Doors Open Pittsburgh: Featuring the Koppers Building

As part of DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh, an annual two-day event that provides unprecedented access to buildings around the city, we are featuring 20 of the many buildings participating.

Today’s building is the Koppers Building.

Koppers Building

A Brief History of the Koppers Building

The Koppers Building construction was done in March 1929, with 34 floors and rising up to 475 feet. The building cost $5.3 million when it was built, the equivalent of $75.5 million in 2017. Koppers is the greatest example of Art Deco construction and ornamentation in the city. Groundbreaking on the site was in November 1927 and the building’s first occupants moved in two years later, in spring 1929.

The building is made with Indiana limestone and a polished granite base with a copper roof. The lobby is lush and rich, decorated with marble walls. The architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White designed Koppers.

In early 1948, Equitable of New York bought the building for $6 million, which averages out to about $65 million in 2017.

Koppers is the home of Koppers, Inc., an integrated global producer of carbon compounds, chemicals and treated wood products. The products are used in industries like rubber, steel, lumber, railroad and aluminum.

There was an item in the building that drew lots of interest and attention over the years—a mini Koppers Building with pineapples and a large exaggerated roof.]

For tickets to this outstanding event, you can visit Doors Open Pittsburgh here.

Buildings already featured here on Pittsburgh Beautiful:

Byers Hall

Allegheny HYP Club

Boggs Manion : The Inn on the Mexican War Streets

Alphabet City Building

David L. Lawrence Convention Center

The Oliver Building

EQT Plaza

The Engineer’s Society

The Pennsylvanian

The Priory Hotel

First Presbyterian Church

William Penn Snyder House

Union Trust Building

Koppers Building

Dollar Bank on Fourth Avenue

Speakeasy at the Omni William Penn

The Grant Building

PPG Place

Penn Brewery

 

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