19″ x 19″ print: $50
30″ x 30″ print: $120
To order, contact Carol.
“Nice to meet you too Carol, thanks again for the print! It’s even better than I imagined!” M. Fitzgerald June 2020
Media: Digital print on heavy satin paper. Color and alterations to this charming vintage map copyright 2009 and 2013 by Carol Skinger.
Some background on Schenley Park: Once Frederick Law Olmsted designed Central Park in NYC, every city worth its salt had to have a grand park. Schenley Park was Pittsburgh’s response to Central Park.
Schenley Park is one of several jewels of park planning in Pittsburgh. Through my research in the 1980’s, I found this beautiful illustrated “pictorial” map from the 1930’s, which was strictly a black and white line drawing, in some ways unfinished. It was so beautiful, as an artist I appreciated it and thought others would too. I wanted to make it available to the public. But first it needed color.
The most important change I made to the vintage illustration was adding color, which I did using color pencil. I also updated the street names, and noted the proposals shown in the drawing but never built. Then I added elevation notations, and the key dates of the development of the park in the text box on the left, which had been left blank. Finally the red border that surrounds The Frick Park Map was an important addition as so many folks frame them together as a set, so I added that. It is possible the two maps were drawn by the same artist Ezra Stiles. He certainly penned the Frick Park Map. Note added in 2024, The Frick Pittsburgh Museum store no longer carries the Frick map.
Many Pittsburghers are familiar with the Frick Park Map. Rick Landesberg spoke about the Frick Park Map on this YouTube filmed at TEDx Leadership Pittsburgh.
My color print of Schenley Park Map is a high quality digital print on heavy satin paper.
Who might love a print as a gift? Schenley Park is located in the university district of Pittsburgh known as Oakland. Residents of Pittsburgh’s East End, students and staff at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh and Carlow University, not to mention staff and families of patients at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Pennsylvania’s largest employer with 55,000 employees — all count Schenley Park as their own. Schenley Park was a character and location in Stephen Chbosky’s 1999 book and 2012 film Perks of Being a Wallflower! The park is home to a vintage motor sports car race, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix every July. It is also home to the Komen Pittsburgh Race for the Cure, an annual fundraising event for breast cancer and a Mother’s Day tradition with more than 35,000 participants. Phipps Conservatory and Schenley Park Café & Visitor’s Center host numerous wedding parties, not to speak of cyclists who bicycle though the park on roads and trails.
