Old Main and Chapel at Duquesne University

1953/1966

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Old Main and Chapel at Duquesne University
  • Title
  • Old Main and Chapel at Duquesne University
  • Creator
  • Photo Services - Duquesne University
  • Identifier
  • MSP117.B006.F03.I08
  • Source Identifier
  • MSP117.B006.F03.I08
  • Description
  • Duquesne University’s “Old Main” Building (pictured here on the right) is the current home of college’s administration offices. Local Pittsburgh architect William Kaufman designed the five-story structure in the early 1880s, which cost an estimated $150,000 to construct. The building originally served as an all purpose structure which housed student and faculty dormitories, classrooms, labs, a chapel, a sanctuary, an auditorium, a bakery, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, and exercise and locker rooms. The building was constructed of stone and clay and placed at the western end of "Boyd's Hill," also known as the "Bluff," an area overlooking the Monongahela River. The structure with its elaborate cupola, is a dominating fixture in the Pittsburgh skyline. The chapel (pictured on the left) was constructed under the patronage of Father Murphy in 1904. It was constructed of red brick in the Victorian Gothic style and features donated stained glass windows from Munich, Germany, which had the names of building donators inscribed on the glass on the bottom of each of the stained glass windows. The chapel also originally featured a wax image of Saint Romulus. Reverend John Griffin was responsible for the installation of an organ with 1290 pipes shortly after the building's completion.
  • Genre
  • photographs
  • Subject
  • Duquesne University.Administrative Building.
    Duquesne University.Old Main.
    Duquesne University.Chapel.
    Bluff (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    Chapels--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
  • Source
  • Pittsburgh Public Schools Photographs, 1880-1982, MSP 117, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center
  • Contributor
  • Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center
  • Collection
  • Pittsburgh Public Schools Photographs
  • Rights Information
  • In Copyright. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).. Rights Holder: Senator John Heinz History Center
    http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
  • Rights Holder
  • Senator John Heinz History Center