Editing Cathedral of Learning (section)

==Commons Room==
[[File:CoLCommonsRoomUPitt.jpg|thumb|right|325px|Commons Room]]
The main part of the cathedral's first floor, the Commons Room, called one of the "great architectural fantasies of the twentieth century", is a fifteenth-century English perpendicular Gothic-style hall that covers half an acre (2,000&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup>) and extends upward four stories, reaching {{convert|52|ft|m}} tall.<ref name="TokerNewPortrait">{{cite book|title=Pittsburgh: A New Portrait|first=Franklin|last=Toker|year=2009|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|location=Pittsburgh, PA|page=327|isbn=978-0-8229-4371-6}}</ref> The room was a gift of [[Andrew Mellon]]. It is a piece of true Gothic architecture; no steel supports were used in the construction of its [[arch]]es. Each arch is a [[true arch]], and they support their own weight. Each base for the arches weighs five tons, and it is said that they are so firmly placed that each could hold a large truck. The large central piers act only as screens for the structural steel that holds up the upper floors of the building.

Despite its heavy use, the Commons Room is kept quiet by the use of [[Guastavino tile|Guastavino]] acoustical tiles as the stones between the ribs of vaulting.<ref name="TokerNewPortrait"/> This feature was insisted upon by Chancellor Bowman. The architect, Klauder, objected due to the increased costs of this construction method. Bowman responded with the comment: "You cannot build a great University with fraud in it."<ref name="bowman">{{citation|title=Unofficial Notes|first=John G.|last=Bowman|chapter=Commons Room|page=78|location=Pittsburgh|date=1963|oclc=2572578}}</ref>

Klauder considered the Commons Room to be his greatest achievement.<ref name="bowman"/>

Joseph Gattoni designed the [[stonework]], much of which depicts western Pennsylvanian [[plant]] life. The walls are made of [[Indiana limestone]] and the floor is green [[Vermont]] [[slate]].

The wrought iron in the room, including the large gates leading to the elevators, was a gift from George Hubbard Clapp and was designed by the ironworker [[Samuel Yellin]]. Over the gates are two lines by [[Robert Bridges]], from an untitled poem:<!-- The information on the UofP faculty newspaper website is wrong about this; please don't just check there and revert unless there is additional information!-->

<blockquote>Here is eternal spring; for you the very stars of heaven are new.<ref name="BridgesPoem">{{cite book|last=Bridges|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Bridges|title=Poetical Works of Robert Bridges Excluding the Eight Dramas|year=1912|publisher=H. Frowde, Oxford University Press |location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/poeticalworksofr00brid/page/314 314]|url=https://archive.org/details/poeticalworksofr00brid |isbn=978-0-19-254114-7}}</ref><!-- The information on the UofP faculty newspaper website is wrong about this; please don't just check there and revert!--></blockquote>

Also located in the corridors surrounding the Commons Room are plaques featuring calligraphy designed and hand-cut in slate by [[Edward Catich]], including one featuring a poem by Lawrence Lee titled "The Cathedral,"<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=pittpressreleases;idno=pittpressreleases19760141;seq=1 |title=Lawrence Lee Poem/Plaque to be Dedicated at Pitt |first=Mary Lou |last=Burger |location=Pittsburgh, PA |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Department of News and Publications |date=June 2, 1976 |access-date=May 21, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922084845/http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=pittpressreleases%3Bidno%3Dpittpressreleases19760141%3Bseq%3D1 |archive-date=September 22, 2012 |df=mdy }}</ref> as well as stained glass windows by [[Charles Connick]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/focus/s_599003.html|title=Pittsburgh stained-glass artist's work beautifies region|first=Sandra Fischione|last=Donovan|newspaper=Pittsburgh Tribune-Review|date=November 23, 2008|access-date=November 12, 2009|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913080101/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/focus/s_599003.html|archive-date=September 13, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>