Additional Photos
(click to enlarge)

A “pro-forma” written by engineers
Patterson and Hallem, as well as architect Charles Bickle, dated December 13, 1898 presented a financial plan as well as a case for success. Bickle was a very prolific architect around the turn of the century, and designed some sixty buildings. Bickle’s structures that
have survived include: South Side Market House, South Side Mellon Bank, The Original Kaufmanns, The Granite Building, and the old CNG Building on Penn Avenue.
Construction began on July 1, 1904, and was finally completed on May 31, 1906, creating what was clearly a state of the art warehouse facility. The cost was
approximately $1.5 million.

Modeled after the Cupples Station in St. Louis, the building boasts of its accessibility by river, rail and road.  Literature dated December 31, 1916 refers to: steel frame construction, vitrified brick and tile fireproofing, 7,730 sprinkler heads, 41 freight elevators, the ability to generate steam and electric, 70,000 square feet refrigeration plant, individual loading docks, first floor wagon
house that can accommodate over 100 wagons, blacksmith shop and

veterinary’s office. The press release written at that time describes the building as the “largest” in Pittsburgh and “the largest structure of it’s kind between New York and Chicago.”

The original investors included George Westinghouse, George M. Laughlin Jr., James Buchanan and Captain James A. Henderson. Some years later, it was acquired by the J.H. Hillman Corporation until the mid-sixties. At that point, the major tenant, American Hardware left for a new facility in Butler, leaving the Terminal 75%
vacant. General tenants and friends of Dan Lackner of Paper Products, bought the building. The building today is owned by the same families, having now been passed down to the second and third generations. As the century changed, the same group of investors that
purchased the property in 1963 have converted the building to a state-of-the-art facility to be used for the next hundred years, while respecting the structural integrity of the 100-year-old building. Following an extensive and multimillion dollar renovation, the new name became:
River Walk Corporate Centre