Burke Building - The Survivor of 1845

Photo: Nyttend, public domain (cropped)

A stop on Spooky Pittsburgh Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Hurry along Fourth Avenue and you might walk right past this modest stone front, which is exactly what makes it remarkable. Built in 1836 for attorneys Robert and Andrew Burke, to a Greek Revival design by English-born architect John Chislett, it is Pittsburgh's oldest surviving office building. Downtown, only the blockhouse you just left is older.

On April 10, 1845, fire broke out and raced through the young city. When it was over, more than a thousand buildings were gone, and much of early Pittsburgh with them. The Burke Building came through, and today it is the city's only remaining large Greek Revival building.

There is no famous ghost here, and it does not need one. Study the columns and heavy stone lintels and picture smoke rolling down these streets, then imagine the owners coming back to find their building still standing. Fourth Avenue grew up around it into the city's banking street.

Getting here: Leave the park on the downtown side and walk east along Fourth Avenue, about 6 minutes, to 209-211 Fourth Avenue near Market Street.

Did you know?: The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation named the Burke Building a landmark in 1970, and it joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Photo op: Cross Fourth Avenue to fit the whole symmetrical stone front in one shot; at dusk the streetlights warm the stone.

More on Wikipedia: Burke Building · Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation

Burke Building - The Survivor of 1845

Stops on this tour