A casual name hides an extravagant history. Named for a prominent tavern that once was in the area, Point Breeze boasts not one, but three VERY prominent homesteads of the Steel City: those of Henry Clay Frick, George Westinghouse, and Richard B. Mellon. All three men contributed immensely to the city and country, and even today their vast mansion estates still contribute to Pittsburgh through parkland and public green space.

As one of the four big parks of Pittsburgh, Frick Park is an invaluable natural asset to a city with deep industrial roots and the scars of mining. Spanning multiple acres, the public property was once home to Henry Clay Frick and his family, in a mansion estate known as “Clayton.” Built in the 1860s, purchased by the Frick family in 1881, and remodeled in 1892, the residence was made public in 1990, welcoming over 100,000 visitors a year to the unique grounds ever since. This special place to Point Breeze is represented by the green of the shirt.

Situated on the former grand estate of its namesake, Mellon Park is a pristinely designed green space for the community. Richard B. Mellon originally had his mansion Clayton here, the largest private home in Pittsburgh, until World War 2 when it was torn down. A Walled Garden is the arguably the centerpiece of the park and features a stone fountain (the featured graphic of the shirt), curated and designed by Vitale and Geiffert.

Rounding out the big three former residences within Point Breeze is the sprawling site of George Westinghouse’s “Solitude” estate. Famed as an entrepreneur and genius inventor, Westinghouse’s contributions to the nation included railroad safety, natural gas extraction and distribution, and perhaps his most famous invention: alternating current. Westinghouse worked on the property with his engineers (including Nikola Tesla) to perfect the new electrical technology and eventually won over American homes to AC power, verses Thomas Edison’s Direct Current technology. The park was established in 1914 after Westinghouse died, and includes a playground, basketball court, and community building. The light blue of the graphic honours this somewhat hidden history of the park and it’s electric/gas roots.

Pittsburgh Railways operated trolley cars throughout the city, connecting neighborhoods with convenient public transit: the 75 line, East Liberty-Wilkinsburg, would have been the prominent trolley line for the Point Breeze neighborhoods (North and South).