Editing Altoona, Pennsylvania (section)

=====Architecture=====
The commercial core of the downtown includes many multistory residential, commercial, and mixed-use facilities designed at the turn of the 20th century in a mix of [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]], [[Edwardian architecture|Edwardian Baroque]], and [[Romanesque Revival architecture|Neo-Romanesque]] styles. This style features high ceilings, resulting in taller buildings than is typical for the number of floors. The high ceilings are typically made of either [[Tin ceiling|tin]] or [[plaster]], although sometimes a [[Dropped ceiling|drop ceiling]] is utilized.

Individual homes originally provided housing to managers and executives of the PRR and have structural similarities to Victorian or Edwardian mansions, but built very narrow and tall. These are sometimes used as double or triple family apartments or even converted into commercial space. Outside of the commercial core is a mosaic of multistory commercial structures, mixed-use facilities, single story commercial structures, apartment buildings, multiunit housing, and single-family homes.

The U.S. post office in Altoona contains two oil-on-canvas [[List of United States post office murals#Pennsylvania|WPA-commissioned murals]] painted by [[Lorin Thompson]] in 1938, titled ''Pioneers of Altoona'' and ''Growth of the Road''.<ref>{{cite web|title=U.S.Post Office/Altoona |url=http://ilovealtoona.com/2012/04/u-s-post-office/ |publisher=Central Pennsylvania Community Foundation |access-date=19 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105015903/http://ilovealtoona.com/2012/04/u-s-post-office/ |archive-date=5 November 2013 }}</ref> Murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the [[Section of Painting and Sculpture]], later called the [[Section of Fine Arts]], of the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury Department]].