Cathedral of Learning

The Cathedral of Learning is a Neogothic skyscraper designed between 1921 and 1923 by Charles Zeller Klauder, and built between 1926 and 1937 in Pittsburgh, PA.

Cathedral of Learning is not the only name you might know this building by though. The building is, or has also been known as Cathy.

Its precise street address is 4200 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA. You can also find it on the map here.

The Cathedral of Learning is a structure of significant importance both for the city of Pittsburgh and the United States as a nation. The building embodies the distinctive characteristic features of the time in which it was built and the Neogothic style. Because of that, the Cathedral of Learning was officially declared as a national landmark on November 3^rd 1975, and was included in the National Register of Historic Places on February 22^nd 1977.

The building underwent a major restoration in 1977.

Charles Zeller Klauder was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design. But there was also one other architect involved, as far as we know. We are talking about Joseph Gattoni.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the Cathedral of Learning a reality:

• Stone & Webster as the Main Contractor
• Edward Catich and Charles Connick as the collaborating Artist

The Cathedral of Learning can be categorized as a Neogothic building.

The Cathedral of Learning was designed in 1921. These were the late days of the Neogothic movement, which had been around for almost 200 years at the time.

Art-deco would soon take over US architecture, and therefore, even though Charles Zeller Klauder didn't venture into what was cutting edge in terms of style at the time, and took instead a more conservative approach to the design of the Cathedral of Learning, it is possible that the design already started showing some traits that would later become characteristic of the art-deco movement.

The Cathedral of Learning uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade is a non-load bearing masonry facade. This type of facade became common during the period when buildings, especially taller ones, transitioned from load-bearing wall systems to frame structures.

Frame structures allowed facades to be independent from the building's frame, enabling the use of lighter materials and larger openings. However, it took some time for architects to incorporate these new posibilities into their designs, and so for a while they simply replicated the look and feel fo buildings people where used to seeing.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a five-story base and a succession of elevations covered with Indiana limestone, a material also used in the interior walls of the four-story Common Room.

When it comes to the windows, these culminate with pointed and retracted arches. The ribbed effect flanking the windows and pillars further accentuates the verticality of the building..

Other materials found at the Cathedral of Learning include, acustic tiles, used between the vaulting ribs in the Commons Room, Vermont slate, found in green color on some floors, and wood, seen on some rooms which are paneled with Appalachian white oak, walnut inlays and rosewood accents walls.