Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait

by Franklin Toker

Book Overview

Bryant Gumbel called this the best book on Pittsburgh when the Today Show came to town. An indispensable guide to the city, with photographs and maps.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0271004150
• ISBN13: 9780271004150
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Length: 351 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Guidebook!

Dr. Toker presents a wonderful history of Pittsburgh, keying on the buildings as the primary visual points of reference. There is a great deal of architectural detail, but that should not deter the reader with minimal insight into the field. The book is full of wonderful surprises and insights into the development of the city and individuals who drove the development. This is a book not just to be read but to be carried and used as a guide book as you explore Pittsburgh. One can only hope that an updated revision is planned to capture the development in Pittsburgh over the past twenty years.

An engaging chronicle of a unique urban environment.

Pittsburgh is a city of surprises, most of them positive for out-of-towners. This book capably explains how the city became what it once was and what it now is. Although the author is an academic (Professor of Architecture at Pitt) the writing style is reasonably warm and pleasant. Tales of individual buildings and neighbourhoods are told with passion and a precise eye for landscape and cityscape. There are more places celebrated in this history than people, but that's for another volume I suppose.There are illustrations aplenty and the book is a marvelous guide for anyone who wants to explore one of North America's truly unique urban environments.