Cultural District, Pittsburgh

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See also: Culture of Pittsburgh

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 High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, and Wood Street Galleries. In 2008 it will be home to the new 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, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

The district was the brainchild of H. J. Heinz II (1908—1987) 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.

The cultural district was inspired by the vision of H. J. Heinz II, known as Jack Heinz. Jack and others, including his son, United States Senator from Pennsylvania John Heinz, and William Rea, began with the purchase and renovation of a 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 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. 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 Byham Theater, 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.

Redevelopment in the district has been widely praised. 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”.