{"id":1387,"date":"2013-09-18T04:01:57","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T04:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1387"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:34:11","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:34:11","slug":"the-alpine-heights-atop-the-grant-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/09\/18\/the-alpine-heights-atop-the-grant-building\/","title":{"rendered":"The Alpine heights atop the Grant Building"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The <\/a>
The Grant Building dominates the city skyline in this 1933 picture. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Telescopes <\/a>
Telescopes were available to enhance the view from the observation deck in 1933. (Photo Credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The Grant Building in 1984. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Search <\/a>
Search lights illuminate the Grant Building for a photograph in 1991. (Pat Davison\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Workers <\/a>
Workers relax on the 37th floor\u00a0observation deck in August 1933. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Sept. 18, 1933:\u00a0<\/strong>A few years after the Grant Building was completed, one Pittsburgh newspaper sent a reporter to the structure\u2019s observation deck to assess the value of visiting such a lofty perch.<\/p>\n

The 37th floor deck was a \u201cmecca,\u201d the reporter wrote, visited by thousands who came from \u201cevery corner of the world and for every reason under the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

One young man visited for medicinal reasons. His hearing was deteriorating, but spending time atop the Grant Building offered some sort of a cure. That\u2019s what he believed, anyway. A \u201cprominent businessman\u201d visited the deck when needing inspiration to write compelling sales letters.<\/p>\n

And \u201cbusiness girls\u201d who\u2019ve spent their noon hour on the observation deck \u201cgo back to their key-punching jobs with new vigor,\u201d the reporter wrote.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to chuckle at some of these notions today, but when the Grant Building was completed in 1930, it was Pittsburgh\u2019s tallest building \u00a0and therefore offered residents a never-before experienced view of their city and the surrounding countryside. Folks had reason to be giddy about it.<\/p>\n

Construction on the building began in late September 1927 when two steam shovels poked into a plot of ground between Third and Fourth avenues on Grant Street. Builders promised offices with enclosed lavatories with hot and cold running water, clothes presses, and Western Union and Postal Telegraph call box connections. A tunnel under Fourth Avenue offered entrance to the City-County Building \u201cwithout subjecting one to weather and traffic conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the structure\u2019s innovations was a lighted beacon that sat atop the building and blinked out the word \u201cPittsburgh\u201d in Morse code. The light, visible up to 125 miles away, was designed to keep night-flying pilots from crashing into the skyscraper.<\/p>\n

During World War II, the beacon was extinguished for security reasons. And because city leaders declared they could install no air raid sirens whose wail could penetrate the Grant Building\u2019s brick walls, sirens were instead installed inside the building.<\/p>\n

The Grant Building has been renovated a few times \u2014 once in the 1960s, and again in the 1980s. But the beacon remains. For a while, a glitch in the aging technology caused the light to spell out \u201cP-i-t-e-t-s-b-k-r-r-h.\u201d \u00a0Repairs were made in July 2009. \u00a0And so, to all those gazing into the Golden Triangle at night, we are once again \u201cPittsburgh.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years after the Grant Building was completed, one Pittsburgh newspaper sent a reporter to the structure\u2019s observation deck to assess the value of visiting such a lofty perch.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesThe Alpine heights atop the Grant Building<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1389,"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":[959,1143,1269],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/tumblr_mta49jXH5A1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C1189&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2281,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/11\/16\/photographer-stewart-love-atop-the-gulf-building\/","url_meta":{"origin":1387,"position":0},"title":"Photographer Stewart Love atop the Gulf Building","date":"November 16, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"He often climbed some of the area\u2019s tallest structures to make pictures.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/tumblr_mdjxzuOpCI1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1158%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1186,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/11\/25\/pittsburgh-goes-dark-prepares-for-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":1387,"position":1},"title":"Pittsburgh goes dark, prepares for war","date":"November 25, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"A crowd gathers on Mount Washington to watch Pittsburgh\u2019s \u201cblackout rehearsal.\u201d","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/tumblr_mwoo62ri2Y1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C793&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6478,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2016\/02\/03\/theres-nothing-like-it-in-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":1387,"position":2},"title":"“There’s nothing like it in the world”","date":"February 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Pittsburghers couldn't get enough of the new Greater Pittsburgh Airport in 1952.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Web.1952DigsAirport020.jpg?fit=1200%2C781&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9780,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2020\/03\/19\/records-reveal-1918-influenzas-devastating-impact-on-a-tiny-pittsburgh-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":1387,"position":3},"title":"Records reveal 1918 influenza’s devastating impact on a tiny Pittsburgh community","date":"March 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Few noticed as the pandemic struck a cultural oasis not far from the city's centers of power.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SamsonRecord01-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C755&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2147,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/01\/11\/may-2-1932-the-trial-of-pittsburgh-mayor\/","url_meta":{"origin":1387,"position":4},"title":"The trial of Pittsburgh Mayor Charles Kline","date":"January 11, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Charles Kline (he\u2019s the one smoking the cigarette) can be remembered for many things.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-17-at-12.04.12-AM.png?fit=1200%2C571&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":191,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/10\/06\/views-of-pittsburghs-government-buildings-not-often-seen\/","url_meta":{"origin":1387,"position":5},"title":"Views of Pittsburgh\u2019s government buildings not often seen","date":"October 6, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Questioned at first, Allegheny County's administration building and its neighbor, the City-County Building, are landmarks today.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/tumblr_ncf5p5VIQ61rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C831&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1387"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4147,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions\/4147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}