Customer Reviews

Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pittsburgh is a city of surprises, most of them positive for out-of-towners. This book capably explains how the city became what it once was and what it now is.

Although the author is an academic (Professor of Architecture at Pitt) the writing style is reasonably warm and pleasant. Tales of individual buildings and neighbourhoods are told with passion and a precise eye for landscape and cityscape. There are more places celebrated in this history than people, but that's for another volume I suppose.

There are illustrations aplenty and the book is a marvelous guide for anyone who wants to explore one of North America's truly unique urban environments.

If this book had been titled Pittsburgh: an Architectural Portrait I may well have rated it at 5 stars. Of course, had it been titled such, I probably wouldn't of picked it up. It was not until I read a previous reviewers comments that I understood the inclination of the author to include extreme architectural details of many specific buildings in Pittsburgh. I found myself wading through much of the architectural descriptions searching for other points of interest. Had I been reading the book from the point of view of a student of architecture, I'm sure I would of found the book interesting. Instead I found much of it tedious. I did find the historical and social commentary interesting but lacking, leaving me feeling wanting more, which is why I sought such a book in the first place.

Dr. Toker presents a wonderful history of Pittsburgh, keying on the buildings as the primary visual points of reference. There is a great deal of architectural detail, but that should not deter the reader with minimal insight into the field. The book is full of wonderful surprises and insights into the development of the city and individuals who drove the development. This is a book not just to be read but to be carried and used as a guide book as you explore Pittsburgh. One can only hope that an updated revision is planned to capture the development in Pittsburgh over the past twenty years.

Bought this book for a friend, so I can't give too much of a review on it.

From what I did see, the book was very detailed on the buildings of Pittsburgh in the late 80s and early 90s, some of which have 100+ years of history. From the write-ups that I read, the book did go into detail about the historical buildings around Pittsburgh.

I'd like to see a newly updated version of this book.

This is a top notch book to get to know Pittsburgh more deeply. I love the descriptions of the neighborhoods. Caution though, North on the maps is usually not at the top.