Union Trust Building

Infobox Skyscraper
building_name = Union Trust Building


caption = Exterior of the Union Trust Building on Grant Street in Downtown Pittsburgh
location = 435 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
coordinates =
groundbreaking =
constructed = 1916
opening = 1917
use = Offices
roof = convert|237|ft|m|0|abbr=on
top_floor =
floor_count = 15
elevator_count = 10
cost = $1,497,000
floor_area = convert|550000|ft2|m2|0|abbr=on
architect = Frederick J. Osterling
engineer =
contractor = George A. Fuller Company
developer = Henry Clay Frick
owner = Mellon Financial Corporation
management =

The Union Trust Building (435 Grant St., downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), was erected in 1915-16 by the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The Flemish-Gothic structure's original purpose was to serve as a shopping arcade. Known as the Union Arcade, it featured 240 shops and galleries. The mansard roof is adorned with terra cotta dormers and two chapel like mechanical towers. The interior is arranged about a central rotunda, capped by a stained glass dome. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Designed by Frederick J. Osterling, the building was constructed on the site of Pittsburgh's nineteenth century St. Paul's Catholic Cathedral. The Union Trust Company purchased the structure in 1923, renaming it from the Union Arcade to the Union Trust Building, as well as remodeling the first four floors. Its current owner is the Mellon Financial Corporation and shares the title 2 Mellon Center.

The building's unique roof is the result of a restrictive covenant placed on the land by its previous owner, the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The bishop at the time placed the restrictive covenant on the land when Frick purchased it so that, although it would now have commercial purposes, residents would always remember the cathedral once stood there.

External links

* [http://www.phlf.org/news/essays/eclectic/ch3/index.html Construction of the Union Arcade]
* [http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/wt/html/union_trust_building_1915-17.html Union Trust Building at the City Of Pittsburgh]
* [http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?view=entry;subview=detail;cc=accd;entryid=X-MSP285.B002.F24.I03;viewid=ACCD0161.TIF Union Trust at Pitt Library]
* [http://johnbrashear.tripod.com/frickbldgs.html#unionarcade Union Arcade Info]
* [http://www.graciano.com/na_detail.asp?newsID=24 Article On Restoration]