Omni William Penn Hotel - The Grand Hotel's Night Shift

A stop on Spooky Pittsburgh Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Facing Mellon Square stands the Omni William Penn Hotel, which Henry Clay Frick developed and opened on March 11, 1916. Yes, the same Frick who once tried to carry off the Fort Pitt Blockhouse. A 1929 expansion pushed it to about 1,600 rooms, making it for a time the second-largest hotel in the world. John F. Kennedy stayed here, and in 1934 Bob Hope proposed marriage under this roof.

The hotel is meant for its guests, but the doors on William Penn Place give you a look into a lobby that still feels like the 1920s.

Now the legend. Staff and guests have traded stories here for years: elevators stopping at floors nobody pressed, music drifting from an empty ballroom late at night, and a stern figure in old-fashioned clothes that some say is Frick himself, still checking on his investment. None of it is on the room-service menu. Look up at the tall windows tonight and decide for yourself.

Getting here: Walk back to Grant Street and head northwest about 4 minutes via Fifth Avenue to William Penn Place, where the hotel's long front faces Mellon Square.

Did you know?: The hotel's staff are credited with creating the bubble machine behind bandleader Lawrence Welk's famous 'champagne music.'

Photo op: Step into Mellon Square and frame the hotel's tall brick and stone facade above the square's fountains and trees.

More on Wikipedia: Omni William Penn Hotel · Henry Clay Frick · John F. Kennedy · Bob Hope

Omni William Penn Hotel - The Grand Hotel's Night Shift

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