Design
The building was designed by Henry Hornbostel and opened in 1917. Its main hall is surrounded by gilded classical columns 47 feet high, supporting a vaulted ceiling of Gustavino terra cotta tile. Architectural sculpture on the building was created by Charles Keck.
Although massive in its own right, it is just the main structure in a complex of city/county service buildings in the neighboring blocks. The city/county annex is a block east of the structure "behind" it on Ross Street and it is also very large. The Allegheny County Courthouse and offices border the structure to the north. Up until the 1960s, the corrections department had its offices to the northeast of the structure. On the seventh floor of the building is a massive mural completed in 1940 entitled "Justice" by award winning artist Harry Scheuch.
Read more about this topic: Pittsburgh City-County Building
Famous quotes containing the word design:
“If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life ... for fear that I should get some of his good done to me,—some of its virus mingled with my blood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Teaching is the perpetual end and office of all things. Teaching, instruction is the main design that shines through the sky and earth.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Joe ... you remember I said you wouldn’t be cheated?... Nobody is really. Eventually all things work out. There’s a design in everything.”
—Sidney Buchman (1902–1975)