Highland Building

The Highland Building is a thirteen-story building which is located in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Highland Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	121 S. Highland Ave, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°27′36″N 79°55′29″W
Area	0.2 acres (0.081 ha)
Built	1909
Architect	Burnham, D.H., Co.
Architectural style	Chicago
NRHP reference No.	91001123 [1]
Added to NRHP	September 06, 1991

History and architectural features

Construction on the building was completed in 1909, with Daniel Burnham being the principal designer.^[2][3] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.^[1]

Henry Clay Frick originally commissioned the building.^[2] Following the Chicago school of architecture style, the building features a granite base and terracotta exterior.^[2]

Beginning sometime around the 1960s, the building gradually fell into disrepair coinciding with the decline of East Liberty. A classical ornament on the roof was replaced with substandard material, allowing water to enter the basement. Over time, the interior essentially was destroyed.^[2]

The Highland Building subsequently experienced twenty years of complete dormancy during the latter part of the twentieth century and early twenty-first century. With assistance from the state of Pennsylvania and the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, a new renovation effort was launched in 2012 to restore the exterior and reconstruct the interior of the Highland Building, attach it to the adjacent three-story Wallace Building and convert the entire complex into one hundred and twenty-seven apartments. The project, now completed, is described as, "Walnut on Highland" and is mostly leased. Recently, the last of the retail space in the Wallace Building was filled by a Mexican Restaurant.^[4][5]