Parran Hall
Encyclopedia
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
on Fifth Avenue in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The building, constructed to house the Graduate School of Public Health
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
The Graduate School of Public Health is one of 17 schools comprising the University of Pittsburgh. The school, founded in 1948, was first led by Thomas Parran, surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service. It is ranked as the 11th best such school in the United States by US News and World...
, was completed in 1957, and designed by Eggers & Higgins
Eggers & Higgins
Eggers & Higgins was a New York architectural firm partnered by Otto Reinhold Eggers and Daniel Paul Higgins . The architects were responsible for the construction phase of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial beginning in 1939, two years after the death of its original architect, John Russell Pope,...
, architects of the Dirksen Senate Office Building
Dirksen Senate Office Building
The Dirksen Senate Office Building is the second office building constructed for members of the United States Senate in Washington, D.C., and was named for the late Minority Leader Everett Dirksen from Illinois in 1972.-History:...
, in the International Style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...
with a major addition by Deeter-Ritchey-Sippel and Crump completed in 1967. The school was founded in 1948 with a $13.6 million grant from the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust.
The nine-story building is the primary home of the Graduate School of Public Health
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
The Graduate School of Public Health is one of 17 schools comprising the University of Pittsburgh. The school, founded in 1948, was first led by Thomas Parran, surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service. It is ranked as the 11th best such school in the United States by US News and World...
. The building encompasses an entire city block bounded by Fifth Avenue, Bouquet, O'Hara, and DeSoto Streets. It contains a 282 seat auditorium, lounge, administrative offices, seminar rooms, classrooms, and faculty offices.
Thomas Parran
Thomas Parran, Jr.
Thomas Parran, Jr. was an American physician and Public Health Service officer. He was appointed the sixth Surgeon General of the United States from 1936 to 1948.-Early years :...
, former Surgeon General of the United States
Surgeon General of the United States
The Surgeon General of the United States is the operational head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government...
. Following a career as the health commissioner of New York State and three four-year terms as U.S. Surgeon General, Thomas Parran came to Pitt to help establish the Graduate School of Public Health. He was internationally renowned for programs such as one to expose and stamp out syphilis. He served as dean of the school from 1948 to 1958 and helped develop the University's total medical science program.
"Man"
The bronze and steel sculpture hanging high atop Parran Hall's facade, "Man" by Virgil CantiniVirgil Cantini
Virgil David Cantini was an enamelist,sculptor and educator. He was well known for innovation with enamel and steel and received both local and national recognition for his work, including honorary awards, competitive prizes and commissions, along with a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1957...
, symbolizes the human quest for knowledge, with special reference to international research in the health fields. The dynamic composition shows an outstretched, skeletal figure in bronze surrounded by upward-moving, randomly placed peaks of varying sizes. Close-set circular steel bands unify the piece. The peaks represent the elevation of humanity above the mundane or peaks of progress. The circle represents universality. Originally lighted in front to dramatize the features of the sculpture, the lighting was removed when students began climbing the light and redirecting its rays into Cathedral of Learning
Cathedral of Learning
The Cathedral of Learning, a Pittsburgh landmark listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh's main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...
classrooms or residence hall rooms.
Crabtree Hall
A major renovation and infrastructure upgrade for Parran and Crabtree halls has been targeted to enter the design phase in 2010. The initial plans call for a 57000 square feet (5,295.5 m²) addition to be built over the auditorium of Parran Hall that will add four floors for research and other space for the Graduate School of Public Health.