Architecture: Pittsburgh Architecture

The built environment of the Pittsburgh region is the prototypical urban American industrial landscape, overlaid with an architecture of strength, variety, and invention. This guide is intended to promote and facilitate architectural research in Pittsburgh and its region by introducing the researcher to methods and resources key to the research process. Every researcher has a different starting point and a different goal, however, a guide can offer direction and it can provide information about the tools of research.

Architectural research is a complex but rewarding process, akin to assembling a puzzle, or doing detective work. Use this guide to identify resources that may have information about your topic. Contact each repository before you visit to learn about their hours of operation and policies, and to identify the type of information that you will have to supply (e.g. address, date, etc.) in order to access their records. Do visit—only you can spot and pursue every lead and ask questions—persistence will often pay off.