Fifth Avenue High School is a defunct school located at 1800 Fifth Avenue 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, ...

Bluff Bluff or The Bluff may refer to: Places Australia * Bluff, Queensland, Australia, a town * The Bluff, Queensland (Ipswich), a rural locality in the city of Ipswich * The Bluff, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a rural locality * Bluff River (New ...

neighborhood, United States. Built in 1894 as a large Romanesque/

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

building, it served the

Pittsburgh Public Schools Pittsburgh Public Schools is the public school district serving the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (except for two small parts served by the Baldwin-Whitehall School District) and adjacent Mount Oliver. As of the 2021–2022 school year, the ...

until its closure in 1976. For over thirty years, the building sat empty, boarded up, and fenced off until it was eventually converted into other uses. Fifth Avenue was the first fireproof school in Pennsylvania and was home to the Alpha chapter of the

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and outlying territories, which consists of many chapters in high schools. Selection is based on four criteria: scholarship (academic achi ...

. Its colors were red and white, and the mascot was the Archer, so chosen because of the school's architecture and hallways filled with Gothic and Victorian arches lined with red and white tile. Fifth Avenue was a dominant force in city sports, winning the state title in its last year open for basketball. The school served the Lower Hill District, while its main rival,

Schenley High School Schenley High School, located in the North Oakland neighborhood at the edge of the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a historic building opened in 1916 that was a part of the Pittsburgh Public Schools. The Schenley High School building ...

, served the upper and middle Hill. The building was listed in 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 ...

in 1986 and was listed as a Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation landmark in 1998 and a City of Pittsburgh landmark in 1999. Beginning in 2009,Fifth Avenue School Lofts History.
Retrieved from apartment leasing company's official website. it was converted into loft apartments by a Pittsburgh-based investor group. Construction on the project was completed in 2012."Fifth Avenue School Lofts complete, residents moving in; units available."
Andrew Moore,

Pop City Media ''Pop City'' was a weekly online magazine whose content focused on news and features about Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The content focused on talent, innovation, diversity, and environment. The magazine was published between 2006 and 2015. History ...

. Published 20 June 2012. Numerous components of the structure, such as plaster ceilings in common areas, were saved, preserved, or reused in the renovations. Among the school's notable alumni are former

Mayor of Pittsburgh The mayor of Pittsburgh is the chief executive of the government of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Pittsburgh. This article is a listing of past (and present) mayors of Pittsburgh. ...

Sophie Masloff Sophie Masloff (née Friedman; December 23, 1917 – August 17, 2014) was an American politician. A long-time member of the Democratic Party and civil servant, she was elected to the Pittsburgh City Council and later served as the mayor of Pitt ...

Dapper Dan Charities The Dapper Dan Charities were founded by ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' editor Al Abrams in 1936. It is one of the oldest nonprofit and fundraising community sports clubs in the world and the oldest in Western Pennsylvania. The foundation fundraises ...

founder and former ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'' sports editor Al Abrams, and forensic pathologist

Cyril Wecht Cyril Harrison Wecht (born March 20, 1931) is an American forensic pathologist. He has been the president of both the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the American College of Legal Medicine, and headed the board of trustees of the Amer ...

, who served as Coroner (later Medical Examiner) and a Commissioner of Allegheny County.

Notable alumni

Jack Sack Jack Sack (February 22, 1902 – March 7, 1980; born Jacob Bernard Sacklowsky) was an American football player and coach. Sack was a college football player at the University of Pittsburgh and coach, and played professional football in both the ...

(1902-1980),

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach *

Virginia Proctor Powell Florence Virginia Proctor Powell Florence (October 1, 1897 – April 3, 1991) was a trailblazer in both African-American history and the history of librarianship. In 1923 she became the first black woman in the United States to earn a degree in library sci ...

(1897-1991), American librarian

References

* {{authority control School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Defunct schools in Pennsylvania High schools in Pittsburgh Educational institutions established in 1894 School buildings completed in 1894 Gothic Revival architecture in Pennsylvania City of Pittsburgh historic designations Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks Educational institutions disestablished in 1976 1894 establishments in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Pittsburgh