Events
Historical Walking Tour: Beautify the City, Stretch the Mind, Lift the Spirit
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In the 1890s the City Beautiful urban planning philosophy emerged in the U.S. in response to the squalor and physical chaos caused by very rapid industrial and urban growth in the late 19th century. The movement’s goal was to beautify, introduce physical order, and bring monumental grandeur into the urban mess, to improve the physical, emotional, and moral health of cities’ residents. Oakland was the Pittsburgh neighborhood in which these principles took architectural form, thanks to Cleveland-born real estate developer Franklin Nicola. By the 1930s, the City Beautiful monuments were joined by several buildings constructed by or for the educational institutions with which Oakland is now so closely identified.
This tour will take in six Oakland buildings on the stretch of Fifth Avenue from the Mellon Institute to Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum that have become icons of institutional Oakland.
To learn additional tour details, click here!
