Mellon Institute | |
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| Coordinates | 40°26′46.04″N79°57′03.72″W / 40.4461222°N 79.9510333°W /40.4461222; -79.9510333 |
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| Area | Schenley Farms Historic District |
| Built | 1937 |
| Architect | Benno Janssen |
| Architectural style | Neoclassical |
| Part of | Schenley Farms Historic District (ID83002213[1]) |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 22, 1983 |
| Designated PHLF | 2003[2] |
TheMellon Institute of Industrial Research was a research institute inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania that became part ofCarnegie Mellon University. It was founded in 1913 byAndrew Mellon andRichard B. Mellon as part of theUniversity of Pittsburgh, and was originally located inAllen Hall. After becoming an independent research center and moving to a new building onFifth Avenue in 1937, the Mellon Institute merged with theCarnegie Institute of Technology in 1967 to form Carnegie Mellon University. While it ceased to exist as a distinct institution, the landmark building bearing its name remains located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Bellefield Avenue inOakland, the city's university district. It is sited adjacent toThe Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and theUniversity of Pittsburgh'sBellefield Hall and is across Bellefield Avenue from two other local landmarks: the University of Pittsburgh'sHeinz Memorial Chapel and theCathedral of Learning.
Designed byarchitectBenno Janssen (1874–1964), the Mellon Institute building hasneo-classical architecture and elegant construction, with its signature monolithiclimestone columns (the largest monolithic columns in the world).[3] Andrew Mellon, who served asUnited States Secretary of the Treasury, specified to Janssen a building with a monumentalioniccolonnade similar to the Treasury Building inWashington, D.C. The proportions of the Mellon Institute's street facades are nearly those of the long lateralfacade of theParthenon on theAcropolis inAthens, Greece. The Mellon Institute building was completed and dedicated posthumously to the Mellon brothers in May 1937.
The Mellon Institute building houses the Office of the Dean for Carnegie Mellon University'sMellon College of Science, as well as the administrative offices and research laboratories for the Department of Biological Sciences and Department of Chemistry. From 1986 until 2006, it also housed thePittsburgh Supercomputing Center.
The Mellon Institute of Industrial Research was first established as the Department of Industrial Research at theUniversity of Pittsburgh. It conducted research for firms on a contractual basis; a company would contract the institute to solve a specific problem, and the institute would then hire an appropriate scientist to do the research. The results of the research then became the property of the contracting company.
In 1928, the institute was incorporated as anonprofit, independent research center and planning for a new Mellon Institute building began that same year. When completed in 1937, the institute moved into its new building which sat directly across from the newly completed Cathedral of Learning, and handed its original facility, now known asAllen Hall, back to the University of Pittsburgh. The original design called for two more pillars than architect Janssen decided on.[citation needed] The two extra pillars were buried in the large lawn beside the Cathedral of Learning.[citation needed] The pillars are set to be unburied in 2014[citation needed] as a new pipe system is installed in the basement of the Cathedral.[4]
In 1967, declining use of independent research institutes for the outsourcing of corporate industrial research led Mellon Institute to merge with the Carnegie Institute of Technology to form Carnegie Mellon University. The "Carnegie Institute of Technology" name was retained to refer to the engineering portion of Carnegie Mellon's "College of Engineering and Science".
In 2013, theAmerican Chemical Society recognized the Mellon Institute as aNational Historic Chemical Landmark for its contributions to industrial research and training from its inception in 1913 until its merger with the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Researchers at the Mellon Institute had contributed more than 4,700 papers, 1,600 patents, and other research products, includingGeorge O. Curme, Jr.'s discovery of a method for producingacetylene from petroleum that resulted in the production ofethylene and research inorganosilicones and the resulting establishment of theDow Corning Corporation.[5]
For decades, the columns of the Mellon Institute building have served as a popular background for photographers shooting Pittsburgh wedding parties.
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