The William Pitt Union, which was built in 1898 as the Hotel Schenley, is the student union building of the University of Pittsburgh main campus, and is a Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark.
Designed by Pittsburgh-based architects Rutan & Russell in the Beaux-Arts style of architecture, the Schenley Hotel catered to local and visiting well-to-do people. The University of Pittsburgh acquired the property in 1956.
History
The Schenley
This historic building, which was originally known as the Hotel Schenley, and designed by architects Rutan & Russell, opened in 1898. It became the keystone of entrepreneur Franklin Nicola’s dream of Oakland as a center for culture, art and education. Nicola had been instrumental in the formation of the Bellefield Company with the help of Andrew W. Mellon, Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie, George Westinghouse and H.J. Heinz, who were among the first stockholders to share Nicola’s vision for Oakland.
Nicola and his supporters oversaw construction of this beaux-arts structure on land that was once owned by fellow stockholder Mary Croghan Schenley.
The Schenley Hotel was Pittsburgh's first large, steel-framed "skyscraper hotel." It was described as "Pittsburgh's class hotel of the early 20th century".
Famous guests
Outfitted with marble accents, ornate chandeliers and Louis XV architecture, the Schenley quickly became the place to stay or eat in Pittsburgh for prominent travelers. Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the guest register here, as did Eleanor Roosevelt. Diamond Jim Brady was one of its diners.
Actors Sarah Bernhardt, Nelson Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald, Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy all stayed at the Schenley. Singer-actress Lillian Russell lived in suite 437 and was married to Pittsburgh publisher Alexander Moore in the French Room (now a dining room on the first floor). Opera star Enrico Caruso and his entourage occupied seven suites during their stay. Italian tragedian Eleonora Duse succumbed to pneumonia in suite 524.
The Schenley was not just the place to stay in Pittsburgh as the twentieth century began, it was where the young ladies of society "came out," where couples married, and where one could dine on the "haute cuisine" of the day. It was also the place where Pittsburgh power brokers met; many planning discussions related to the birth of the U.S. Steel Corporation were held here.
Its formation was celebrated at the "Meal of Millionaires" in 1901. In 1914, Pittsburgh's Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) chapter was organized here. In 1967, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission dedicated a historical marker outside of union to commemorate the event.
1909 was a year that changed the Hotel Schenley forever. That summer, Forbes Field opened just down the street and the University of Pittsburgh moved from its Northside location to Oakland. From that time on, the "Waldorf of Pittsburgh" gradually became the home of the National League baseball players who were in town to play the Pittsburgh Pirates; students and faculty subsequently took their place among the Pittsburgh elite. Babe Ruth, Casey Stengel, Ty Cobb, and Rogers Hornsby all signed the guest register; baseball trades were finalized by club owners over dinner.
The Schenley continued to operate for more than forty years, albeit on a less grand scale. Surrounded by hospitals, educational facilities, concert halls, and private clubs with no parking to serve the hotel's mobile guests by the 1950s, it also faced new competition from Pittsburgh's Renaissance I.
A part of Pitt
In 1956, the then Schenley Park Hotel was sold to the University of Pittsburgh. The hotel underwent a $1 million ($ in dollars) renovation to convert it to university use. The top four floors first served as a men's dormitory called Schenley House while the rest of the building was purposed as a student union, which was named Schenley Hall.
Shortly after this, during the height of the cold war in September 1959, the Schenley Hall ballroom in the union was the site of a luncheon for Nikita Khrushchev, chairman of the Soviet Union, and various Soviet and U.S. officials, including Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. that was hosted by the University of Pittsburgh and Pitt Chancellor Edward Litchfield. The last stop on Khrushchev's eleven-day transcontinental tour prior to a three-day conference with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the event was described by The New York Times as the warmest of the tour.