Points in Pittsburgh
The Oliver Building
Does a skyscraper and the capitalist for whom it’s been made matter? Judging from reader response to my article for the Pittsburgh Quarterly winter 2024 edition, it can. From the building namesake’s great grandson, John Oliver, whom I met and interviewed at his Oliver Building office, to readers across America, at least a few value the tale of a self-made industrialist and the building created in his name.
Personally, I became aware of this early Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania skyscraper as a boy. My mother, a native Pittsburgher like me, once worked in the Oliver Building. Her gilded memories of entering its grand marble lobby, riding up the magnificent, carefully calibrated elevators and working in its interior offices—each and every one of which is bathed in natural daylight—captured my imagination.
I finally visited, toured and worked, celebrated and temporarily resided in the Oliver Building in preparation for researching, writing and editing the article, which took two years to write. It’s where I celebrated winning the Best Sports Journalism award from the Western Pennsylvania Press Club (for my retrospective on the plane crash death, altruism and heroism of the late Pittsburgh Pirate Roberto Clemente). It’s the place where I enjoyed the company of Doctor Amesh Adalja, whom I profiled for an article in another Pittsburgh publication. It’s where I met my friend Denise Jackson, who assisted my research, helps operate the company that owns the building and now reads and subscribes to Autonomia and Short Stories by Scott Holleran.
I am always enchanted by the Oliver Building. I’m proud to know that my mom—who read the article—worked in these offices. I know that writing about the manmade with reverence is rare in a culture in which nature, earth and everything non or anti-human is fetishized, ritualized and glorified in religionism to the neglect and diminishment of that which is made by man. I’m happy to have created an exception.
Read my article on the Oliver Building—also the book review of the biography of the American gentleman and capitalist who made it possible—online while you can.
Related Links and Articles
Read “The Oliver Building” in Pittsburgh Quarterly by Scott Holleran
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