Pittsburgh Civic Center (Oakland) in 1927 by Paul Heckbert

R.W. Johnston took this picture of Pittsburgh Civic Center (now known as Oakland's Schenley Plaza) in 1927, apparently on August 24. From left to right, it shows Forbes Field, Hotel Schenley (now known as the William Pitt Union), Soldier's Memorial (now known as Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum), the future site of the Cathedral of Learning, the Carnegie Institute (now known as the Carnegie Library and Carnegie Museum of Natural History), and Carnegie Tech (now known as Carnegie Mellon University). The Carnegie buildings were dark with coal ash back then!

Most of the buildings that now make up the University of Pittsburgh were built after this picture was taken, so in addition to the Cathedral of Learning, we also don't see Posvar Hall, Hillman Library, Heinz Chapel, or Dippy the Dinosaur.

This photograph was provided by Miriam Meislik and Ed Galloway of the Archives Service Center, University Library, University of Pittsburgh. www.library.pitt.edu/libraries/archives/archives.html 
A project by Dror Yaron, Randy Sargent, and Paul Heckbert hopes to re-photograph this scene from the same viewpoint for a before-after comparison. Click on "View in Google Earth" link to compare a more modern view!

More panoramic photos by R. W. Johnston: www.gigapan.org/gigapans/39820/ ,
www.hellopittsburgh.com/Photos_Panoramic.Cfm