History
In the planning stages, U.S. Steel executives considered making the building the world's tallest, but settled on 840 ft (260 m) and the distinction of being the tallest building outside New York City and Chicago. However, it eventually lost even that distinction to newer buildings erected across the United States. Prior to 1970, the tallest building in Pittsburgh, at 44 stories, was the Gulf Building. Now an office complex known as Gulf Tower, it was the original headquarters of the Gulf Oil Corporation.
The U.S. Steel Tower is architecturally noted for its triangular shape with indented corners. The building also made history by being the first to use liquid-filled fireproofed columns. U.S. Steel deliberately placed the massive steel columns on the exterior of the building to showcase a new product called Cor-ten steel. Cor-ten resists the corrosive effects of rain, snow, ice, fog, and other meteorological conditions by forming a coating of dark brown oxidation over the metal, which inhibits deeper penetration and doesn't need painting and costly rust-prevention maintenance over the years. The initial weathering of the material resulted in a discoloration of the surrounding city sidewalks, as well as other nearby buildings. A cleanup effort was orchestrated by the corporation once weathering was complete to undo this damage, but the sidewalks still have a decidedly rusty tinge. The Cor-Ten steel for the building was made at the former U.S. Steel Homestead Works.
Rockwell International, which had its headquarters in the building, displayed a large model of the Rockwell-designed NASA Space Shuttle in the building's lobby until the company moved its headquarters to Southern California in 1988.
The tower contains over 44,000 U.S. tons (40,000 metric tons) of structural steel, and almost an acre of office space per floor. Currently, the largest tenant of the building is UPMC who occupies 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) of office space within the tower.
Read more about this topic: U.S. Steel Tower
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“What would we not give for some great poem to read now, which would be in harmony with the scenery,—for if men read aright, methinks they would never read anything but poems. No history nor philosophy can supply their place.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We are told that men protect us; that they are generous, even chivalric in their protection. Gentlemen, if your protectors were women, and they took all your property and your children, and paid you half as much for your work, though as well or better done than your own, would you think much of the chivalry which permitted you to sit in street-cars and picked up your pocket- handkerchief?”
—Mary B. Clay, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 3, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“A man will not need to study history to find out what is best for his own culture.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)