Carnegie Gifts.

Andrew Carnegie left a number of buildings to the people of Pittsburgh.  I went through the rest of the buildings yesterday morning, before I left the city.  "Free to the People" is the grand Carnegie Library.

The cornerstone of the complex of buildings.

All Carnegie buildings have the names s of poets, writers, scientists, artists and composers scribed in a surround of the structure.  This is the library building.

The book as heraldic emblem.

Details on the staircase of the library.

More detail.

This is a well-used library, by students of the colleges and universities  as well as people of the city.

The third story of the building is the Pennsylvania research section.

Portia and her speech:  "The quality of mercy is not straineth...."

Several monumental statues in front of the Carnegie Music Hall.

And here is the great Irish composer, Victor Herbert.

As one of the librarians pointed  out, Andrew Carnegie built the buildings but left no endowment for their maintenance.  He was a canny Scotsman.  At least one of the Carnegie Mellon University buildings was constructed next to the train tracks so that it could be turned into a factory if the university idea did not work out.   Here in Seattle, at least two of the branch libraries I use -- University and Green Lake -- are also original Carnegie libraries.