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Western Pennsylvania » The Western Capital—Pittsburgh and Allegheny County » North Side and the Allegheny Valley » Mattress Factory

Mattress Factory

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c. 1870; 1991 interior renovation, Joel Kranich; 2003 addition, Landmark Design Associates. 500 Sampsonia Way
  • (Photograph by Popscreenshot, CC BY-SA 4.0)

This brick six-story former factory, which for about a century produced mattresses, was converted into a leading site for installation art in 1977, though the interior was not materially changed until a renovation in the 1990s. The ceilings and windows are high, the interior volumes capacious, and the galleries numerous enough that whole rooms can be dedicated to certain installations for decades. As well as its changing exhibitions featuring experimental artists, it has a growing permanent collection, including work by James Turrell. The gallery was expanded with an addition in 2003. A mesmerizing visual experience of art and architecture inside, Winifred Lutz created an interesting ruins garden outside beginning in 1993, using the foundations of homes and outbuildings that once stood next door.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lu Donnelly et al.
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Data

Timeline

  • 1869

    Built

  • 1991

    Renovated

  • 2003

    Addition

What's Nearby

Mexican War Streets
Allegheny West
Children's Museum of Pittsburgh
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Allegheny Branch

Citation

Lu Donnelly et al., "Mattress Factory", [Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-01-AL77.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 1

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Lu Donnelly, H. David Brumble IV, and Franklin Toker. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, 95-95.

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