You'll easily spot the U.S. Steel Tower on your right by its massive triangular shape with indented corners, stretching straight up into the sky and clad entirely in dark brown weathering steel. If you remember the Gulf Tower we visited a bit ago, that was Pittsburgh's tallest building until 1970. Then, this absolute giant claimed the crown. At sixty-four stories and nearly eight hundred and fifty feet tall, it remains the tallest building in the city today.
U.S. Steel wanted to show off a new product called Cor-ten steel. They deliberately placed over forty-four thousand tons of massive structural steel columns right on the exterior. Cor-ten is a specialized metal that forms a protective layer of dark brown oxidation, basically a controlled rust, to shield itself from corrosion without ever needing costly paint.
When the metal first started weathering, the runoff caused an unexpected problem. The rust washed down and discolored the surrounding city sidewalks. The corporation orchestrated a massive cleanup once the weathering was complete, but the pavement around here still has a faint rusty tinge.
Putting raw steel on the outside of a building usually violates fire codes, which require steel to be insulated with concrete. To get around this, the engineers did something totally unprecedented. They made the eighteen exterior columns hollow and filled them with a mixture of water, antifreeze, and rust inhibitor. It was the first building in history to use liquid-filled fireproofed columns. Take a glance at your screen to see a close-up of those indented corners and that beautiful, rustic brown texture.
This place is an absolute fortress of engineering. It features incredibly robust redundant systems, meaning it has backup equipment for absolutely everything. With two water mains, four water pumps, and four separate electrical feeds, the tower has stayed completely free of unplanned service interruptions since it opened in 1971.
Now look way up to the very top. See the huge UPMC letters? The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center leases over five hundred thousand square feet inside. In 2008, they installed those twenty-foot letters using helicopters. A heavy storm rolled in during the installation, forcing the crew to retreat. This left the skyline awkwardly reading U, P, and C for weeks until the M could finally be attached.
Unlike most skyscrapers that taper as they rise, this building shoots straight up. That gives it an absolutely enormous, totally flat roof spanning nearly a full acre. Check your app for a glimpse of the view from the sixty-second floor, where a famous restaurant called Top of the Triangle once gave diners unmatched sights of the entire region. Since it closed, groups like the High Point Park Investigation have actively proposed turning that massive flat roof into a spectacular public nature park.
It is such an iconic structure that it has starred in movies like The Dark Knight Rises and Jack Reacher. It truly stands as a monumental tribute to American industrial innovation. Once you've taken it all in, follow the route to our next stop.
