{"id":284060,"date":"2026-09-11T21:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T21:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/284060\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T21:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T21:34:18","slug":"know-it-all-the-cathedral-of-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/284060\/","title":{"rendered":"Know-It-All: The Cathedral of Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA century ago, groundbreaking began on the iconic building. <\/p>\n

\t\t\"Cathedral<\/a><\/p>\n

PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD<\/p>\n

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of construction on the Cathedral of Learning, the 42-story Gothic tower that has anchored Pitt\u2019s campus \u2014 and Oakland\u2019s skyline \u2014 since ground broke in 1926.<\/p>\n

Chancellor John Bowman envisioned a \u201ctall building\u201d that would double as a civic symbol; thousands of local schoolchildren helped fund it, mailing in dimes through the \u201cBuy a Brick for Pitt\u201d campaign.<\/p>\n

Architect Charles Klauder spent two years on the design, working to blend the ambition of a modern skyscraper with a centuries-old architectural style. The plan met real pushback; some neighbors and university officials thought a tower that tall simply didn\u2019t belong on campus.<\/p>\n

\"Cathedral2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Commons Room<\/a>, a soaring half-acre hall four stories tall, was a gift from Andrew Mellon \u2014 true Gothic construction, built with real stone arches rather than steel supports. Bowman insisted on acoustical tiles between the vaulting\u2019s ribs, a costly choice the architect resisted, so that even at its busiest, the room stays hushed.<\/p>\n

Then there are the 31 Nationality Rooms, first proposed in 1926, each designed and funded by one of Pittsburgh\u2019s ethnic communities to reflect their heritage. A century later, scholars study under the Commons Room\u2019s vaulted ceiling, and classes are held inside spaces modeled on Swedish cottages and Chinese temples.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A century ago, groundbreaking began on the iconic building. PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD This year marks the 100th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-284060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}