Downtown Walking Tour: Fourth Avenue Historic District

The Fourth Avenue Historic District encompasses a remarkable variety of buildings. From a Greek Revival building of 1836, to cast-iron-front structures of the 1870s and 1880s, to a majestic quartet of early-20th-century skyscrapers, the district includes distinguished structures designed by more than a dozen eminent Pittsburgh architects.

The tour focuses on the portion of the District once known as “Pittsburgh’s Wall Street” for its concentration of buildings that served the financial and investment industries. We also will see how old buildings are being re-purposed for contemporary uses and explore PPG Place—the postmodernist “cathedral of commerce” that brings full circle the fascinating story of this narrow but mightily impressive street.