IV.

Education and Culture

Pittsburgh is a major educational center. The city’s most prominent universities are Carnegie Mellon University (founded as the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie); the University of Pittsburgh (founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787); and Duquesne University (1878). The Mellon Research Institute, at one time the largest private industrial research laboratory in the United States, is now part of Carnegie Mellon University. The University of Pittsburgh campus features the 42-story Cathedral of Learning, the tallest school building in the United States and a major medical center. Other educational institutions in the city are Point Park College (1960); the women’s schools Chatham College (1869) and Carlow College (1929); Robert Morris University (1921), in nearby Coraopolis; and the Community College of Allegheny County (1966), with branches in the city and suburbs.

Pittsburgh has many outstanding cultural institutions. The Oakland district is where Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh are located. The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh include The Carnegie Museum of Art (including the Scaife Galleries), which holds a distinguished motion-picture and video collection and a unique study of architecture; the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, which displays an extensive collection of dinosaurs, gems, and Greek and Roman sculpture; the Carnegie Science Center, which includes a planetarium and a submarine from World War II; and The Andy Warhol Museum, which has a collection of works by Andy Warhol, an influential 20th-century artist and Pittsburgh native. The city is also home to the Carnegie Library, one of the nation’s most important, and the Carnegie Music Hall, which is noted for its opulent foyer.

On the city’s North Side, in the old Allegheny city post office, is the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, and the Mattress Factory, exhibiting contemporary art. In the Point Breeze neighborhood are the Frick Art Museum and Clayton, the former home and estate of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, now open to the public.

A major development in recent years has been the construction of the Pittsburgh Cultural District in the center of the downtown. It includes the Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony; the Benedum Center, where ballet and live theater are performed; and the Byam Theater, featuring live theater and cultural films. All three theaters are redesigned and redecorated movie palaces from the 1920s. Other cultural features include the City Theatre (South Side), the Pittsburgh Playhouse (Oakland), the Pittsburgh Public Theater (downtown), the Bach and Mendelssohn choirs, and the Nationality Rooms of the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning.

Notable as memorials to men who made their fortunes in Pittsburgh are the Phipps Conservatory (1893) in Schenley Park and the 77-m (253-ft) tall Heinz Memorial Chapel (1938) on the University of Pittsburgh campus.