The Henry W. Oliver Building is a 25-story, skyscraper at 535 Smithfield Street, across from

Mellon Square Mellon Square is an urban park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 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 gathering spot ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The building was designed by

Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the '' Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been, "the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ...

and built 1908-10, consisting of a stone and

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

facade over a steel frame. It cost $3.5 million ($ million today)

History

The structure was completed as per the parameters of its namesake's will. Oliver planned that the building both serve as a way to consolidate the management of his steel and coal operations, and as a way to leave a mark on the city's growing skyline. Oliver's location for the structure was once the original founding home of

Mellon Financial Mellon Financial Corporation was an investment firm which was once one of the world's largest money management firms. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it was in the business of institutional and high-net-worth individual asset management, incl ...

from its start in 1869 until 1871 when the bank moved across the street and down a block. For many years, the primary tenants in the building were international law firm K&L Gates, but in 2007, they moved to the larger Ariba Building, which became known as

K&L Gates Center K&L Gates Center is a skyscraper office building located in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The building (long known as One Oliver Plaza and briefly as FreeMarkets Center and later Ariba Center) was completed in 1968. It has 39 floors, and ri ...

. Since their departure, the building was only about 40% occupied for a number of years.

Embassy Suites

In late 2013 the floors 15-25 of the building were under conversion for a 228 room Embassy Suites Hotel to open in late 2015. Designed by ThenDesign Architecture, the decor of the hotel will pay homage to Oliver and the Industrial Age. Combined with a new multi-floor lease to a law firm the building is now over 90% occupied.

History

Embassy Suites

See also

References

Further reading