Ethereum

Highrise #17

Collection

Highrises

Description

**Koppers Building** **Art by:** Chris Hytha **Story by:** Mark Houser Heinrich Koppers of Germany developed an efficient industrial oven for producing coke, the essential fuel for iron and steel furnaces, while also capturing gas and tar byproducts for other uses. That interested U.S. Steel, so Koppers formed a Chicago company in 1907 to supply the American steel industry. Financier Andrew Mellon soon acquired a controlling stake and moved the company to Pittsburgh. During World War I, he forced the German founder out entirely, and soon thereafter became Secretary of the Treasury. Graham, Anderson, Probst & White designed the company’s Art Deco headquarters with a polished granite and limestone exterior and a chateau-style roof made of – what else – copper. It was briefly the city’s tallest skyscraper until overshadowed by the Gulf Building across the street, the headquarters of another company in the Mellon portfolio. Koppers grew into a sprawling industrial conglomerate until a 1988 British hostile takeover led to the sale of several divisions. Managers bought the chemicals business, which is still based in the skyscraper. The building’s three-story marble lobby with bronze accents has been extensively restored.

Traits

Style

Art Deco

City

Pittsburgh

Region

Northeast

Decade