Walking Tours Cover 150 Years of Architectural History Found at Arts and Cultural Campus

Visitors to Bethlehem are invited to discover the rich architectural history and public art that adorn the new SteelStacks Arts and Cultural Campus during the new SteelStacks Art and Architecture Tours.

On the Art and Architecture Tours, guests will discover 150 years of American architecture on the site, once the home to the Bethlehem Steel plant that helped build the Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam, U.S. war ships for the two World Wars and much of the Manhattan skyline. Included on the 75-minute tour led by former Bethlehem Steel workers or guides who had family and friends who worked at the Steel are examples of significant buildings erected as far back as the late 1860s. Tours will touch on the history of the site, but the main focus will be on how the architecture of the steel mills evolved over time.

Charlene Donchez-Mowers, President of Historic Bethlehem Musuem & Sites, “is pleased the two organizations are working collaboratively to offer this new Art and Architecture Tour of the former Bethlehem Steel site.  Our Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites guides will help visitors garner an appreciation for the many styles of architecture and public art from mid-1800s industrial buildings to a state of the art cultural facility that is the ArtsQuest Center itself.   This tour is a very important addition to our other tour offering about the Rise and Fall of Bethlehem Steel Corporation, also offered from the Stock House Visitor Center”.

The Art and Architecture Tours will begin at one of the earliest buildings on the former steel plant, the 1863 Stock House, now the oldest building remaining on the site. Made of stone and brick, the Stock House was initially used to store raw materials for the iron making process. Today, it has been fully restored and serves as a Visitor Center for the City of Bethlehem.

Participants will also visit the remains of the former Bessemer Rail Rolling Mill, a state-of-the-art facility when it opened in 1873 and the first fully integrated steel mill in the United States; the 26,000-square-foot Turn and Grind Shop; and the Commercial-Style Steel General Offices. The tour will also stop at the award-winning Levitt Pavilion, a 21st-century outdoor music pavilion created in 2011 by prominent architectural firm Wallace Roberts and Todd, as well as the ArtsQuest Center, a contemporary performing arts center designed in 2011 by Spillman Farmer Architects.

Along the way, visitors will learn about how in the early days of the 20th century, Bethlehem Steel became a major producer of structural steel including its patented wide flange beam, the I Beam,” which played a prominent role in constructing the majority of New York City’s towering skyscrapers. The tour will also highlight the five large public sculptures on the SteelStacks campus. The art pieces include two sculptures designed by Elena Colombo including ”The Bridge, a 70-foot-long steel and fire arc; “The Four Elements,” a 40-foot-tall glass sculpture that features 900 pieces of handcrafted glass; “Transformation,” a neon installation by internationally-renowned artist Stephen Antonakos; and “Celebration of Life,” a Salma Arastu sculpture symbolizing community and the joy of humanity.

SteelStacks Art and Architecture Tours will take place every day leaving the Stockhouse Visitors Center, 711 E. First St. Bethlehem, PA 18015 at 11:00 a.m.

For more information, please visit www.artsquest.org or www.historicbethlehem.org or call 1-800-360-TOUR. Tickets are $12 and on sale now at artsquest.org or 610-332-3378; advance purchase is recommended.