He studied in an unfinished Cathedral of Learning — and later contributed to its preservation

Arthur Ziegler pauses in Pittsburgh neighborhoods the way some people pause in museums. He looks upward at brick cornices, church towers, carved stone entrances and narrow rowhouses worn by time. Where others see aging buildings, he sees stories — traces of past generations that shaped the city’s identity through what they built.

For more than six decades, long before historic preservation became widely embraced, Ziegler argued that old buildings were not obstacles to progress but anchors of memory, culture and civic life.

That understanding was shaped, in part, by the Cathedral of Learning itself. As a young student arriving in Oakland, Ziegler (A&S ’58, ’60G) encountered the soaring neo-Gothic tower not simply as a university building, but as a landmark.

Decades later, the Cathedral would become one of the defining preservation efforts of his career.

It was all set in motion in the 1950s, when Ziegler, an English literature major, visited the Carnegie Library in Oakland. There he met James Van Trump (A&S ’31, ’32G), an architectural historian who turned Ziegler toward becoming a preservationist. Together, the two men explored Pittsburgh, marveling at history embedded in brick and stone; stories etched into the built environment and a cultural inheritance at risk of disappearing.

That realization came at a critical moment. In the 1960s, urban renewal projects were tearing through cities, demolishing historic districts in the name of modernization. Pittsburgh was no exception. In response, Ziegler and Van Trump co-founded the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) in 1964. Their mission: recognize the value of architectural heritage and fight for its preservation.

For Ziegler, historic preservation was never simply about saving beautiful buildings. It was a tool for “community renewal, human renewal and economic renewal,” he says.

Under his leadership, the foundation advanced preservation as neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing and economic development. The work, he often argued, was fundamentally about people.

Yet, years before preservation became his calling, architecture and community quietly influenced Ziegler, too.

As a child growing up after the Great Depression, Ziegler remembers hearing the stories of the dime collections that helped to fund construction of the Cathedral of Learning. Like thousands of Pittsburgh schoolchildren, Ziegler later recalled, “We all felt it was part of us.” 

The Cathedral was still unfinished when he first arrived at Pitt. Bare light bulbs hung in some classrooms. Yet the Commons Room glowed with warmth and activity. Fireplaces burned in winter. Morning teas brought students together. Ideas and friendships formed naturally inside the vast public spaces.

Thanks to Ziegler’s leadership and the PHLF, those types of experiences can live on. Programs such as the foundation’s Historic Landmark plaques encourage residents to see buildings, bridges, churches and neighborhoods not just as aging infrastructure but also as pieces of shared cultural history.

[Here’s how Pitt ensures the Cathedral stays beautiful and useful for another century.]

Ziegler’s own contributions earned him national recognition, including the prestigious Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Award for Private Sector Achievement from President Ronald Reagan. After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Pitt, he completed postgraduate studies at Union Theological Seminary and what is now Case Western Reserve University and received an honorary doctorate from Point Park University.

His work repeatedly brought him back to the place where his journey began: the Cathedral of Learning. He helped to lead efforts to secure the Cathedral’s designation on the National Register of Historic Places, affirming its significance not only to Pittsburgh, but also to the nation. Through PHLF, the tower was also twice honored with landmark recognition acknowledging its architectural and cultural importance.

For Ziegler, who stepped down from leadership of the PHLF in 2020, the recognitions affirm a lifelong belief that places shape people and that protecting the built environment protects memory, identity and community itself.