Form Follows Fundraising: The Cathedral of Learning and Philanthropy in Pittsburgh between the World Wars

About this event

In this the centennial year of the groundbreaking of the Cathedral of Learning, Drew Armstrong presents research from his book-in-progress on the planning, construction and fundraising for this visionary academic building. When the design for the proposed 52-story skyscraper was first unveiled to the public in November 1924, a $10 million campaign was launched at the same time to pay for its construction. The management and outcomes of that initial campaign will be the subject of Armstrong’s talk, in which he will examine the array of individuals, corporations and organizations involved and unpack the University of Pittsburgh’s role in shaping the Steel City’s Post-World War I ambitions.

Drew Armstrong is Associate Professor of History of Art & Architecture and director of Architectural Studies. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Toronto, he was a co-editor of Narrating the Globe: The Emergence of World Histories of Architecture (MIT, 2023), author of Julien-David Leroy and the Making of Architectural History (Routledge, 2011) and of articles on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American and European art and architecture.