Allegheny Observatory - The New Allegheny Observatory

The New Allegheny Observatory

The original observatory building was replaced by the current structure, shown in the photograph above. It was designed in the Classic Revival style by Thorsten E. Billquist. The cornerstone was laid in 1900, and the new structure was completed in 1912. It is located four miles north of downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at Riverview Park. The building is a tan brick and white terra cotta hilltop temple whose Classical forms and decoration symbolize the unity of art and science. The L-shaped building consists of a library, lecture hall, classrooms, laboratories, offices and three hemispherical domed telescope enclosures. Two were reserved for research; one for use by schools and the general public. The core of the building is a small rotunda, housing an opalescent glass window depicting the Greek muse of astronomy, Urania. A crypt in the observatory holds the ashes of two eminent astronomers and former directors of the Allegheny Observatory, James Edward Keeler and John Brashear.

The original observatory building was converted into an athletics training facility 1907 and used by the university's football team. The original observatory building was sold, along with the rest of the adjacent university buildings, to the Protestant Orphan Asylum prior to the move of the main academic portion of the university to the Oakland section of Pittsburgh in 1909. The original observatory building was torn down in the 1950s and the site is now occupied by Triangle Tech.