As part of DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh, an annual two-day event that provides unprecedented access to buildings around the city, we are featuring nine of the many buildings participating.

Today’s building is the BNY Mellon Center building.

A Brief History of the BNY Mellon Building

The BNY Mellon Center is located at Grant Street in Pittsburgh. It reaches 55 stories and was completed in the summer of 1984. It’s the second tallest building in the city. Interesting features of the building include its eight-sided design and rooftop heliport. The building is the 195th tallest skyscraper in the world. It is currently the building with the highest taxable property value in Allegheny County (which is interesting because the U.S. Steel Tower is bigger). On clearer days the building can be seen from 50 miles away.

Before it was the BNY Mellon Building, the 500 block of Grant Street was the site of the Carlton Hotel, Plaza Building and Interlude Lounge for years. U.S. Steel bought the land Mellon Center was to be built on and planned a 54-floor skyscraper replacing the hotel and surrounding buildings. The Dravo Corporation had original naming rights and the site was supposed to serve as their leased headquarters. Dravo was bought out by a foreign conglomerate and their regional facilities were closed. U.S. Steel closed the skyscraper in February of ’83. By the time March 2010 rolled around, installation began on a new BNY Mellon sign. In that same month and year, a maintenance worker committed suicide by jumping off the building’s roof.

The skyscraper was featured in the movie Flashdance as well as Desperate Measures and the Wiz Khalifa music video “Black and Yellow.”