Lucky in Love
Make your wish come true with any one of these six "fountains of love" in downtown Pittsburgh as the picture-perfect backdrop to your formal or candid wedding photographs. Picking just one can be a toss-up (so take a penny for good luck).
Urban Oasis: Mellon Green, Grant Street at Sixth Avenue
Tucked into the shadow of the city’s skyscrapers (in front of One Mellon Bank Center, and across from the Allegheny Court House, providing a view of this national architectural landmark) the fountain’s tall pillars echo the surrounding cityscape as water shoots and spills down to the graduated steps below. Beside the benches surrounding the fountain, flowers provide flashes of color, while manicured trees enhance this city garden with touches of green.
Get to the Point: Point State Park
Where better to capture images of your Pittsburgh nuptials than at the apex of the Golden Triangle? At the meeting of the city’s three rivers, in Point State Park, rises a geyser encircled in a pool of splashing water surrounded by concrete and stone, with the city’s breathtaking skyline rising in the background.
Cool Runnings: David L. Lawrence Convention Center, 1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd.
With its gracefully sloping suspended steel and glass roof, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center provides a sweeping elegance to the cityscape. Underneath the building, beginning at street level then sloping down to 4 feet above the Allegheny River, is a 90,000-gallon, modern yet graceful water garden that leads directly to the shores of the riverfront, providing unsurpassed views of the North Shore.
Theatrical Staging: Agnes R. Katz Plaza, Penn Avenue and Seventh Street
Not far from the O’Reilly Theater in the heart of the Cultural District, a bronze sculpture by artist Louise Bourgeois towers 25 feet in a modern urban oasis. Water gently cascades down the sloping sides of the structure, swirling to the earthy brick below as watchful "eyes" of sculpture look on nearby, providing a place for a brief respite from the demands of the big day.
Reflections of Love: The Plaza at PPG Place, Market Street between Third and Fourth avenues
Just like your love, this fountain has no barriers. Springs of water, some reaching 15 feet high, shoot up from the ground and dance around the plaza’s granite obelisk, reflecting in the facade of PPG’s Gothic glass castle. Save this spot for fairer weather. The obelisk and fountain area are transformed into a nostalgic outdoor skating rink from mid-November through March.
Steel Magnolia: U.S. Steel Plaza, 600 Grant St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues
Filled with harried corporate types looking for a scenic spot to enjoy a quick bite or cup of coffee, the plaza sometimes is so busy the fountain nearly disappears into the background of the workday. But when the plaza is quiet, the splashing waters take center stage, fronting the city’s tallest building rising 64 stories into the sky and providing a towering Steel Town setting.
