Lawrence served four terms as the city’s mayor from 1946-1959, and was praised for his bipartisan efforts with Richard Mellon to remake the city, which was one of the more polluted in the nation. Their partnership became known as the Pittsburgh Renaissance (later known as Renaissance I) and dramatically redirected the city, largely through the creation of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, which demolished 59 acres of buildings on The Point to create a new state park and gleaming towers.