Fifth Avenue High School
About this property
Fifth Avenue High School is a defunct school located at 1800 Fifth Avenue in the Bluff neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Built in 1894 as a large Romanesque/Gothic Revival building, it served the Pittsburgh Public Schools until its closure in 1976. For over thirty years, the building sat empty, boarded up, and fenced off until it was eventually converted into other uses. Fifth Avenue was the first fireproof school in Pennsylvania and was home to the Alpha chapter of the National Honor Society. Its colors were red and white, and the mascot was the Archer, so chosen because of the school's architecture and hallways filled with Gothic and Victorian arches lined with red and white tile. Fifth Avenue was a dominant force in city sports, winning the state title in its last year open for basketball. The school served the Lower Hill District, while its main rival, Schenley High School, served the upper and middle Hill. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 and was listed as a Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation landmark in 1998 and a City of Pittsburgh landmark in 1999. Beginning in 2009, it was converted into loft apartments by a Pittsburgh-based investor group. Construction on the project was completed in 2012. Numerous components of the structure, such as plaster ceilings in common areas, were saved, preserved, or reused in the renovations. Among the school's notable alumni are former Mayor of Pittsburgh Sophie Masloff, Dapper Dan Charities founder and former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports editor Al Abrams, and forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who served as Coroner (later Medical Examiner) and a Commissioner of Allegheny County.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Fifth Avenue High School
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Questions about this property
When was Fifth Avenue High School listed on the National Register?
Fifth Avenue High School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 22, 1986.
What type of historic resource is Fifth Avenue High School?
Fifth Avenue High School is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Fifth Avenue High School?
The period of significance for Fifth Avenue High School is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Fifth Avenue High School?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Fifth Avenue High School will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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