The old Allegheny County Jail in downtown

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

is part of a complex (along with the

Allegheny County Courthouse The Allegheny County Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is part of a complex (along with the old Allegheny County Jail) designed by H. H. Richardson. The buildings are considered among the finest examples of the Romanesque Reviv ...

) designed by H. H. Richardson. The buildings are considered among the finest examples of the Romanesque Revival style for which Richardson is well known. The jail was built by the

Norcross Brothers Norcross Brothers Contractors and Builders was a nineteenth-century American construction company, especially noted for their work, mostly in stone, for the architectural firms of H.H. Richardson and McKim, Mead & White. The company was founded by J ...

between 1884 and 1886 (the year of Richardson's death), and the courthouse was finished in 1888 under the supervision of

Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge was a successful architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, operating between 1886 and 1915, with extensive commissions in monumental civic, religious, and collegiate architecture in the spirit and style of Henry ...

. The two structures are linked across Ross Street by a "Bridge of Sighs" (so called for its similarity to the famous bridge in Venice, Italy). Additions were made 19031905 by

Frederick J. Osterling Frederick John Osterling (October 4, 1865, Duquesne, Pennsylvania – July 5, 1934, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was an American architect, practicing in Pittsburgh from 1888. Frederick J. Osterling was born to Philip and Bertha Osterling in Dra ...

. In 1892, anarchist

Alexander Berkman Alexander Berkman (November 21, 1870June 28, 1936) was a Russian-American anarchist and author. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century, famous for both his political activism and his writing. Be ...

was held here awaiting trial for the attempted murder of industrialist H. C. Frick. In 1902, condemned brothers Jack and Ed Biddle escaped from the jail with the aid of the warden's wife. (The 1984 film

Mrs. Soffel ''Mrs. Soffel'' is a 1984 American drama film directed by Gillian Armstrong, starring Diane Keaton and Mel Gibson and based on the story of condemned brothers Jack and Ed Biddle, who escaped prison with the aid of the warden's wife, Kate Soffel. ...

, based on the incident, includes shots of the jail exterior and then-interior scenes, and the production took 3 days to finish and some prisoners were used as extras in the movie.) The jail and courthouse were added to the

List of City of Pittsburgh historic designations A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...

on December 26, 1972. They were added to the List of National Historic Landmarks on May 11, 1976. A new jail opened in spring 1995, and the original jail now houses the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Family Division.HighBeam
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Gallery

File:RichardsonAlleghenyCHBridge.jpg, The old Allegheny County Jail (at left) and its "Bridge of Sighs" spanning Ross Street. File:AlleghenyCountyJail.JPG, The current Allegheny County Jail at 950 Second Avenue in Pittsburgh, PA

References

{{Pittsburgh Government buildings in Pittsburgh City of Pittsburgh historic designations Henry Hobson Richardson buildings Government buildings completed in 1886 Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Pennsylvania