History and Funding
The National Aviary began as part of the Pittsburgh Aviary-Conservatory, built by the city in 1952 on the site of the original Phipps Conservatory and consisting at first of a single structure of 3,640 square feet. In 1967 an expansion that included the "wetlands room" increased space to 25,00 square feet. Pittsburgh's dwindling urban tax base forced the city to cease funding the institution in 1991.
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“What would we not give for some great poem to read now, which would be in harmony with the scenery,—for if men read aright, methinks they would never read anything but poems. No history nor philosophy can supply their place.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)