{"id":1331,"date":"2013-10-04T04:01:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:31:20","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:31:20","slug":"evolution-of-the-andy-warhol-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/10\/04\/evolution-of-the-andy-warhol-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolution of the Andy Warhol Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"Walter, <\/a>
Walter, left, and Carl Volkwein of Volkwein’s, in 1988. (Tom Ondrey\/Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The building as it looked in the 1950s. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Visitors <\/a>
Visitors to the museum line up for a midnight opening in 1994. (Martha Rial\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Ornamentation <\/a>
Ornamentation on the museum building. (Bill Wade\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The museum in 2008. (Darrell Sapp\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The Andy Warhol Museum, which opened in 1994, is located in a distinctive building that once served as a warehouse for oil well, mill and mine supplies.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s such a fitting coincidence because Andy Warhol, Pittsburgh\u2019s best-known artist, was as indefatigable in creating art as the hard-working immigrants employed in so many Western Pennsylvania mines and mills.<\/p>\n

His Manhattan studio, located on 47th Street, was even called The Factory and he used assembly-line techniques there to make silkscreens and lithographs. As it was decorated in silver paint and aluminum foil wallpaper, some people nicknamed it The Silver Factory.<\/p>\n

The building that now exhibits many of Warhol\u2019s works was built in 1911 and had 16 pillars on each floor. Transforming the space into a museum was a $12 million project, overseen by former curator Mark Francis.<\/p>\n

The seven-story, steel-framed structure, located \u00a0at 117 Sandusky St. on the city\u2019s North Side, once housed Frick & Lindsay, a company organized by William E. Frick. He had grown up in Philadelphia and, by 1883, was a traveling salesman for John A. Roebling\u2019s Sons Co. that made wire cable.<\/p>\n

In 1891, Mr. Frick \u2014 no relation to Henry Clay Frick \u2014 arrived in Pittsburgh, where he organized Frick & Lindsay Company, a distributor of oil well, mill and mine supplies. Despite the company\u2019s gritty products, its headquarters was sheathed in classical, creamy terra cotta with plenty of decorative flourishes such as egg and dart moulding, foliated scrolls and lions\u2019 heads.<\/p>\n

That classical, Beaux Arts exterior has survived to the present day. It\u2019s quite possible that the building\u2019s designer was William Wilkins, architect for the historic Maul Building, still standing in the 1700 block of the city\u2019s South Side.<\/p>\n

From 1965 through 1990, the building housed Volkwein Bros. Inc, a company founded by Jacob C. Volkwein in 1905 on Liberty Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh. The company, which sells printed music and rents and sells instruments, moved to RIDC Park West in Findlay.<\/p>\n

This summer, the first floor of The Andy Warhol Museum underwent a major renovation. Large, silver framed, factory style windows were installed, allowing light to flood into the space.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s new lighting and acoustical sound panels on the ceilings will absorb noise. Restoration Hardware furniture has arrived and an expanded gift shop will open this month. Now the space resembles a cross between a New York loft and a minimalist hotel.<\/p>\n

When visitors arrive, they will see two large photographs of Andy Warhol. One shows him at work in The Factory; in the other, he reclines for a much-needed rest.<\/p>\n

(Top photo: Entrance to the Andy Warhol Museum as it looked in 1994. Photo by Bill Wade\/Post-Gazette)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Andy Warhol Museum, which opened in 1994, is located in a distinctive building that once served as a warehouse for oil well, mill and mine supplies.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesEvolution of the Andy Warhol Museum<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[945],"tags":[965,1252,988,997,1001,1012,1021],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/tumblr_mu3olxGqZU1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1037%2C1296&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":649,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/05\/19\/andy-warhols-childhood\/","url_meta":{"origin":1331,"position":0},"title":"Andy Warhol\u2019s childhood","date":"May 19, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"He was the son of immigrants.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/tumblr_n5okseQwpa1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=734%2C649&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":681,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/05\/09\/joseph-c-fitzpatrick-pittsburghs-legendary-art-teacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":1331,"position":1},"title":"Joseph C. 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