Gateway Center | |
|---|---|
 Gateway Towers, 1–3 Gateway Center, and Pittsburgh Hilton | |
 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| County | Allegheny County |
| City | Pittsburgh |
Gateway Center is a complex of office, residential, and hotel buildings covering 25 acres (10 ha)[1] inDowntownPittsburgh,Pennsylvania. It lies between Commonwealth Place andStanwix Street at the western edge of the central business district, immediately to the east ofPoint State Park. Construction of the Gateway Center was one of the earliesturban renewal projects in the United States and part of Pittsburgh'sRenaissance I programs which reshaped large sections of the city.[2][3] The project was developed by theEquitable Life Assurance Society and built between 1950 and 1969.
In May 2013, theNational Park Service designated ahistoric district named the "Pittsburgh Renaissance Historic District"[4] which encompasses both the Gateway Center and neighboring Point State Park. All of the Gateway Center buildings were designated ascontributing properties in the district except for one, the formerState Office Building, which was considered to have lost its architectural integrity due to a 1980s remodeling.[2]
Plans were developed duringWorld War II to redevelop the dense and "blighted" forks of theOhio River into bothPoint State Park and a "Gateway" of offices. It was announced as fully financed on September 21, 1949, when theEquitable Life Assurance Society agreed to underwrite the project after securing lease agreements fromWestinghouse,Mellon Financial and other major corporations.[5] On May 8, 1950, work began to clear the Gateway Center site for the new development.[2] Although mainly a run downwarehouse district the Center did require the demolition of the 1904 Beaux Arts 11 floorWabash Pittsburgh Terminal.
Most of the existing streets and buildings were wiped away, giving the developers a clean slate to re-imagine the area as a "towers in a park" concept based on the urban planning ideas ofLe Corbusier.[2] The first three office buildings, One, Two, and Three Gateway Center, were completed in 1952.Eggers & Higgins, architects on theJefferson Memorial, were the architects for the first three buildings. The Wyndham Grand Hotel was added in 1959, and Four Gateway Center was completed in 1960. The final building in the Gateway Center, theWestinghouse Building, was completed in 1969.[6] In 2004, One, Two, Three, and Four Gateway Center were purchased byHertz Investment Group, aLos Angeles, California, based real estate investment company, for US$55 million.
The original Gateway Center development included a total of ten buildings: eight office buildings, one residential building, and one hotel.[6] One of the office buildings, theState Office Building, was later converted to residential use.As of 2021, Gateway Center consists of four buildings.[7]
| Name | Image | Location | Year built | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Gateway Center |  | 420 Fort Duquesne Blvd. | 1952 | ||
| Two Gateway Center |  | 603Stanwix St. | 1952 | ||
| Three Gateway Center |  | 401Liberty Ave. | 1952 | ||
| Four Gateway Center |  | 444Liberty Ave. | 1960 | ||
| Gateway Towers |  | 320 Fort Duquesne Blvd. | 1964 | No longer part of Gateway Center | |
| Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania Western Headquarters Building |  | 201Stanwix St. | 1957 | No longer part of Gateway Center | |
| River Vue (State Office Building) |  | 300Liberty Ave. | 1957 | No longer part of Gateway Center | |
| Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown (Pittsburgh Hilton) |  | 600 Commonwealth Pl. | 1959 | Not part of Gateway Center, but adjacent to the Gateway Center parklike plaza area | |
| United Steelworkers Building (IBM Building) |  | 60Boulevard of the Allies | 1964 | No longer part of Gateway Center, but sometimes referred to as Five Gateway Center. | |
| 11 Stanwix Street (Westinghouse Building) |  | 11Stanwix St. | 1969 | No longer part of Gateway Center, but sometimes referred to as Six Gateway Center. |
The 625 Stanwix Towers building is within the Gateway Center boundaries but was not an official part of the development. One other building on the site, the Pittsburgh Press Building, predates the Gateway Center project.
