Experience History and Rebirth with DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh: Downtown 2024
The Pittsburgh Downtown has undergone several historical changes, now seeking to remake downtown into a community. The buildings on this year’s DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh: Downtown tour represent the stories of our parents and grandparents as well as the stories to be told by our children. The shift to community has not been easy as most of the buildings highlight commercial nature, in the form of banks, hotels, churches, while the August Wilson center highlights the cultural identity of Pittsburgh.
Union Trust Building Stained Glass Doorway
The Dollar Bank Arts Festival, 64 years running, just completed its run in the eastern part of downtown, specifically, the arts and cultural section of downtown. Looming impressively behind the main stage of the Arts Festival stands the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. It is a sleek building, that from afar, looks like a ship docked on the Allegheny River. In addition to being a relatively new cornerstone of Pittsburgh’s riverfront architecture, the convention center is home to the annual Anthrocon and Tekko conventions – and in 2026, the NFL Draft will take place right here in Pittsburgh.
On the city side of the Arts Festival layout is Penn Avenue, lovingly recreated as a historic preservation area with modern refurbished buildings. Restaurants like the Eagle and Bakersfield and Social House #7 serve the residents of the neighborhood community of Penn Avenue.
The financial sponsor of the Arts Festival, Dollar Bank, has its original center on 4th Avenue and Smithfield. The Dollar Bank building is an iconic brownstone institution guarded by two calm and vigilant lions. Dollar Bank was one of the 87 banks operating in Pittsburgh in the late 1800’s, and one of the few to retain its name and mission. Dollar Bank has weathered the ups and downs of recession and revitalization, remaining lion strong.
Nearby is the Joinery Hotel, a newly refurbished boutique hotel. Close in proximity is the Industrialist Hotel, whose name evokes the grandeur of the world-famous bathtubs, preserving the magnificent granite staircases and oozing hip ambience in its 2nd floor reception area. On Grant Avenue, another boutique hotel, Drury Hotel, is a former Federal Reserve Bank, with a basement vault. Then on Liberty is the satiny and illustrious Fairmont Hotel, renowned for style and service, perched midway between Market Square and the 6th Avenue restaurants like Redbeards.
City-County Building Window View
Around the corner to Dollar Bank is the Pittsburgh Playhouse of Point Park University, Pittsburgh’s downtown university conveniently located near the city’s cultural district and destination spots such as Point State Park. The Playhouse is committed to showcasing the university’s anchor programs of dance and theater. Even though Point Park University has a library center, and the Carnegie Library has a downtown branch, Pittsburgh is the only major US city not to have a main library located downtown - the main CLP location is across town near the University of Pittsburgh campus in the Oakland neighborhood.
Pittsburgh was built during the age of the steel boom. Although much of the steel-related businesses have come and gone, the EQT building on Liberty Avenue retains the corporate pride of the city. A leader in the natural gas industry, EQT is one of the seven Fortune 500 companies calling Pittsburgh home (there were 24 Fortune 500 companies 50 years ago).
The pearl of Pittsburgh’s downtown is the August Wilson Center; a center of artistic excellence showcasing imagination, creativity and artistic grit. The building is an iconic landmark, designed to highlight Pittsburgh’s Black culture and heritage, and in shining, celebrate the 20th century Black experience. Visitors can experience the permanent exhibition dedicated to the Pulitzer Prize Winner Playwright, August Wilson: August Wilson: the Writer’s Landscape!
Experience Pittsburgh through DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh: Downtown 2024 - two days in June:
June 22 and June 23!
