Status of City of Pittsburgh Property Related to Buhl Planetarium
Status of City of Pittsburgh Property Related to
The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science
2001 October
ALSO SEE:
City of Pittsburgh Inventory of "Buhl Planetarium Assets"
2002 January 23
Inventory of City-Owned Buhl Planetarium Assets
Moved to Carnegie Science Center
2007 September 24
Real Estate -
The real estate where the Buhl Planetarium building is located has been the property of the City of Pittsburgh since the annexation of the City of Allegheny in 1907. The Allegheny City Hall was located on this site, prior to the construction of The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science. Buhl Planetarium's staff parking lot, adjacent to the north wall of the building, was a City street(North Diamond Street West) prior to installation of the Allegheny Center street system in the mid-1960s.
Two significant City properties are directly adjacent to the Buhl Planetarium:
- Allegheny Square Plaza, formerly Ober Park, and before that the Allegheny City Diamond Square(located directly south of the Buhl Planetarium building)
- The historic 1890 building which contains The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Allegheny Regional Branch, and the Hazlett Theatre in Carnegie Hall(directly east of the Buhl Planetarium building). Formerly the Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny, this is the first publicly-funded Carnegie Library in America! Adjacent to the Library is the world's first Carnegie Hall(opened a year before New York City's Carnegie Hall)!
Also, located on Buhl Planetarium's east lawn(these three items are also City property):
- Andrew Carnegie's Memorial to Colonel James Anderson including statue titled "Labor"(a.k.a. "The Reading Blacksmith") and bust of Colonel Anderson-located opposite entrance to Carnegie Library.
- Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Historical Marker for James Hay Reed, lawyer and counselor to nineteenth century Pittsburgh industrialists; born nearby on September 10, 1853.
- Sculpture "Elongated Disk" funded by the Alcoa Foundation.
Building -
The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science building was erected by the Buhl Foundation, which paid the entire $1,081,500 cost of construction and furnishing the building. In accordance with a 1937 lease agreement, between the City of Pittsburgh and the Buhl Foundation, the building and all contents were donated and conveyed to the City of Pittsburgh upon the building's dedication in October of 1939. Accessibility for the Disabled improvements completed in 1982: outside wheelchair ramp to front doors of building; inside wheelchair ramp to Planetarium entrance; conversion of freight elevator to elevator for the disabled, including the addition of one stop[so elevator now stops at four sub-levels of building(two on first floor and two on lower level)]; chair lift for the disabled to access the Lower Level Octagon Gallery; handicapped restrooms; handicapped water fountain(late 1980s).
Equipment and Artifacts -
The following remain the property of the City of Pittsburgh -
Equipment and Artifacts Remaining at the Buhl Planetarium building:
with Zeiss II Planetarium Projector[oldest operable, major planetarium projector in the world !]; custom-made "worm-gear" elevator, manufactured and installed by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation[first planetarium in world to be placed on elevator!]; retractable theatrical stage[first planetarium theater in world with theatrical stage!] along northern theater wall; center stage[above lowered Zeiss projector]; 65-foot diameter, stainless steel interior projection dome(perforated with thousands of holes for proper acoustics and ventilation); Control Console.
Astronomical Observatory["The People's Observatory"] with 10-inch Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope - Second largest operable, Siderostat-type telescope in world !
Large World Map - When first displayed at the 1939 World's Fair in New York, considered largest Mercator's Projection Map in the world !
Mural: Rise of Steel Technology - Large wall mural by Nat Youngblood, with special lighting[including small control unit to control lighting], donated by the United States Steel Corporation.
Compass and Foucault Pendulum Pit - Beautiful brass and marble pit, showing the true cardinal points of the compass. Foucault Pendulum(which remains City property) currently displayed at The Carnegie Science Center.
Original 1939 Lecture Hall Seating - In Buhl's smaller theater. Seating should be restored, not replaced; Country Roads, Inc., Greenville, Mich., is one company that restores historic seating.
Original Astronomical Transparencies(glass) used in Lighted Picture Display Boxes, recesssed into walls along Planetarium hallway.
Painting of Halley's Comet - Currently in Lecture Hall; donated by late Willard F. Rockwell, Jr.
Three Lecture Hall Artifacts:
Antique overhead, microscopic projector.
Oscilloscope - Large, older model used for demonstrations.
Science Laboratory Demonstration Table - On Lecture Hall stage.
- Wood-Paneled Library and Board Room -
On second floor.
- Large glass and wood-paneled book case -
In second floor office area.
- Astronomical Inscriptions and Statuary[both limestone(4) and copper-clad(2)] on Indiana Limestone Exterior, Copper-Clad Steel Exterior Dome, Florentine Marble Interior Walls.
- Other equipment and artifacts: Grand Clock
at public entrance to building, Lighted Picture Displays in Planetarium hallway and in Observatory, Mini-Planetarium Dome in the Discovery Lab classroom, Rainbow Wallpaper at entrance to East Gallery, Chair Lift for the Disabled to access the Octagon Gallery, Office Safe, Physical Plant equipment, Outdoor Television Antenna on East Gallery roof(wired into the Computer Lab, in Lower Level Octagon Gallery), Flagpole on south lawn.
ALSO SEE:
City of Pittsburgh Inventory of "Buhl Planetarium Assets"
2002 January 23
Inventory of City-Owned Buhl Planetarium Assets
Moved to Carnegie Science Center
2003 November 1
gaw 10-9-2001; updates: 3-2002, 12-10-2003
Learn More About The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science on the Internet:
< http://www.planetarium.cc >
Glenn A. Walsh
P.O. Box 1041
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230-1041
Telephone: 412-561-7876
Electronic Mail: < gawalsh@planetarium.cc
>
Internet Web Site: < http:// www.planetarium.cc
>