The Alcoa Building (a.k.a. the Regional Enterprise Tower) is a skyscraper in

downtown Pittsburgh Downtown Pittsburgh, colloquially referred to as the Golden Triangle, and officially the Central Business District, is the urban downtown center of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Allegheny River an ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. It was completed in 1953 and has 31 floors. It is the 15th tallest building in the city and is adjacent to

Mellon Square Mellon Square is an urban park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the first Modernist park built above a parking garage. With its distinctive black, white, and green geometric pavement, it is a prominent urban oasis and ...

. In 2016, the top half of the building (floors 14-31) was converted to apartments known as The Residences at the Historic Alcoa Building. Photo The Alcoa Building 1957 - Touring Club Italiano 2 7017

Photo The Alcoa Building 1957 - Touring Club Italiano 2 7017

History

Nixon Theater

From December 7, 1903, until April 29, 1950, the site was home to the Nixon Theater, built by Samuel F. Nixon-Nirdlinger and Senator George T. Oliver. On opening night it was described as the "world's most perfect playhouse". An ornate Beaux Arts structure, crowned by a large dome it was arguably the most opulent theater in city history. S. Trevor Hadly in '' Only in Pittsburgh'' describes that the interior "was in the Louis XVth style. Inside were massive imitation Parawazza marble columns capped with solid gold. ... The side walls were paneled to look like damask silk ... framed in a molding and styling of green, gold, and red.

Velvet Velvet is a type of woven fabric with a dense, even pile (textile), pile that gives it a distinctive soft feel. Historically, velvet was typically made from silk. Modern velvet can be made from silk, linen, cotton, wool, synthetic fibers, silk ...

and

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

draperies added profusely to the décor." Productions such as the 1905 staging of '' Ben Hur'' used four horse-drawn chariots while ''Garden of Allah'' "called for a herd of camels, horses, and goats and 50 camel drivers." The sale of the site to Alcoa in 1950 was met with protests, with actress

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage, career as a Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong ...

writing to the city before demolition: "I'm infuriated, The new skyscraper will be just another building -- maybe fascinating, but not glamorous." A second smaller and less glamorous incarnation carried the Nixon Theater name at 956 Liberty Avenue until 1976. That playhouse had opened in 1914 and previously operated under the names "The Victoria", "The Shubert" and "The Senator" but was renamed and refurbished by September 1950. During the 1950s and early 1960s it sponsored family fare but by the 1970s it featured

adult entertainment The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related se ...

and closed in 1976.

Alcoa Building

Originally the headquarters for the

Aluminum Company of America Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for "Aluminum Company of America") is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary alu ...

(ALCOA), the unique aluminum walls of the building are 1/8 inch thick, which gives the building a very light weight and economical design. It was the first skyscraper with an all-aluminum facade. A unique radiant heating and cooling system is contained in the ceiling: since there are no pipes, radiators, or air conditioning units along the exterior walls, an additional of rentable space was gained. Also, the windows rotate 360 degrees so they can be washed from the inside. Upon ALCOA's 2001 relocation to a new headquarters building on Pittsburgh's North Shore near

PNC Park PNC Park is a baseball stadium on the North Shore (Pittsburgh), North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth location to serve as the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. Opened during the 2001 Major League Baseb ...

, the old ALCOA Building became a home to government entities, regional nonprofits and small start-up companies including the

RIDC The Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania—known colloquially as the RIDC—is a privately funded non-profit serving the Pittsburgh metropolitan area to focus on a regional approach to economic development pri ...

The Residences at The Historic Alcoa Building

On July 14, 2015, PMC Property Group closed on a $40 million loan to redevelop floors 14-31 of the building as 241 class-A multi-family units, known as The Residences at The Historic Alcoa Building. The lower levels remain in use as of office space, while the ground floor has of retail, including restaurants. The apartments began renting in March 2016.

References

External links