Mellon Square

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Mellon Square is a National Register of Historic Places urban park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the first Modernist park built above a parking garage.

The square, on Smithfield Street between Oliver and Sixth Avenues, is surrounded by many prominent downtown buildings. It has long been a popular lunchtime destination for downtown workers. In addition, retail shops are housed underneath it, along the Smithfield Street side of the square.

[edit] History

After World War II, the Aluminum Company of America, which was established in Pittsburgh in the 19th century, proposed to move to New York City. Banker Richard King Mellon aimed to block the move. In 1949 he proposed a new downtown headquarters building for ALCOA. As a bonus, it would have an underground parking garage capped by a public plaza. Mellon Square was built during the period 1953-55. The architects were Mitchell & Ritchey and the square's landscape architects were Simonds & Simonds. It was gifted to the city and dedicated to Mellon's father and uncle, Richard Beatty Mellon and Andrew Mellon, and financed by Mellon family foundations.

The square, a part of the Downtown Pittsburgh Historic District, received National Register of Historic Places status in 1985.

[edit] References

Kidney, Walter C. (1997). Pittsburgh's Landmark Architecture: The Historic Buildings of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. ISBN 0-916670-18-X.
Toker, Franklin (1986, 1994). Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-5434-6.