The Phipps is truly one of Pittsburgh's treasures. Aside from being just a really cool building, it's almost exactly as I remember it from earliest childhood.
This is the Palm Court--the beautiful, lushly planted room that serves as a central lobby. The date above the archway reads 1892. This place dates back to the days of the old Pittsburgh robber barons, when this city had a financial district second only to the one in New York--Fourth Avenue, downtown, with its lavishly detailed early skyscrapers.
It's worth a day, if you have one to spare, just to wander among all these varied life forms.
The Cactus Room might be my favorite. The plants here are so alien and brutal, and they remind me of the days out in New Mexico, wandering across the High Plains in search of abandoned towns.
Parts of the Phipps are wild and unkempt, like a real forest. Other areas are overly manicured, like the formal gardens of Versailles.
Winter is a good time to visit, when the outer gardens are covered in snow and the chill keeps the crowds away. And yet, I can't wait to get back to the real woods.
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