Grand Rotunda, Pennsylvanian, PIttsburgh

Beneath the Golden Shadows

The majestic grand rotunda of the Pennsylvanian Apartments in Pittsburgh, PA, dwarfs the single traveler passing through.

At the turn of the Century, a golden age when railroads were the fashionable way to travel, the then Pennsylvania Railroad erected a magnificent edifice, The Pennsylvanian Union Station. It was the gateway to Pittsburgh, the gateway to the West.

The spectacular entrance to this gateway is a National Treasure - The Rotunda. A grand circular dome, with skylight, supported by four arched corner turrents. Within the interior of the Rotunda are ornamental plaques, dated "1900", and naming the four great destinations - Pittsburgh, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago - serviced by Union Station. Above each plaque, the head of a woman, crowned with feathers, watching over these early travelers of a grand new age.

From the Rotunda, the journey continues to the Grand Concourse. Nearly 10,000 travelers a day journeyed through this majestic structure with its arched openings, marble floors, ornately decorated walls, and vaulted ceiling topped by a 40 foot high translucent skylight that bathes this space in natural light.

Adjoining the Grand Concourse, The Pennsylvanian Residential Apartments and Corporate Homes have their own private entry into a lifestyle of elegance and style reborn from a previous age.

Information source: www.thepennsylvanian.com/overview_index.htm

Copyright 2008, Amy Strycula

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