AHN Allegheny General Hospital to Begin Major Exterior Restoration of Historic South Tower

One of the country's first 'skyscraper' hospitals, iconic North Side structure has been home to pioneering medical and surgical care

Facility also serves as backdrop, inspiration for Emmy® Award-winning HBO Max Original drama series 'THE PITT'

PITTSBURGH - Inside the historic South Tower of AHN Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), the North Side hospital's founders etched into a stone wall, "Erected for the benefit of mankind to save life, relieve suffering and conserve health." After 90 years of fulfilling that mission, the 22-story facility is set to undergo a multi-year, $36 million exterior restoration that will extend the life of the building and maintain its original architectural beauty for generations to come.

Next month, contractors will begin erecting scaffolding that will surround the tower in phases throughout the four-year duration of the project.

The restoration work will encompass an overhaul of the masonry façade, ornamental terra cotta and the replacement or restoration of the building's more than 800 windows. Approximately 60,000 square feet of roof will be repaired or replaced at multiple elevations. A blend of traditional craftsmanship and modern techniques will be used to preserve the historic structure, including the iconic cathedral windows at the very top.

The project is anticipated to be completed in 2030. Mascaro Construction Company, L.P. will serve as the general contractor. Hospital officials emphasize that patient care and hospital operations will not be impacted at any time during work on the tower.

"Over the past century, AGH has served as a beacon of hope and healing for millions of patients, not just from Pittsburgh and its surrounding regions, but from across the country and around the world," said Imran Qadeer, MD, president, AGH. "This project is critical to ensuring the hospital's South Tower remains a cornerstone of our clinical campus and home to many offices and clinics that support our exceptional caregivers and help us deliver remarkable health experiences to those who receive our services."

Since opening in 1885 as a 50-bed operation housed inside two adjoining brick homes on Pittsburgh's North Side, AGH has become one of the country's premier health care institutions. The original hospital was replaced in 1904 by a seven-story, 400-bed facility with modern amenities such as an on-site laboratory, pharmacy and more.

Responding to increasing demand for its services, the hospital's South Tower was completed in 1936. This iconic yellow brick building was one of the nation's first high-rise hospitals, featuring advanced patient care capabilities for its era. These included operating rooms, research laboratories, a pediatric wing, maternity ward, X-ray department, and a cardiology department.

The tower was also equipped with cutting-edge technology for the time, such as pneumatic tubes, call boxes and a state-of-the-art phone system that facilitated communication among hospital employees.

The columned, cathedral-like structure at the top of the skyscraper is a 20th-century interpretation of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, a royal tomb built in what was then ancient Greece.

Further expansion of the campus included an East Wing, which opened in 1960, followed by the Snyder Pavilion - the hospital's current inpatient structure - in 1981, and the North West Wing - which currently houses the hospital's trauma unit, emergency department and LifeFlight base, which opened in 1995. More recently, the AHN Cancer Institute at AGH, which serves as the network's central hub for cancer care, opened in 2020.

Over the years, AGH continued to push the boundaries of medicine and research, particularly in areas such as thoracic surgery, shock trauma care, cancer treatment, orthopaedic surgery, organ transplants and, most notably, open-heart surgery.

Built on the foundation laid by renowned surgical pioneer George Magovern, MD, by 1998, AGH was performing more than 1,500 open-heart procedures annually, the largest volume of any hospital in the state, serving patients from across the country and around the world. Dr. Magovern performed the world's second lung transplant in 1963 and pioneered a sutureless heart valve replacement procedure that dramatically improved patient outcomes and became a new standard of care.

Other notable AGH clinicians and researchers include Donald Fisher, MD, a pioneering cardiologist who established the region's first cardiac catheterization lab and performed one of the world's first heart defibrillations; Claude Joyner Jr., MD, whose landmark 1963 article, "Reflected Ultrasound in the Assessment of Mitral Valve Disease," introduced echocardiography to the U.S.; Milton Jena, MD, a distinguished cancer researcher who established one of the region's first cancer labs; Donald Whiting, MD, a neurosurgeon and pioneer in the use of Deep Brain Stimulation for movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and dystonia; and Jeffrey Cohen, MD, a urologist who established AGH as a leading center for minimally invasive surgical treatment of prostate cancer and one of the first physicians globally to use lasers for kidney stone treatment.

Today, as the network's flagship academic medical center, AGH continues to be home to some of the nation's foremost institutes for cancer care, cardiovascular medicine and surgery, neurosciences, orthopedic surgery, trauma care, and organ transplantation, among other specialties. It is the region's premier Level 1 trauma center and a regional referral facility for the sickest patients and most complex cases. Its more than 5,000 employees help care for hundreds of thousands of patients annually.

AGH and its iconic South Tower are also currently starring in the world's most-streamed hit television series, serving as the backdrop and inspiration for the Emmy® Award-winning HBO Max Original drama series, 'THE PITT,' from Warner Bros. Television.

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