Highlights of the Historic William Penn Hotel

$25 per person. This tour is limited to 20 participants.

Purchase a ticket below. Tickets will not be available after 11:30 p.m. on June 12.

The historic William Penn Hotel is without question the grandest hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh, if not the entire city. It was commissioned (along with two other buildings on Grant Street) by Henry Clay Frick, who wanted Pittsburgh to have a hotel that would signal the City’s growing economic, industrial, and cultural status to the world. On opening in 1916, it was lauded for the elegance of its design and its first-class amenities—including, in every guest room, electric lights, a telephone, and a bathroom. It was so successful that an addition was constructed in the 1920s, completing the hotel’s command of its entire city block.

The general restraint of the William Penn Hotel’s exterior is complemented by its unapologetically glamorous interior spaces. The most distinguished of these will be the objects of our tour: an Art Deco room designed by the Austrian-American architect and set designer Joseph Urban; a ballroom in Renaissance Revival style; and The Speakeasy (it really was one!), which has been brought back to life in a contemporary interpretation of its 1920s namesakes. The tour will be led by a longtime member of the hotel’s executive staff and an architect/architectural historian.

Tour meeting point:  Lobby of the William Penn Hotel, 530 William Penn Place (Pittsburgh, PA 15219),

Tour ending point:  Lobby of the William Penn Hotel

Please arrive 15 minutes before start time in order to ensure that the tour gets underway on time.

Accessibility: This tour is accessible to people with disabilities.