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42-661: The Hendel Building , more commonly known as the Skinny Building , is a commercial building in Downtown Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . At only 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) wide, it is one of the narrowest commercial buildings in the world, rivaling the Sam Kee Building in Vancouver which is considered the narrowest by Guinness World Records . The Kee building is 4 feet 11 inches (1.50 m) wide at

84-515: A Pittsburgh Public Schools 6–12 school: Downtown has several condos, including Gateway Towers and Chatham Place dating to the 1960s and more modern structures as well. There are over 5,000 apartment and condo units in Greater Downtown Pittsburgh. Dining car These cars provide the highest level of service of any railroad food service car, typically employing multiple servers and kitchen staff members. Consequently, they are

126-483: A business opportunity and secured a ten-year lease on McKee's lot. The Pittsburgh Gazette reported that "A frame building of 'shack' proportions is now being erected on the site. In this narrow stand will be a shoe shining emporium, an ice cream and soda dispensary, a peanut market, and a fruit stand." In 1907, Andrew Mellon bought the property from McKee for $ 40,000. Mellon sold the building in 1918 to one of its tenants, fruit vendor Louis Hendel, who paid $ 95,000. At

168-456: A central casement flanked by large panes on either side, with three or five small multi-pane transom lights above. The short sides of the building, facing Wood Street and Book Way, are one bay wide and have single-pane windows with multi-pane transom lights. The top of the building has a projecting cornice and a hipped tile roof that slopes up toward the neighboring Roberts building. The upper floors are accessed by narrow, steep staircases; there

210-405: A single entity, generally with one car containing a galley as well as table or booth seating and the other car containing table or booth seating only. In the dining cars of Amtrak 's modern bilevel Superliner trains, booth seating on either side of a center aisle occupies almost the entire upper level, with a galley below; food is sent to the upper level on a dumbwaiter . Dining cars enhance

252-475: A wealth of historic, cultural, and entertainment sites. While most people still consider the entire Downtown as one neighborhood, there are several significant subdistricts within the Golden Triangle. Downtown Pittsburgh retains substantial economic influence, ranking at 25th in the nation for jobs within the urban core and 6th in job density. University of Pittsburgh economist Christopher Briem notes that

294-702: Is also reportedly a basement. Downtown Pittsburgh Downtown Pittsburgh , colloquially referred to as the Golden Triangle , and officially the Central Business District , is the urban downtown center of Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River whose joining forms the Ohio River . The triangle is bounded by

336-732: Is bounded by the Monongahela River to the south, the Allegheny River to the north, and I-579 (Crosstown Boulevard) to the east. An expanded definition of Downtown may include the adjacent neighborhoods of Uptown/The Bluff , the Strip District , the North Shore , and the South Shore . Downtown is served by the Port Authority 's light rail subway system (known locally as the "T"), an extensive bus network, and two inclines ( Duquesne Incline and Monongahela Incline ). The Downtown portion of

378-641: The Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. These two grids intersect along Liberty Avenue, creating many unusual street intersections. Furthermore, the Allegheny grid contains numbered streets, while the Monongahela grid contains numbered avenues. And, in fact, there are cases where these numbered roadways intersect, creating some confusion (i.e. the intersection of Liberty Avenue and 7th Street/6th Avenue). This unusual grid pattern leads to Pittsburghers giving directions in

420-636: The Great Northern Railway . He said that "on a dining car, three elements can be considered -- the equipment, the employee, then passenger." In other words, "the whole is constituted by two-thirds of human parts." As cross-country train travel became more commonplace, passengers began to expect high-quality food to be served at the meals on board. The level of meal service on trains in the 1920s and 1930s rivaled that of high-end restaurants and clubs. They were first introduced in England on 1 November 1879 by

462-534: The Great Northern Railway Company on services between Leeds and London. A Pullman car was attached to the train for the purpose. As of 2018, Great Western Railway is the only UK train company to provide a full dining Pullman service on selected trains to the West Country & Wales . Elegance is one of the main words used to describe the concept of dining on a train. Use of fresh ingredients

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504-534: The Liberty Tunnels . The New York Times once called Pittsburgh "the only city with an entrance," specifically referring to the view of Downtown that explodes upon drivers immediately upon exiting the Fort Pitt Tunnel. Also traveling I-279 south and I-376 , the city "explodes into view" when coming around a turn in the highway. Downtown surface streets are based on two distinct grid systems that parallel

546-621: The Turquoise Room , promoted as "The only private dining room in the world on rails." The room accommodated 12 guests, and could be reserved anytime for private dinner or cocktail parties, or other special functions. The room was often used by celebrities and dignitaries traveling on the Super Chief . Edwin Kachel was a steward for more than twenty-five years in the Dining-Car Department of

588-465: The "so called building", alleging permit violations, but were not able to stop the project. Hendel's first tenants, a cigar store and a restaurant, signed their leases in early December. In 1928, the Lincoln Restaurant opened on the top two floors, catering to African-American customers who had few places to eat in the area. The Pittsburgh Courier reported that Hendel, a Jew, was sympathetic to

630-460: The "world's narrowest building", the restaurant was said to have a row of narrow tables along one wall like a dining car , and "drew a patronage composed chiefly of the curious." Evidently it was not a successful venture as it was already out of business by 1931. While the upper levels of the building did not see much use, the ground floor housed a number of tenants over the years, including Hendel's original fruit store. Although it eventually outgrew

672-582: The Roberts Building to office space, while the upper floors of the Skinny Building would be used to display art. PNC completed a renovation of the building in 2024. The Skinny Building is 80 feet (24 m) long and 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) wide. It is a three-story, steel-framed building with a brick, wood, and glass facade. The Forbes Avenue elevation is four bays wide with large, multi-pane windows. The windows vary in size, but each has

714-402: The black community: "Mr. Hendel owns the building in which the restaurant is located. Through his friendship with [restaurant proprietor] Mr. Jefferson and the desire to help the colored race, he has leased this property, disregarding the bitter comments of the nearby white business men, in order that we might have a decent place to eat in the downtown section." Advertising "cozy booths for two" in

756-560: The building's impractical dimensions, the second and third floors have not seen much use, but the ground floor has housed a number of different businesses including a popular lunch counter. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property in the Fourth Avenue Historic District . The narrow lot on which the building stands originated in 1903, when Diamond Street (now Forbes Avenue )

798-412: The city as a whole, not just the central business district; but the central business district has the highest density of employment of any Pittsburgh neighborhood. Pittsburgh has long been a headquarters city, with numerous national and global corporations calling the Golden Triangle home. Currently, Downtown is still home to a large number of Fortune 500 companies (7 in the metro area, 5 of which are in

840-632: The city in 2022, which ranks Pittsburgh high nationally in Fortune 500 headquarters): – co-headquartered in PPG Place – headquartered in the Tower at PNC Plaza – headquartered in PPG Place – headquartered at Station Square – headquartered at the US Steel Tower Downtown is also home to GNC , Dollar Bank , Equitable Resources , Duquesne Light , Federated Investors and Highmark as well as

882-474: The counter are generally considered to be an "intermediate" type of dining car. Before dining cars in passenger trains were common in the United States, a rail passenger's option for meal service in transit was to patronize one of the roadhouses often located near the railroad's " water stops ". Fare typically consisted of rancid meat, cold beans, and old coffee. Such poor conditions discouraged some from making

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924-454: The familiar restaurant experience with the unique visual entertainment of the ever-changing view. While dining cars are less common today than in the past (having been supplemented or in some cases replaced altogether by other types of food-service cars), they still play a significant role in passenger railroading, especially on medium- and long-distance trains. Today, a number of tourist-oriented railroads offer dinner excursions to capitalize on

966-410: The ground floor, but has overhanging bay windows on the second floor that extend to 6 feet (1.8 m). The Skinny Building's narrow lot was created in 1903 by a street widening project, and the building itself was constructed in 1926 by Louis Hendel (c. 1874–1945), partly out of spite for neighboring business owners who complained about him obstructing the sidewalk with his fruit-selling business. Due to

1008-521: The journey. Most railroads began offering meal service on trains even before the First transcontinental railroad . By the mid-1880s, dedicated dining cars were a normal part of long-distance trains from Chicago to points west, save those of the Santa Fe Railway , which relied on America's first interstate network of restaurants to feed passengers en route. The " Harvey Houses ", located strategically along

1050-415: The law?" Despite the bad press, Hendel decided in 1926 to double down on his investment by building a new three-story building on the site. According to family members, he was motivated at least partly by spite for his hostile neighbors. After an initial refusal, Hendel managed to secure a building permit from the city and began construction on July 29. The Diamond Street Sidewalks Association lobbied against

1092-595: The level of employment in the city has remained largely constant for the past 50 years: "[the] time series of jobs located in the City proper are about as stable as any economic metric in the region, or in any other Northeastern US urban core, over many decades. In 1958, [there were] 294,000 jobs located in the city proper...Those numbers are virtually identical today which tells me there is a certain limit to how many jobs can efficiently be located in what are some relatively (very) constrained areas." These numbers reflect employment in

1134-456: The line, served top-quality meals to railroad patrons during water stops and other planned layovers and were favored over in-transit facilities for all trains operating west of Kansas City . As competition among railroads intensified, dining car service was taken to new levels. When the Santa Fe unveiled its new Pleasure Dome lounge cars in 1951, the railroad introduced the travelling public to

1176-413: The most common dining car configurations, one end of the car contains a galley (with an aisle next to it so that passengers can pass through the car to the rest of the train), and the other end has table or booth seating on either side of a center aisle. Trains with high demand for dining car services sometimes feature "double-unit dining cars" consisting of two adjacent cars functioning to some extent as

1218-401: The most expensive to operate. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that do not duplicate the full-service restaurant experience, such as buffet cars , cars in which one purchases food from a walk-up counter to be consumed either within the car or elsewhere in the train. Grill cars, in which customers sit on stools at a counter and purchase and consume food cooked on a grill behind

1260-539: The neighboring Roberts Jewelers building, for $ 1.3 million. The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation used leftover money from a state grant to renovate the exteriors of both buildings in 2014. In 2021, the URA approved the sale of the Skinny Building and Roberts Building to PNC for $ 1.3 million. As part of the sale, PNC agreed to preserve the exteriors of both buildings and work with preservationists to make sure any changes are historically sensitive. PNC planned to convert

1302-495: The regional headquarters for Citizens Bank , Ariba , and Dominion Resources . Regional healthcare giant UPMC has its corporate headquarters in the US Steel Tower . Downtown is home to numerous parks, large and small: While Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood is known as the educational center of the city, Downtown is home to several higher education institutions as well as a branch of the city's Carnegie Library system and

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1344-473: The space, the company survived until the 1980s. (Hendel himself died in 1945 in Miami Beach .) Another successful tenant was a lunch counter called Raywell's, which operated from 1938 to 1979. Patrons of the restaurant sat on stools with their backs to the street, facing a narrow counter with about 18 inches (46 cm) of space behind for the employees—too narrow for the two waitresses to pass each other. A grill

1386-634: The suburbs include the "Parkway East" ( I-376 ) from Monroeville , the "Parkway West" ( I-376 ) from the airport area, and the "Parkway North" ( I-279 ) from the North Hills , and ( I-579 ) in Downtown Pittsburgh. Other important roadways are Pennsylvania Route 28 , Pennsylvania Route 51 , Pennsylvania Route 65 , and U.S. Route 19 . Three major entrances to the city are via tunnels: the Fort Pitt Tunnel and Squirrel Hill Tunnel on I-376 and

1428-632: The subway has the following stations: T Stations Downtown is also home to the Pittsburgh Amtrak train station connecting Pittsburgh with New York City, Philadelphia , and Washington, D.C. to the east and Cleveland and Chicago to the west. Greyhound 's Pittsburgh bus terminal is located across Liberty Avenue from the Amtrak Station, in the Grant Street Transportation Center building. Major roadways serving Downtown from

1470-463: The terms of landmarks, rather than turn-by-turn directions. Pittsburgh is nicknamed "The City of Bridges". In Downtown, there are 10 bridges (listed below) connecting to points north and south. The expanded definition of Downtown (including the aforementioned surrounding neighborhoods) includes 18 bridges. Citywide there are 446 bridges. In Allegheny County the number exceeds 2,200. Downtown Bridges Bridges of Expanded Downtown Downtown contains

1512-454: The time of the sale, The Gazette Times reported "The property has an obsolete improvement consisting of a one-story building. Mr. Hendel's place of business is in the rear, a cigar stand occupies the front, while a small restaurant is conducted in the intervening space." Hendel continued to run his business for the next eight years, but had frequent run-ins with authorities and neighboring business owners over sidewalk obstruction issues, as there

1554-498: The two rivers. The area features offices for major corporations such as PNC Bank , U.S. Steel , PPG , Bank of New York Mellon , Heinz , Federated Investors , and Alcoa . It is where the fortunes of such industrial barons as Andrew Carnegie , Henry Clay Frick , Henry J. Heinz , Andrew Mellon and George Westinghouse were made. It contains the site where the French fort, Fort Duquesne , once stood. The Central Business District

1596-488: The upstairs windows into an outward-facing art gallery displaying "images of, variously, graffiti art, vintage strippers and the late sportscaster Myron Cope ". It was listed as a contributing property in the Fourth Avenue Historic District when the boundaries of the district were increased in 2013. That same year, the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) bought the building, along with

1638-987: Was encouraged whenever possible. Some of the dishes prepared by chefs were: Braised Duck Cumberland, Hungarian Beef Goulash with Potato Dumplings, Lobster Americaine, Mountain Trout Au Bleu, Curry of Lamb Madras, Scalloped Brussels Sprouts, Pecan and Orange Sticks and Pennepicure Pie to name a few items. The Christmas menu for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway in 1882 listed the following items: Hunter's Soup, Salmon with Hollandaise Sauce, Boned Pheasant in Aspic Jelly, Chicken Salad, Salmis Prairie Chicken, Oyster Patties, Rice Croquette, Roast Beef, English Ribs of Beef, Turkey with Cranberry Sauce, Stuffed Suckling Pig with Applesauce, Antelope Steak with Currant Jelly, potatoes, green peas, tomatoes , sweet potatoes, Mince Pie, Plum Pudding, Cake, Ice Cream , Fruits and coffee. In one of

1680-514: Was installed in the corner. The building has housed various businesses since Raywell's closed and as of 2015 was occupied by a clothing store. In 2000, the Hendel Building was proposed for demolition as part of the Market Place redevelopment project, though this ultimately did not come to fruition. However, the debate brought attention to the unusual building. In 2001, community activists turned

1722-531: Was no room for customers inside the store. In 1926, a group called the Diamond Street Sidewalks Association was organized specifically to lobby against Hendel and other "sidewalk nuisances" along the street. Led by John Donahoe, who managed the Donahoe's food store next door to Hendel's business, the association ran advertisements targeting Hendel by name under the headline "Is this man higher than

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1764-505: Was widened in order to ease downtown traffic congestion. This required the demolition of several buildings on the north side of the street between Smithfield Street and Market Square , one of which was a two-story brick store owned by Hugh McKee. After the widening, only a 6-foot (1.8 m) by 80-foot (24 m) strip remained from McKee's formerly standard-sized lot. Other inconveniently sized parcels were consolidated into neighboring properties, but Greek-American entrepreneur D. J. Demas saw

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