525 William Penn Place - History

History

525 William Penn Place was one of the first skyscrapers built in Pittsburgh as part of longtime Mayor David Lawrence's Renaissance I building initiative to rebuild downtown Pittsburgh from the ground up. The building was built by Pittsburgh Pirates owner John W. Galbreath with loans from the Mellon National Bank and additional financing from insurance companies. At the time of construction, Mellon purchased floors 2-8 by deed in 1951 from John W. Galbreath. The building was designed by Harrison & Abramovitz with construction by the Turner Construction Company.

The original plan for the building was to construct the ground floors in the same architectural design as the Mellon National Bank on Smithfield Street adjacent to the skyscraper and to allow open flow of Mellon employees between the two buildings with Mellon occupying the first eight floors. This plan was later modified during construction to give the entire building its own modernist style and an open shared lobby with three elevator banks and multiple passages between the skyscraper and the Mellon National Bank on Smithfield Street. U.S. Steel leased the floors 9 through 37 for their corporation and various subsidiaries. The top floors were reserved for the T. Mellon & Sons Company, various Mellon family charities offices, and a penthouse for philanthropist Richard King Mellon. U.S. Steel was the primary tenant until completing their own skyscraper, U.S. Steel Tower, on Grant Street in 1970. At that time, Mellon Bank owned floors 2-8 and leased the remainder of the building from the John W. Galbraith Co. In April 1982, Mellon Bank finally purchased the remainder of the building for $10 million.

Mellon Bank (The Bank of New York Mellon since 2007) remains the owner of 525 William Penn Place and the largest occupier of space at approximately half the building (approximately 500,000 square feet). The remainder of the space is leased to various businesses and law firms with Citizens Bank as the largest tenant occupying approximately 250,000 square feet (1/4 of the building). Citizens Bank also leases from Mellon signage rights to the building which include the right to erect signage at the top of the tower and above the entry closest to Fifth Avenue.