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Old becomes new in Pittsburgh's latest hotel
Friday, March 16, 2001
The opening of the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel is a cause for celebration in many respects.
The $45 million transformation of the old Fulton Building into Pittsburgh's newest hotel is a timely one. Additional hotel rooms will be needed to serve the growing number of people expected to visit.
With the opening of PNC Park for baseball in two weeks and the new football stadium for the Steelers and the University of Pittsburgh team later this year, the Renaissance Pittsburgh occupies a strategic spot at the end of the Roberto Clemente Bridge. The hotel's Opus restaurant and The Bridge bar will serve sports fans and cultural district patrons alike.
The 286-room hotel, which opened to the public yesterday, has rich historical roots. It was built in 1905-06 by industrialist Henry Phipps, who decided to name his office building for inventor, engineer and artist Robert Fulton, whose company had built the steamboat New Orleans in Pittsburgh in 1811.
The hotel will be a striking example of adaptive re-use of a historic structure that has been through a number of incarnations, including recent stints as a nightclub on its first three floors.
While there was no reason to believe that the future of the structure was threatened before the hotel project was announced, it is good to see that it now has a stronger chance of being an enduring part of the city's architectural heritage.
It will be a pleasure for residents, as well as visitors unfamiliar with Pittsburgh, to enjoy its spectacular 30-foot diameter dome with neoclassical moldings, grand staircase, marble mosaics and even a restored brass floor medallion displayed on a mirrored wall. As a bonus, visitors will receive a pleasant tutorial in the history of Pittsburgh architecture through sketches and photographs that will be on display in guest rooms and elsewhere.
Even some of the meeting rooms are named for arts luminaries with Western Pennsylvania ties such as Mary Cassatt, Martha Graham, Henry Mancini, Jimmy Stewart and August Wilson.
The Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel will be an example of something old that's now new again. It's a welcome addition to the Golden Triangle.