the Cathedral is the 1st floor Commons Room. The Room is 52 feet tall (4 stories high) and almost half an acre. The Gothic style room, while it is a popular place for students to study (and hangout between classes) is said to hold a striking resemblance to Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series. While the historic charm of the limestone skyscraper is evident, there are also many modern updates and amenities that have been made to the building such as touchscreen elevators, a coffee shop, and handicap accessibility.

The main part of the cathedral's first floor, 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. 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. This feature was insisted upon by Chancellor Bowman. The architect, Klauder, objected due to the increased costs of this construction method. Joseph Gattoni designed the stonework, much of which depicts western Pennsylvanian plant life. The wrought iron in the room, including the large gates leading to the elevators, was a gift from George Hubbard Clapp and was designed by the ironworker Samuel Yellin.

The lobby, comprising the first through third floors, contains a massive gothic Commons Room that is used as a general study area and for special events and is ringed by three floors of classrooms.

Nationality Rooms

Perhaps the crown jewel of the cathedral is its Nationality Rooms. The Nationality Room program began in 1926 under the direction of Ruth Crawford Mitchell and then Maxine Bruhns. Bowman and Crawford Mitchell founded the program to involve the community in the construction of the Cathedral of Learning. There are currently 31 Nationality Rooms on the second and third floors of the building. Twenty-nine of them are working classrooms, while the other two are simply for display. The Cathedral of Learning also boasts the internationally renowned Nationality Classrooms. There are 29 Nationality Rooms, and each room represents a different country from around the world.

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 multiple 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. The first Nationality Rooms to be dedicated were the Scottish, Russian, German, and Swedish Rooms in 1938. Nationality Rooms are regularly used as classrooms by faculty and students. The University of Pittsburgh's renowned Nationality Rooms are gifts from the ethnic communities who helped to build Pittsburgh. An important principle in the plan for each room is that the design pre-date the signing of the American Constitution and the founding of the University of Pittsburgh in 1787. The Nationality Rooms are intended to promote the depiction of deeply-rooted and lasting elements, so political and religious symbols do not appear in the rooms nor do portraits of or reference to any living person. University of Pittsburgh affiliates may request use of the Nationality and Heritage Rooms for specific purposes.

The first and third floors house the 31 Nationality Rooms designed by members of Pittsburgh's ethnic communities in the styles of different nations and ethnic groups. Twenty-nine of these serve as functional classrooms while more conventional classrooms are located on the second floor and elsewhere throughout the building.

Other Notable Rooms

As if that wasn’t enough, there are more rooms rich with history!

The Babcock Room is located on the 40th floor. It is a plush, carpeted, wood-paneled conference room, which was originally used as the University trustees’ boardroom. The room features limited access from the 36th floor. Visitors can only enter via a spiral staircase or an elevator, both of which require a key. The trustees have since outgrown this room. The university now uses the space for seminars and special events. The Babcock Room is mostly of interest today for the pairs of Peregrine falcons which have nested on the ledge outside of this room since 2002. 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. 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. During the early 1970s at the height of student activism, a group of protesting students attempted to barricade the room during a trustees meeting.

The Croghan-Schenley Ballroom has an interesting history. Situated on the first floor, this space is two adjoining rooms-the Ballroom and the Oval Room. A hidden passageway in the Ballroom’s fireplace connects the two spaces. These rooms originally resided in William Croghan’s Stanton Heights mansion. William S. Miller, then president of Steelwood Corp., had them dismantled and rebuilt in the Cathedral in 1955 after purchasing the Croghan mansion. Croghan, the father of Mary Elizabeth Schenley, built his house in 1830. 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 Frick Auditorium & the Richard E. The Frick Auditorium is a Fine Arts lecture hall on the third floor of the Cathedral of Learning. Its biggest feature is the Nicholas Lochoff reproduction of The Resurrection by Piero della Francesca. Helen Clay Frick purchased this work of art specifically for this space. 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. For anyone interested in theatre arts, the Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre resides in Cathy’s basement. It is a black box space that allows for reconfiguration depending of the production’s set requirements.

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. The space served as the home of The Darlington Memorial Library from 1936 until its recent conversion to the Humanities Center.

A Beloved Landmark

The Cathedral of Learning has immense history and culture within its walls. Even today, Cathy is a beloved part of the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus. Many students spend most of their days in and around this building. The Cathedral of Learning is more than a space for education; it is a place for relaxation and entertainment. It is a beacon guiding Panthers home. When the weather is nice, students fill up the lawn, having fun and soaking up the sun. After Pitt wins a football game, the Cathedral illuminates the top floors with yellow “victory lights,” signaling time to celebrate.

Recognition

The Cathedral was designated a National Landmark in 1975 by the National Park Service.

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