The Pittsburgh Athletic Association was a private social club and athletic club in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

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, ...

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. Its clubhouse is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. Located at the corner of

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

and Bigelow Boulevard in the city's

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

district, it faces three other landmark buildings: the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

's Cathedral of Learning and William Pitt Union (formerly The Schenley Hotel) as well as the

Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum (or often simply Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall) is a National Register of Historic Places landmark in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the largest memorial in the United States ded ...

. The latter, as well as the nearby Twentieth Century Club, being designed by noted architect, Benno Janssen. The club was organized in 1908 by real estate developer Franklin Nicola. Architect Benno Janssen (1874—1964) used a Venetian Renaissance palace as a prototype for his design, perhaps Palazzo Grimani or Libreria on Piazza San Marco. The structure was completed in 1911. Prior to that, the club operated out of the Farmer's Bank Building (now razed), downtown at Forbes St (then Diamond) and Smithfield. The Pittsburgh Athletic Association was a nonprofit membership club chartered in 1908, operating to 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 had several annual events, the most popular including 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 Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

and Larry McCormick. The team won the championship of the short-lived National Amateur Hockey League in 1918. When the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

first included ice hockey in 1920, four of the eleven players on the silver medal-winning U.S. team came from the PAA squad. The clubhouse is currently undergoing a complete renovation and restoration after which the club will be housed in a smaller space incorporating athletics, lap pool, and fine dining. It is slated to reopen in 2020.

In film

In 2009, the film '' Love & Other Drugs'', directed by

Edward Zwick Edward M. Zwick (born October 8, 1952) is an American filmmaker and producer of film and television. He has worked primarily in the comedy drama and historical drama, epic historical film genres, including ''About Last Night (1986 film), About L ...

and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Hank Azaria, filmed a scene in the Pittsburgh Athletic Association's Grill Room. The 2010 film, She's Out of My League was partly filmed in the bowling alley.

References

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External links

Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building homepagePittsburgh Athletic Association homepage
{{Authority control 1908 establishments in Pennsylvania Athletics clubs in the United States Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Clubs and societies in Pennsylvania Organizations based in Pittsburgh Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks Gentlemen's clubs in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Pittsburgh Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Pennsylvania Clubhouses in Pittsburgh

In film

See also

References

External links