Grant Building (Pittsburgh)

The Grant Building is 40-story, 147.8 m (485 ft) skyscraper at 310 Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The building was completed and opened on February 1, 1929[5] at a cost of $5.5 million ($93.7 million today). The Art Deco building's facade is built with Belgian granite, limestone, and brick. It was famous for a radio antenna that rose roughly 100–150 feet (30–46 m) from the roof of the tower and had an aviation beacon that spelled out .--. .. - - ... -... ..- .-. --. .... or P-I-T-T-S-B-U-R-G-H in Morse Code. The beacon could be seen as far away as 150 miles (240 km) on clear nights. A smaller version of the beacon, still flashing out the name of the city remains to this day, although malfunctions with the relay switch caused it to spell "P-I-T-E-T-S-B-K-R-R-H", and eventually "T-P-E-B-T-S-A-U-R-G-H" before being repaired on July 27, 2009.[6]

Grant Building
View of the Grant Building from Mt. Washington.
General information
TypeCommercial offices
Architectural styleArt Deco / Art Moderne
Location310 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40°26′15″N 79°59′51″W
Construction started1927
Completed1929
Cost$5.5 million
($93.7 million today)
Height
Roof147.8 metres (485 ft)
Technical details
Floor count40
5 below ground
Floor area400,000 square feet (37,161 m2)
Lifts/elevators12
Design and construction
Architect(s)Henry Hornbostel
Eric Fisher Wood
DeveloperW. J. Strassburger
Main contractorDwight P. Robinson & Company
References
[1][2][3][4]

The tower on the roof also served as the broadcast antenna for radio station KDKA Pittsburgh which made the first commercially licensed radio broadcast on election night of 1920. At 7:00 AM on its 14th birthday (February 2, 1934), the radio station inaugurated new studios on the Grant Building's third floor.

Huntington National Bank, which operates a branch inside the tower, owns the signage rights, giving them two signs in the Pittsburgh skyline alongside Centre City Tower where Huntington has their Western Pennsylvania headquarters.

  • Grant Building advertisement from 1930
    Grant Building advertisement from 1930

See also

References
  1. "Grant Building". CTBUH Skyscraper Center.
  2. "Emporis building ID 121989". Emporis. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.
  3. "Grant Building". SkyscraperPage.
  4. Grant Building at Structurae
  5. "Request Rejected".
  6. Majors, Dan (July 12, 2009). "A Morse Code typo lights city skyline". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 16 October 2012.

Further reading
  • Toker, Franklin (2007). Buildings of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh: Chicago: Society of Architectural Historians; Santa Fe: Center for American Places ; Charlottesville: In association with the University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-2650-6.

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