Located at 4400 Bigelow Boulevard,[5] it held numerous events over the years, mainly highlighted by concerts of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and numerous internationally recognized music performers, as well as comedians and political rallies and speeches. In addition to the main theater, events also took place in the building's smaller "Syria Mosque Ballroom" space.
The Medinah Temple in Chicago (constructed one year after this building by the same firm) is a similar building still in existence (though now converted to retail space).
Despite community efforts to have Syria Mosque designated a historic landmark, the building was demolished August 27, 1991.[6]
History
Pakistani-Canadian architect Gulzar Haider[7][8] described the appearance of the building circa 1960:
As we turned onto a minor street on the University of Pittsburgh campus, [my host] pointed to a vertical neon sign that said in no uncertain terms “Syria Mosque.” Parking the car, we approached the building. I was fascinated, albeit with some premonition. I was riveted by the cursive Arabic calligraphy on the building: la ghalib il-Allah, “There is no victor but Allah,” the well-known refrain [inscribed on the walls of][9]Granada’s Alhambra. Horseshoe arches, horizontal bands of different colored bricks, decorative terra-cotta—all were devices to invoke a Moorish memory. Excitedly, I took a youthful step towards the lobby, when my host turned around and said, "This is not the kind of mosque in which you bend up and down facing Mecca. This is a meeting hall–theater built by Shriners, a nice bunch of people who build hospitals for [disabled] children and raise money through parades and circuses."[7]
Birthplace of network television
On January 11, 1949, from 8:30 pm to 11 pm EST, KDKA-TV (then WDTV and part of the DuMont Television Network) began its initial broadcast on its "network" centered in Pittsburgh. The program began with a one-hour local show broadcast from Syria Mosque, then finished with 90 minutes from ABC, CBS, NBC, and DuMont, featuring stars such as Arthur Godfrey, Milton Berle, DuMont host Ted Steele, and many other celebrities.[10] The station also represented a milestone in the television industry, providing the first "network" of a coaxial cable feed that included Pittsburgh and 13 other cities from Boston to St. Louis.[11]
Demolition
Despite community efforts to have the building designated a historic landmark, the Syria Mosque was torn down on August 27, 1991.[6] The site serves as a parking lot for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Plans were announced that University of Pittsburgh would acquire it from the medical center in 2016.[12]
Jim Croce on February 23, 1973. Croce was scheduled to return to the Syria Mosque on October 27 that year, but he died in a plane crash on September 20.
^"Coming to Mosque". The Pittsburgh Courier. January 26, 1946. p. 1. ProQuest202189809. Miss Carol Brice, young contralto, will appear with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orhcestra at Syria Mosque on Friday and Sunday Nights. Miss Brice returns here by special request of Dr. Fritz Reiner, conductor of the orchestra.
^"Coming to Mosque". The Pittsburgh Courier. September 9, 1950. p. 14. ProQuest202256174. Billy Eckstine, Pittsburgh's own, will star in a concert at the Syria Mosque on Wednesday, Oct. 11. George Shearing and his combo will be featured along with Miles Davis' All-Stars. The concert is sponsored by the Guardsman of Pittsburgh.
^"Coming Here". The Pittsburgh Courier. February 3, 1951. p. 22. ProQuest202271687. Tommy Dorsey, his trombone and his orchestra, featuring Frances Irvin and Johnny Amoroso and vocalists, will step into Syria Mosque, Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 8:30 P.M., along with King Cole and his trio, to play for the Pittsburgh Guardsmen's Melodic Concert.
^Jay Warner, On This Day in Black Music History (Hal Leonard Corporation, 2006):125.
