Pittsburgh, PA: Alcoa Headquarters Buildings

Current World Headquarters: (Satellite)

1953 Headquarters Alcoa Building: (Satellite, this has been converted to apartments.)

Technical Center: (Satellite)

I knew that the Pittsburgh area made a lot of steel. I've learned that it also made aluminum.

In fact, one of the inventors of the Hall-Héroult Process (electrolysis), Charles Martin Hall, founded the Pittsburgh Reduction Co. in 1888 in Pittsburgh. [alcoa_history]

The manufacturing facility was in New Kensington. The research facility is still there.

In 1953 they completed the Alcoa Building. It is completely clad with aluminum. It was the headquarters for over 40 years.

HistoricPittsburgh
''The Alcoa Building (center), located at 425 6th Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh, used aluminum wherever possible including aluminum furniture, aluminum piping and wiring, and aluminum air-conditioning ducts. Its thirty-story tower is lighter and more efficient than buildings of comparable size at the time of its construction. The entire exterior wall of the structure was built using prefabricated aluminum sheets that contained both windows and the floor zone. These windows swung open in special inflatable rubber gaskets containing neoprene that minimized heat from the sun's rays and also required minimal cleaning and maintenance on the exterior. Construction began in 1951 and was completed in 1953. The architectural firms involved on this project were Harrison & Abramovitz, along with Altenhof & Bown and Mitchell & Ritchey. The Alcoa Building stands on the site of the renowned Beaux Arts-style Nixon Theater and the building is presently referred to as the Regional Enterprise Tower. Mellon Park is in the center foreground."

It was then converted to residential units.

PMC

1952:

alcoa_history

First Aluminum-Sheathed High-Rise Building

Featuring an all-aluminum exterior and many other innovative architectural elements, the Alcoa Building in Downtown Pittsburgh is completed. It will serve as the company’s headquarters for more than 40 years. It also ushers in a new era of high-rise buildings clad in Alcoa aluminum.

The round-corner windows are a maintenance issue. [reddit]

HistoricPittsburgh, cropped
"Sample Section of a Stamped Aluminum Panel for the Alcoa Building"

Then they built a world headquarters on the north side of the Allegheny River between the Andy Warhol and Rachel Carson Bridges.

Boat View, Jan 2021

The Andy Warhol Bridge is on the right.

Street View, Oct 2024