Farmers Bank Building (Pittsburgh) Explained

Farmers Bank Building
Alternate Names:Farmers Deposit National Bank Building
Rockwell-Standard Building
500 Wood Street
Location:305 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Coordinates:40.4408°N -80.0002°W
Completion Date:1902
Renovation Date:1967
Status:Imploded
Demolished Date:May 25, 1997
Architectural Style:Neoclassical
Building Type:Commercial offices
Roof:105.01m (344.52feet)
Floor Count:27
Architect:Alden & Harlow
Owner:Penzer Inc.
Management:Penzer Inc.
References:[1]

The Farmers Bank Building was a 27-story, 105m (344feet) skyscraper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania completed in 1902 and demolished on May 25, 1997.[2] The University of Pittsburgh's online digital library states the building was constructed in 1903 and had 24 stories.[3] To a generation of Pittsburgh sports fans the building is well remembered for being resurfaced in the mid 1960[4] in a failed rehabilitation but also fondly for a 15 story high mural of Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski, Jack Lambert, Mean Joe Greene and Mario Lemieux completed in 1992 by Judy Penzer, who was killed in the crash of TWA Flight 800 four years later. For the five years the mural existed it was often the centerpiece for national networks cutting to or from games while they were in town for sporting events.

Rockwell International owned the building starting in the mid-1960s and used it as its global headquarters, selling it in early 1972 and consolidating its headquarters staff in the U.S. Steel Tower blocks away.[5]

The building was imploded by Controlled Demolition, Inc. on the afternoon of May 25, 1997. In its place, a low-rise department store named Lazarus was built on the site. That building has since been extensively redesigned and now operates as a condominium development named Piatt Place.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Emporis building ID 102782 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160307025527/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/102782 . dead . March 7, 2016 . Emporis.
  2. News: 40-Story Pittsburgh Bank; Tallest in World Outside New York – Firm Here to Build It . 7. The New York Times . August 14, 1911 .
  3. Web site: Historic Pittsburgh – Chronology by Year: 1903 . University of Pittsburgh Digital Research Library . August 18, 2010.
  4. Trump, James D. Van & Arthur P. Zigler Jr., Landmark Architecture of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1967 p. 4
  5. News: Staff writers . NA Rockwell Building sold to Galbreath . The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . 13 . 4 February 1972 . 2 May 2012.