The Cultural District is a fourteen-square-block area in Downtown Pittsburgh bordered by the Allegheny River on the north, Tenth Street on the east, Stanwix Street on the west, and Liberty Avenue on the south. The Cultural District features six theaters offering some 1,500 shows annually, as well as art galleries, restaurants, and retail shops.
- Venue
- Cultural District
- Town
- Pittsburgh, US
The Cultural District is a fourteen-square-block area in Downtown Pittsburgh bordered by the Allegheny River on the north, Tenth Street on the east, Stanwix Street on the west, and Liberty Avenue on the south. The Cultural District features six theaters offering some 1,500 shows annually, as well as art galleries, restaurants, and retail shops. Its landmarks include Allegheny Riverfront Park, the Benedum Center, the Byham Theater, the Harris Theater, Heinz Hall, the O'Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, the Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, the Wood Street Galleries, and the August Wilson Center for African American Culture.Major arts organizations based here include the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, the Pittsburgh Dance Council, Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bricolage Production Company, and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. The cultural district was the brainchild of H. J. Heinz II (1908-1987), known as Jack Heinz, and is managed by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust was formed in 1984 to realize Jack's vision of an entire cultural district for blocks of the Penn-Liberty Avenue corridor, which then was a blighted area. == Transforming Loew's Penn Theatre into Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts == Built as the Loew's and United Artists' Penn Theatre, construction of the building was completed in 1927. Motion picture business magnate and pioneer Marcus Loew engaged the architectural firm of Rapp & Rapp to design the movie palace. The Grand Lobby was particularly impressive, with its 50-foot-high (15 m) vaulted Venetian ceiling, massive ornamental columns, marble staircase, bronze and crystal chandeliers and silk drapes. Like many 1920s-era film palaces, Loew's Penn Theatre fell on hard times in the 1960s. Competition from television and suburban theaters along with high maintenance costs put a squeeze on profitability. The theate