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Westinghouse Memorial Bridge

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1931–1932, Vernon Covell and George S. Richardson, engineers, with Stanley Roush, architect. U.S. 30 over Turtle Creek Valley
  • Westinghouse Memorial Bridge (HABS)

From this bridge one sees the two most innovative industrial engines of Pittsburgh: Andrew Carnegie's Edgar Thomson Works ( AL57) by the Monongahela River and George Westinghouse's immense electric works ( AL59; today an incubator for start-up businesses) of 1894, about a mile inland. The bridge itself is noteworthy, with its elegantly proportioned piers and the seeming effortlessness of the semi-elliptical arches. It is the masterpiece of George Richardson's half century of bridge construction for Allegheny County. The five reinforced-concrete spans range in length from two hundred to nearly five hundred feet, and the center span was for decades the longest of its type in the world. From the roadway—part of the pioneering national Lincoln Highway (U.S. 30)—the excitement of the industrial landscape is heightened by the heroic severity of Frank Vittor's Art Deco reliefs on the bridge's four entrance pylons. Carved between 1934 and 1936, the scenes depict the development of the Turtle Creek valley and commemorate Westinghouse's contributions to industry. From the valley floor, the five semi-elliptical arches perfectly echo the natural drama of the valley itself.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lu Donnelly et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

United States Steel Edgar Thomson Works
Kennywood Park
Westinghouse Air-Brake Company Complex, and the Wilmerding Plan
Charles Schwab House
Carnegie Library of Braddock

Citation

Lu Donnelly et al., "Westinghouse Memorial Bridge", [East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-01-AL58.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 1

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Lu Donnelly, H. David Brumble IV, and Franklin Toker. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, 82-82.

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