The Rookery

Daniel H. Burnham and J. W. Root
1885-88




This building takes its odd name from a temporary city hall at this location which was the favoriate gathering place of pigeons. One of the oldest precursors of modern skyscrapers, this eleven-story structure was designed as an office building. The exterior walls are load-bearing masonry walls. The interior contains a light court and atrium.

 

Detail of the front and windows of the third register

 

The entrance and the bowed entrance bay

The ornament on this building with its belt courses, bowed central bay, and interrupted cornice contrasts strikingly with the later Monadnock Building.



Other Burnham buildings on this site include: the Frick Building, Merchant's Exchange Building, the Reliance Building, details of the Monadnock Building, and the Pittsburgh Union Station.



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