The Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh

Last weekend I had the opportunity to photograph in the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning with several friends, a location I had not had the chance to make photos in before. The indoor architecture is quite Gothic, which is not surprising since the building was designed by Charles Klaude, one of the leading Gothic architects of the era. At the time construction started in 1926, the Cathedral was to be the tallest building in Pittsburgh. While it lost that distinction some time ago, it still remains the second tallest university building in the world at 787 feet.

The Gothic architecture certainly lends itself to many different and interesting compositions and I wanted to share some of the images I made. I think the building holds a lot of photographic opportunities that we have just begun to explore.

For starters, I was very taken by the flow of the lines and beams in the Commons Room!

© Howard Grill

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