The
Point Park Civic Center was a
proposed civic center for downtown
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the confluence of the
Allegheny and
Monongahela Rivers forms the
Ohio River. The structure was designed by
Frank Lloyd Wright on commission from
Edgar J. Kaufmann in the late 1940s. Wright initially envisioned a circular building more than 1000 feet (300 m) in diameter and 175 feet (50 m) tall. The structure, containing an
opera house, sports arena, three movie theaters, and a convention hall, was wrapped with a spiraling strip of road. The plan expressed Wright's insistence on bringing the automobile into the social setting. It did not find favor with Pittsburgh authorities. To make the design more palatable to its audience, Wright developed a radically different proposal for a monolithic tower supporting bridges across the Allegheny and Monongahela. This too was unsuccessful, and none of Wright's work for the site was ever built. The site is now occupied by
Point State Park. The unused design has garnered scholarly attention, and elements of it have been compared to other Wright designs, such as the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and his unrealized plans for
Monona Terrace. (
more...)
Recently featured: Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield – Maximian – "Nothing to My Name"