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Oakland in 1950...

Of all the Oakland pictures I've seen, this may be the most interesting. Cool to see all of the open space, the old buildings along 5th, and what was there before the towers.

Never knew there was a row of homes in front of WPIC.
Yep. I agree. I ran here to post the same pic but figured HOF would beat me to it. And He did.

Really interesting stuff!
 
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Of all the Oakland pictures I've seen, this may be the most interesting. Cool to see all of the open space, the old buildings along 5th, and what was there before the towers.

Never knew there was a row of homes in front of WPIC.
What is that building in front of Presbyterian? Is that a Children’s Hospital before the other Children’s Hospital that was torn down a few years back?
 
Looks like 5th Avenue just ends down by halket St and Carlow College. Probably just an illusion.
 
I see a perfect parking lot in front of stadium for tailgating, bean bags, beer pong, and overall debauchery. Let’s immediately get rid of it and build falk library and the school of medicine facility SMH.

you people have no sense, twisted priorities.
 
What is that building in front of Presbyterian? Is that a Children’s Hospital before the other Children’s Hospital that was torn down a few years back?

Yes. I believe that building remained intact until childrens moved. Just didn't stand out with everything built up around it.
 
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Yes. I believe that building remained intact until childrens moved. Just didn't stand out with everything built up around it.
Yeah. I want to say they built another children’s hospital around that building (50/60’s type architecture), and it became one of those buildings you see from time to time where the floors don’t match up. I could be wrong.
 
It really took me a while to figure out the landmarks in this pic and exactly where it was.

I figured out Holland Hall and Schenley Quad first, then the church across the street, then the Frick middle school heading up to Benedum Hall (which isn't built yet). Looks like Benedum was built on that parking lot.

Towers didn't exist yet.

The stadium was up in the corner, so I didn't notice it at first glance.

I
 
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Yeah. I want to say they built another children’s hospital around that building (50/60’s type architecture), and it became one of those buildings you see from time to time where the floors don’t match up. I could be wrong.
I've had to spend a lot of time at the new Childrens Hospital, and on the way to the cafeteria they have a nice display on the wall about the history of PGH children's hospital as well as Pittsburgh in general over the same timespan. On the display, there's a picture of that old Children's building and I always wondered where it was exactly because I had never seen it, at least never seen it in a form that resembled what was pictured on the display. This old photo finally clears that up for me!

Everything between Presby and Montefiore looks like residential. How did Pitt/UPMC acquire all that land for the Biomedical building and parking lots and garages that are there now?

Also, there looks to be a giant housing project behind Carlow. Is that still there? It occupies a lot of land.
 
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Very similar shot

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I worked for Childrens hospital back during the move. Was in that old building quite often. What a confusing mess that old place was.

And the housing project in the background was redeveloped, I want to say right around 2000.
 
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Pretty cool to see how imposing the old Presby building was when there wasn't much around it. Would be cool to be able to drive up and access the old main entrance, must be buried in there somewhere.
 
Great pic. Thanks for sharing. I was still a twinkle in my dad’s eye in 1950....LOL...
 
These pictures are a great reminder of what makes Oakland special. I love the contrast between crappy run down buildings right next to landmarks. It makes Oakland Oakland.
 
Sad that modern architecture looks so crappy. Thank god the LRDC building is coming down. Benedum isn't much better.

I think the LRDC is a few ticks better than Benedum. To me, Benedum is a vertical representation of Forbes Quad. Would love for that whole section to get ripped out (aside from the Frick School) and build tall there.
 
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