Forbes Hall is a residence hall of the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
(
Oakland
Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...
campus) and is located in Forbes Pavilion on
Forbes Avenue approximately four blocks from the
Litchfield Towers complex. The name Forbes Hall, which specifically refers to the residence hall component of the building, is sometimes interchangeably used with the name Forbes Pavilion, which refers to the entire six-story structure.
Use
A student mail center and printer are also available in the lobby of Forbes Hall for use by those with a Pitt user account.
A large recreation hall is on the second floor, complete with television and pool table. A second floor rooftop patio overlooks Forbes Avenue with an adjoining indoor patio room.
Occupying the remaining floors of Forbes Hall are a mix of 232 first-year men and women in double rooms that are air-conditioned. Some of the doubles have adjoining semi-private bathrooms. There are communal showers, two
kitchenettes, and a laundry area on each floor. Each wing of Forbes Hall has a study room. Select rooms overlooking Forbes Avenue and Euler Way in the back of the building have small balcony areas accessible by two adjacent rooms. Each room is provided with a cable connection and Wi-Fi coverage.
Students Pursuing Academics and Careers in Engineering, commonly referred to as the "SPACE" was relocated to Forbes Hall in 2011
after previously being located in Litchfield Tower A. Prior to this, from the Fall of 2007 semester until 2011, Forbes Hall had housed the
University Honors College program for first-year and upper-class men and women, which was subsequently moved to
Sutherland Hall.
History
Forbes Pavilion was originally built as a
nursing home
A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...
whose construction was completed in 1964, the nursing home closed after eight years of operations due to financial difficulty. The facility was acquired by the university and renovated to provide living quarters to students. The residence hall, consisting of three wings of four floors or residential space each, opened to students in September 1978. The University's Health Book Center, previously located for 20 years in
Scaife Hall, was located on the lowest level of Forbes Pavilion from 1988 to 2011, prior to moving into the main university book store, The Book Center, on the ground level of
Holland Hall.
It is alleged that
Dan Marino lived in Forbes Hall during his college days.
G-20 incident
On the evening of September 24, 2009, the city of Pittsburgh was in the first official day of hosting the
2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit. Protesters and police in
riot gear
Riot control is a form of public order policing used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful demonstration or unlawful protest.
If a riot is sp ...
, many of whom on both sides were from outside the region, clashed in and around the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland and along Forbes Avenue. The protesters, who had lit a garbage dumpster on fire, were pushed by the police down to the proximity of Forbes Hall where students were observing the scene from the Forbes Hall second floor patio and from their room balconies. Police then allegedly projected canisters of
pepper spray
Pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum spray, OC spray, capsaicin spray, mace, or capsicum spray is a Tear gas, lachrymator (tear gas) product containing as its active ingredient the chemical compound capsaicin, which irritates the eyes with burning ...
onto the patio or balconies of Forbes Hall essentially gassing the students who lived in the dorms, an action that resulted in at least one student being treated at the nearby hospital,
UPMC Presbyterian.
References
External links
Forbes Hall on Pitt's virtual Campus Tour
{{Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh residence halls
1964 establishments in Pennsylvania
University and college buildings completed in 1964
Residential buildings completed in 1964