Cultural District, Pittsburgh
Encyclopedia
The Cultural District is a fourteen-square block area in Downtown
Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania
, USA
bordered by the Allegheny River
on the north, Tenth Street on the east, Stanwix Street on the west, and Liberty Avenue on the south.
The Cultural District features six theaters offering some 1,500 shows annually, as well as art galleries, restaurants, and retail shops. Its landmarks include: Allegheny Riverfront Park
, Benedum Center
, Byham Theater
, Harris Theater, Heinz Hall, O'Reilly Theater
, Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, off Wood Street Galleries
, Walmart (opening in late 2012) and the August Wilson Center for African American Culture
.
Major arts organizations based here include: Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera
, Pittsburgh Dance Council
, Pittsburgh Opera
, Pittsburgh Public Theater
, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
, Bricolage Production Company
, and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company
.
(1908—1987), known as Jack Heinz, and is managed by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust was formed in 1984 to realize Jack's vision of an entire cultural district for blocks of the Penn-Liberty Avenue corridor, which then was a blighted area.
engaged the architectural firm of Rapp & Rapp to design the movie palace
. The Grand Lobby was particularly impressive, with its 50-foot (15 m)-high vaulted Venetian ceiling, massive ornamental columns, marble staircase, bronze and crystal chandeliers and silk drapes.
Like many 1920s-era film palaces, Loew's Penn Theatre fell on hard times in the 1960s. Competition from television and suburban theaters along with high maintenance costs put a squeeze on profitability. The theater shut its doors in 1964 and was scheduled for demolition. Henry J. Heinz II and Charles Denby, President of the Pittsburgh Symphony Society, together with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
, the Allegheny Conference
and the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh
, purchased the site and rescued the theater for the purpose of creating a new home for the Pittsburgh Symphony.
Jack Heinz and others, including his son, United States Senator from Pennsylvania John Heinz, and William Rea
, began the changes that would follow in the district with the purchase and renovation of the former movie palace
, Loew's Penn Theater, which was then transformed into the opulent and newly re-named Heinz Hall. This magnificent concert hall reopened after a complete restoration in 1971 as the new home for the Pittsburgh Symphony. The current seating configuration is 2,676. Heinz Hall is owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Symphony Society.
The Trust's first major project was the restoration of another visually stunning former movie palace
, the Stanley Theater
. The Stanley Theater was designed by the renowned theater architectural firm of Hoffman & Henon and opened on February 27, 1928. At the time, it had the distinction of being the largest theater in Western Pennsylvania, and was commonly known as "Pittsburgh's Palace of Amusement". After a $43 million dollar restoration returning it to its original spendor, it reopened in 1987 as the newly re-named Benedum Center
for the Performing Arts, and is currently able to host about 2,885 people. The Benedum Center is owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
.
, a landmark building at 101 Sixth Street in Downtown Pittsburgh, was the second major theater venue restoration project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
. Built in 1903, the then called Gayety Theater
was a stage and Vaudeville
house, and it featured stars such as Ethel Barrymore
, Gertrude Lawrence
, and Helen Hayes
. It was renamed The Fulton in the 1930s when it became a full-time movie theater. In 1990, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust bought the theater and refurbished the Fulton as part of its plan for the Cultural District. The Byham
family of Pittsburgh made a major naming gift for a 1995 renovation, and it has been the Byham Theater
since. The current seating configuration is 1,300. The Byham Center is owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
.
with only two cultural facilities—Heinz Hall and the Convention Center—to a dynamic arts and residential neighborhood with more than fourteen arts venues, including the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, public parks and plazas, and new commercial development. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
applies a holistic approach and vision to urban redevelopment: streetscaping programs, facade restorations, new cultural facilities, public open spaces and art projects.
The Cultural District's transformation is widely praised and serves as a model for urban redevelopment through the arts. Brendan Lemon of The New York Times
wrote, “To describe Pittsburgh’s unconventional, un-Disneyfied remodeling of its Cultural District… is to explore how theater can help transform urban identity”.
The Cultural District is also home to the Pittsburgh Film Office
, a non-profit organization that markets the greater southwestern Pennsylvania region as a great location for movie, television and commercial productions. Since its inception in 1990, the PFO has assisted more than 102 feature films and television productions to southwestern Pennsylvania to generate an economic impact of more than $575 million for the region.
Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Downtown Pittsburgh, colloquially referred to as the Golden Triangle and officially the Central Business District, is the urban Downtown center of Pittsburgh. It is located at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River whose joining forms the Ohio River. The "triangle" is...
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
bordered by the Allegheny River
Allegheny River
The Allegheny River is a principal tributary of the Ohio River; it is located in the Eastern United States. The Allegheny River joins with the Monongahela River to form the Ohio River at the "Point" of Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
on the north, Tenth Street on the east, Stanwix Street on the west, and Liberty Avenue on the south.
The Cultural District features six theaters offering some 1,500 shows annually, as well as art galleries, restaurants, and retail shops. Its landmarks include: Allegheny Riverfront Park
Allegheny Riverfront Park
Allegheny Riverfront Park is a small municipal park along the south bank of the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Cultural District...
, Benedum Center
Benedum Center
The Benedum Center for the Performing Arts is a theater and concert hall located at 719 Liberty Avenue in the Cultural District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, Byham Theater
Byham Theater
The Byham Theater is a landmark building at 101 Sixth Street in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally built in 1903 as The Gayety Theater, the former vaudeville house was renovated and reopened as The Byham Theater in 1990.Built in 1903 and opened...
, Harris Theater, Heinz Hall, O'Reilly Theater
O'Reilly Theater
The O'Reilly Theater is a 650-seat theater building, opened on December 11, 1999, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Located at 621 Penn Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District, the O'Reilly Theater is actually a three-part building: The theater , a large parking garage called Theater Square,...
, Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, off Wood Street Galleries
Wood Street Galleries
Wood Street Galleries, a visual arts project of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is a contemporary art gallery located in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, above the Wood Street subway stop...
, Walmart (opening in late 2012) and the August Wilson Center for African American Culture
August Wilson Center for African American Culture
August Wilson Center for African American Culture is a U.S. nonprofit arts organization that presents performing and visual arts programs that celebrate the contributions of African Americans in Western Pennsylvania....
.
Major arts organizations based here include: Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is an American professional ballet company based in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.- History :...
, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera is a nonprofit professional theater company based in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
, Pittsburgh Dance Council
Pittsburgh Dance Council
Pittsburgh Dance Council was established in 2002 as a programming division of . The programming mission of Pittsburgh Dance Council is to bring the best of contemporary dance from around the world to the Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District stages....
, Pittsburgh Opera
Pittsburgh Opera
Pittsburgh Opera is an American opera company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is one of two opera companies in the city, the other being Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Opera gives performances in several venues, primarily at the Benedum Center, with other performances at the...
, Pittsburgh Public Theater
Pittsburgh Public Theater
Pittsburgh Public Theater is a professional theater company based in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Cultural District.Established in 1974, it was housed in the Hazlett Theatre at the Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall on Pittsburgh’s North Side...
, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.-History:...
, Bricolage Production Company
Bricolage Production Company
Bricolage Production Company is a professional theatre company based in downtown Pittsburgh. Established in 2001 by Jeffrey Carpenter, it is located on Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh's Cultural District in a space that was formerly a Turkish bathhouse...
, and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2003 by artistic director Mark Clayton Southers, the company originally held productions at the Penn Theater in Garfield and moved to a new space on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh's...
.
History
The cultural district was the brainchild of H. J. Heinz IIH. J. Heinz II
Henry John Heinz II , best known as Jack Heinz, was an American business executive and CEO of the H. J. Heinz Company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
(1908—1987), known as Jack Heinz, and is managed by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a nonprofit arts organization, is a driving catalyst behind the ongoing development of the Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District, Pittsburgh...
. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust was formed in 1984 to realize Jack's vision of an entire cultural district for blocks of the Penn-Liberty Avenue corridor, which then was a blighted area.
Transforming Loew's Penn Theatre into Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts
Built as the Loew's and United Artists' Penn Theatre, construction of the building was completed in 1927. Motion picture business magnate and pioneer Marcus LoewMarcus Loew
Marcus Loew was an American business magnate and a pioneer of the motion picture industry who formed Loews Theatres and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .-Biography:...
engaged the architectural firm of Rapp & Rapp to design the movie palace
Movie palace
A movie palace is a term used to refer to the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opened every year between 1925 and 1930.There are three building types in particular which can be subsumed...
. The Grand Lobby was particularly impressive, with its 50-foot (15 m)-high vaulted Venetian ceiling, massive ornamental columns, marble staircase, bronze and crystal chandeliers and silk drapes.
Like many 1920s-era film palaces, Loew's Penn Theatre fell on hard times in the 1960s. Competition from television and suburban theaters along with high maintenance costs put a squeeze on profitability. The theater shut its doors in 1964 and was scheduled for demolition. Henry J. Heinz II and Charles Denby, President of the Pittsburgh Symphony Society, together with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City and Princeton, New Jersey in the United States, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, endowed with wealth accumulated by the late Andrew W. Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969...
, the Allegheny Conference
Allegheny Conference
The Allegheny Conference on Community Development is an nonprofit, private sector leadership organization dedicated to economic development and quality of life issues for the greater Pittsburgh region, Pennsylvania, United States....
and the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh
Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh
The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh is the City of Pittsburgh’s economic development agency, committed to creating jobs, expanding the City’s tax base and improving the vitality of businesses and neighborhoods...
, purchased the site and rescued the theater for the purpose of creating a new home for the Pittsburgh Symphony.
Jack Heinz and others, including his son, United States Senator from Pennsylvania John Heinz, and William Rea
William Rea (real estate magnate)
William Rea was an American real estate magnate and civic leader in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.He was a key collaborator with H. J. Heinz II in the creation of Pittsburgh's Cultural District, and he served leadership roles on the boards of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, Pittsburgh Public...
, began the changes that would follow in the district with the purchase and renovation of the former movie palace
Movie palace
A movie palace is a term used to refer to the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opened every year between 1925 and 1930.There are three building types in particular which can be subsumed...
, Loew's Penn Theater, which was then transformed into the opulent and newly re-named Heinz Hall. This magnificent concert hall reopened after a complete restoration in 1971 as the new home for the Pittsburgh Symphony. The current seating configuration is 2,676. Heinz Hall is owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Symphony Society.
The Stanley Theater becomes The Benedum Center for the Performing Arts
Movie palace
A movie palace is a term used to refer to the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opened every year between 1925 and 1930.There are three building types in particular which can be subsumed...
, the Stanley Theater
Stanley Theater
Stanley Theater may refer to:*Stanley Theater , New Jersey*Stanley Theater , listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Essex County, New Jersey...
. The Stanley Theater was designed by the renowned theater architectural firm of Hoffman & Henon and opened on February 27, 1928. At the time, it had the distinction of being the largest theater in Western Pennsylvania, and was commonly known as "Pittsburgh's Palace of Amusement". After a $43 million dollar restoration returning it to its original spendor, it reopened in 1987 as the newly re-named Benedum Center
Benedum Center
The Benedum Center for the Performing Arts is a theater and concert hall located at 719 Liberty Avenue in the Cultural District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
for the Performing Arts, and is currently able to host about 2,885 people. The Benedum Center is owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a nonprofit arts organization, is a driving catalyst behind the ongoing development of the Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District, Pittsburgh...
.
The Fulton Theater becomes The Byham Theater
The Byham TheaterByham Theater
The Byham Theater is a landmark building at 101 Sixth Street in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally built in 1903 as The Gayety Theater, the former vaudeville house was renovated and reopened as The Byham Theater in 1990.Built in 1903 and opened...
, a landmark building at 101 Sixth Street in Downtown Pittsburgh, was the second major theater venue restoration project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a nonprofit arts organization, is a driving catalyst behind the ongoing development of the Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District, Pittsburgh...
. Built in 1903, the then called Gayety Theater
Byham Theater
The Byham Theater is a landmark building at 101 Sixth Street in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally built in 1903 as The Gayety Theater, the former vaudeville house was renovated and reopened as The Byham Theater in 1990.Built in 1903 and opened...
was a stage and Vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
house, and it featured stars such as Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors.-Early life:Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew...
, Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End theatre district of London and on Broadway.-Early life:...
, and Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
. It was renamed The Fulton in the 1930s when it became a full-time movie theater. In 1990, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust bought the theater and refurbished the Fulton as part of its plan for the Cultural District. The Byham
William C. Byham
William C. Byham is an American entrepreneur, author and organizational psychologist.-Overview:Bill Byham, co-founder , chairman and CEO of Development Dimensions International is an...
family of Pittsburgh made a major naming gift for a 1995 renovation, and it has been the Byham Theater
Byham Theater
The Byham Theater is a landmark building at 101 Sixth Street in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally built in 1903 as The Gayety Theater, the former vaudeville house was renovated and reopened as The Byham Theater in 1990.Built in 1903 and opened...
since. The current seating configuration is 1,300. The Byham Center is owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a nonprofit arts organization, is a driving catalyst behind the ongoing development of the Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District, Pittsburgh...
.
The Cultural District Today
Today the 14-square block area continues to transform and flourish from a red-light districtRed-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
with only two cultural facilities—Heinz Hall and the Convention Center—to a dynamic arts and residential neighborhood with more than fourteen arts venues, including the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, public parks and plazas, and new commercial development. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a nonprofit arts organization, is a driving catalyst behind the ongoing development of the Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District, Pittsburgh...
applies a holistic approach and vision to urban redevelopment: streetscaping programs, facade restorations, new cultural facilities, public open spaces and art projects.
The Cultural District's transformation is widely praised and serves as a model for urban redevelopment through the arts. Brendan Lemon of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote, “To describe Pittsburgh’s unconventional, un-Disneyfied remodeling of its Cultural District… is to explore how theater can help transform urban identity”.
The Cultural District is also home to the Pittsburgh Film Office
Pittsburgh Film Office
The Pittsburgh Film Office is a non-profit 5013 corporation dedicated to economic development in the Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania region...
, a non-profit organization that markets the greater southwestern Pennsylvania region as a great location for movie, television and commercial productions. Since its inception in 1990, the PFO has assisted more than 102 feature films and television productions to southwestern Pennsylvania to generate an economic impact of more than $575 million for the region.
Listing of Theaters in the Cultural District
- Benedum CenterBenedum CenterThe Benedum Center for the Performing Arts is a theater and concert hall located at 719 Liberty Avenue in the Cultural District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
(formerly the Stanley Theater) - Byham TheaterByham TheaterThe Byham Theater is a landmark building at 101 Sixth Street in the Cultural District of Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally built in 1903 as The Gayety Theater, the former vaudeville house was renovated and reopened as The Byham Theater in 1990.Built in 1903 and opened...
(formerly the Gayety Theater, then the Fulton Theater) - Harris Theater (formerly Art Cinema)
- Heinz Hall (formerly Loew's Penn Theater)
- O'Reilly TheaterO'Reilly TheaterThe O'Reilly Theater is a 650-seat theater building, opened on December 11, 1999, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Located at 621 Penn Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District, the O'Reilly Theater is actually a three-part building: The theater , a large parking garage called Theater Square,...
(newly built in 1999) - The August Wilson Center for African American CultureAugust Wilson Center for African American CultureAugust Wilson Center for African American Culture is a U.S. nonprofit arts organization that presents performing and visual arts programs that celebrate the contributions of African Americans in Western Pennsylvania....
- The Cabaret at Theatre Square
- Bricolage Production CompanyBricolage Production CompanyBricolage Production Company is a professional theatre company based in downtown Pittsburgh. Established in 2001 by Jeffrey Carpenter, it is located on Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh's Cultural District in a space that was formerly a Turkish bathhouse...
- Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre CompanyPittsburgh Playwrights Theatre CompanyPittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2003 by artistic director Mark Clayton Southers, the company originally held productions at the Penn Theater in Garfield and moved to a new space on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh's...
Visual Arts in the Cultural District
- Wood Street GalleriesWood Street GalleriesWood Street Galleries, a visual arts project of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is a contemporary art gallery located in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, above the Wood Street subway stop...
- Future Tenant
- SPACE
- 707-709 Penn Galleries
- Watercolors Gallery