Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Henry Hobson Richardson, of Brookline, Massachusetts, was the most famous architect of the 19th century. After the city’s Greek Revival courthouse burned in 1882, Richardson won a design competition to create a replacement. Richardson would die, prematurely, in 1886 at the of 47, two years before the Courthouse was finished. On his deathbed he is reported to have said: “If they honor me for the pigmy things I have already done, what will they say when they see Pittsburgh finished.”

It is indeed among America’s most imitated buildings; many architectural historians regard it as the finest public building in the United States. It was no less important to the City of Pittsburgh. When Richardson came to town there were no monumental buildings in downtown Pittsburgh. In fact, there was no real downtown Pittsburgh, only street after street of sprawling industry. Richardson’s courthouse was designed to tower over the city, providing an anchor for a defined streetscape. With a model of great architecture on a grand scale suddenly placed in their midst, Pittsburgh’s titans of industry were eager to emulate its designs for their new commercial palaces that soon lined Grant Street.

Richardson, who had studied in Paris, was inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century castles of France and Spain. His intimidating design for Allegheny Courthouse included great, round-arched door and window openings. Some things have been compromised in its 125 years (the towering Frick Building across the street eliminated its position as centurion of the city) but most of its impact remains as awe-inspiring as the master architect intended it. A self-guided walking tour brochure for the courthouse and jail is available inside.