Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building
About this property
The Pittsburgh Athletic Association at the University of Pittsburgh is a historic, Benno Janssen designed building located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Opened as the home of a private social and athletic club of the same name, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Completed in 1911, the building is an eight-story, steel frame structure clad in stone and terra cotta in the Venetian High Renaissance style. Architect Benno Janssen used a Venetian Renaissance palace as a prototype for his design, seemingly inspired by the Palazzo Corner della Ca' Grande, Palazzo Grimani di San Luca, and Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, all works of the architect Jacopo Sansovino. The interior features a lobby with 17-foot-high coffered ceilings adorned with medallions and rosettes, stone walls, and a marble fireplace. Other featured spaces include the Pennsylvania Room, originally a billiards room; the Schenley Lounge, which initially featured multiple works of art; the Oakland Room, originally a ladies' reception room; a dining room with Palladian windows; and an oak-paneled grille room with a fireplace and barrel-vaulted ceilings. Located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard in the city's Oakland district, the building faces three other landmark buildings: the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning and William Pitt Union (formerly The Schenley Hotel) as well as the Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial. The latter, as well as the nearby Twentieth Century Club, was also designed by Benno Janssen. The Pittsburgh Athletic Association social club was organized in 1908 by real estate developer Franklin Nicola. Before the opening of the Pittsburgh Athletic Association building, the club operated out of the Farmer's Bank Building (now razed), downtown at Forbes Street (then Diamond) and Smithfield. The Pittsburgh Athletic Association was a nonprofit membership club that operated until 2017. It offered comprehensive athletic facilities, sports lessons, spa services, fine dining, and overnight accommodations. Some of the building's more interesting features include a pool on the third floor, full basketball and squash courts, a 16-lane bowling alley, and a room dedicated to former University of Pittsburgh football coach Johnny Majors. The club held several annual events, the most popular of which included an Easter brunch, a lobster dinner, and collegiate boxing events. From 1916 to 1920, the PAA fielded an elite amateur ice hockey team featuring such Canadian stars as Herb Drury and brothers Joe and Larry McCormick. The team won the championship of the short-lived National Amateur Hockey League in 1918. When the Olympic Games first included ice hockey in 1920, four of the eleven players on the silver medal-winning U.S. team came from the PAA squad.
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 Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building
This page lists Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building listed on the National Register?
Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 15, 1978.
What type of historic resource is Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building?
Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building?
The period of significance for Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building?
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 Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Allegheny County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Allegheny County.
Explore AlleghenyCounty ›More historic places in Pennsylvania
Browse all historic places in Pennsylvania.
View Pennsylvaniahistoric sites ›Pennsylvania history
Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.
Pennsylvaniahistory ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.