Mark Houser is an author, professional speaker, and award-winning journalist who shares surprising and inspirational stories about the men and women behind America’s landmark skyscrapers. And he’s a great Pittsburgher!

Combining a walking tour and site visits with a classroom session, this course provides a history of skyscrapers in Pittsburgh focusing on three noteworthy examples. The city has a collection of landmark skyscrapers thanks to its great industrial wealth, making Pittsburgh an ideal showcase for these American innovations that rapidly came to dominate urban skylines around the world. Class will compare various architectural styles from pre-1900 to the modern era, discuss how they were built and who paid to build them, and demonstrate how skyscrapers today blend some original interiors with spaces repurposed and adapted for new use.

1 p.m. – Koppers Conference Center, 436 Seventh Ave., presentation “Skyscrapers of Pittsburgh: Legacies of Steel and Stone”

2:15 p.m. – Tours

Location: tour meets at Koppers Conference Center (enter the building lobby and go down the stairs to the conference room area)