The Cathedral of Learning Is Exactly What It Sounds Like
The Cathedral of Learning Is Exactly What It Sounds Like
42 stories. Tallest educational building in the Western Hemisphere. Gothic skyscraper that looks like someone wanted to build a medieval church but couldn't stop going up. Completed in 1937 at the University of Pittsburgh, and it's still a working building — students studying organic chemistry, checking phones, doing student things in one of the most architecturally significant structures in America.
The Commons Room on the ground floor is a soaring half-acre Gothic hall — stone arches, wrought-iron chandeliers, windows reaching toward a ceiling high enough to fly a kite. Students study here and tourists gawk and the room is big enough for both without conflict.
The Nationality Rooms are the particular genius: 31 classrooms designed to represent the cultures that built Pittsburgh. German Room with dark wood and stained glass. Chinese Room with carved teak and silk murals. Syrian-Lebanese Room with a mosaic floor that took three years. Each room is a functioning classroom teaching regular courses. A student studying calculus in a room honoring Japanese culture — that juxtaposition is Pittsburgh's philosophy in miniature.
