City-County Building
Pittsburgh City-County Building (right), adjacent to the Allegheny County Courthouse (left)
Alternative names	City Hall
General information
Type	Neo-Classical, Beau-Arts
Architectural style	Classical Revival
Location	Pittsburgh, USA
Address	414 Grant Street
Coordinates	40.4381, -79.9969
Construction started	July 5, 1915
Completed	December 1917
Cost	$2.771 million (1917 $'s)
Height	144 feet
Technical details
Diameter	300 feet X 183 feet
Floor count	10
Design and construction
Owner	City of Pittsburgh, County of Allegheny
Architect	Henry Hornbostel
Architecture firm	Palmer, Hornbostel & Jones
Structural engineer	McClintic-Marshall & Co.
Other designers	R. Gustavino, Charles Keck
Main contractor	James L. Stewart
Pittsburgh City-County Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
City of Pittsburgh Historic Structure
Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark
Governing body:	Local
NRHP Reference#:	73001586
Significant dates
Designated CPHS:	December 26, 1972[1]
Designated PHLF:	1968[2]

The Pittsburgh City-County Building is the seat of government for the City of Pittsburgh and houses both Pittsburgh and Allegheny County offices. It is located in Downtown Pittsburgh at 414 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Design [edit]

Pittsburgh City-County Building Portico along Grant Street

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.^[3] On the seventh floor of the building is a massive mural completed in 1940 entitled "Justice" by award winning artist Harry Scheuch. [2]

Popular culture [edit]

Many scenes of the Bruce Willis and Sarah Jessica Parker police drama Striking Distance were filmed both inside and on the Grant Street entrance to the building. Most notable is the nighttime scene of Dennis Farina's supervisor character arguing with Willis' "Tom Hardy" over the "Polish Hill" documents. Lorenzo's Oil used the building to shoot scenes depicting Johns Hopkins Hospital.^[4] Scenes of the Superman remake Superman Returns were slated to be filmed in the building's "crystal palace" grand mezzanine but the film production was delayed by Warner Brothers and the scenes were never added to the finished film.[3] The USA Network show Suits used the Grant Street exterior for establishing shots in 2011. [4] The very first film to feature the City Hall however was produced in the first decade after its completion. In the Name of the Law starred Pittsburgh Pirates great and future Hall of Famer Honus Wagner as the hero, as a Pittsburgh Police Superintendent pitched baseballs off the 144-foot-high roof in the film's climax.

Trivia [edit]

• The grand Grant Street Entrance has many statues and memorials to past leaders, including the late mayor Richard Caligiuri and political boss William Flinn.
• The complex is bordered by wide thoroughfares named for city founders James Ross (Ross Street), John Forbes (Forbes Avenue) and James Grant (Grant Street).
• The downtown branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh occupied space in the structure until November 1930.[5]
• The prominent inscription "PROTHONOTARY" over a side entrance reportedly prompted the remark "What the hell is a Prothonotary?" from Harry Truman on a 1948 visit.^{[citation needed]}

Pittsburgh portal

External links [edit]

Media related to Pittsburgh City-County Building at Wikimedia Commons

References [edit]

Coordinates: 40°26′17″N 79°59′49″W / 40.4381°N 79.9969°W / 40.4381; -79.9969