Motor Square Garden

United States historic place

Significant dates

East Liberty Market
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Pittsburgh Landmark – PHLF


40°27′35.2″N 79°55′38.14″W / 40.459778°N 79.9272611°W / 40.459778; -79.9272611
Built	1898-1900
Architect	Peabody & Stearns
Architectural style	Beaux-Arts
NRHP reference No.	77001121 ^[1]
Added to NRHP	December 12, 1977
Designated PHLF	1975 and 1988^[2]

Motor Square Garden, also known as East Liberty Market, is a building in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Located at 5900 Baum Boulevard in the East Liberty neighborhood, it today serves as the headquarters of the Pittsburgh branch of the American Automobile Association, which owns the property. The exterior of the building features a large tin-clad, steel-framed blue dome and a yellow brick facade. The industrial interior has a large atrium with exposed steel girders and skylights above.

History

Financed by the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, the building was built from 1898 to 1900 as a city market—after one of their real estate subdivisions failed to sell enough houses—calling it East Liberty Market House. The Boston, Massachusetts architectural firm of Peabody and Stearns designed the building. Motor Square Garden soon failed as a retail space, but in 1915 the new Pittsburgh Automobile Association bought it as a site for its auto shows. In the 1920s, it came into use as a sports venue, especially for boxing, and was used intermittently as the home court of the University of Pittsburgh's basketball team until the opening of Pitt Pavilion inside Pitt Stadium in 1925.^[3] By the 1940s it was used as a new car dealership.

In 1988, AAA bought the property. Landmarks Design Associates of Pittsburgh redesigned it as an upscale shopping mall. The retail mall failed, but AAA expanded to occupy the building, along with a tenant, the UPMC Shadyside School of Nursing.

Gallery

East Liberty Market
Motor Square Garden
Motor Square Garden is currently the home of AAA East Central and the UPMC Shadyside School of Nursing.
Interior Atrium and Skylights

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ Historic Landmark Plaques 1968-2009 (PDF). Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-08-09.
^ Sam Sciullo, Jr. Pitt: 100 Years of Pitt Basketball pg. 14-17

External links

Collins, John Fulton Stuart Jr. (1967). Stringtown on the Pike: Tales and History of East Liberty. Pittsburgh: privately published.
Kidney, Walter C. (1997). Pittsburgh's Landmark Architecture: The Historic Buildings of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. ISBN 0-916670-18-X.
Toker, Franklin (1994) [1986]. Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-5434-6.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Motor Square Garden.

Preceded by

Trees Gymnasium

Home of the
University of Pittsburgh Basketball
Trees Gymnasium/Motor Square Garden
19?? – 1924

Succeeded by

Pitt Pavilion

Peabody & Stearns

Buildings

Colorado	Cutler Hall (1877–1880) Glen Eyrie^† (1881–1882) Antlers Hotel (1883)
Connecticut	John Rogers Studio (1878)
Georgia	Dungeness^† (1896) Plum Orchard (1898)
Maine	Union Church of Northeast Harbor (1887) Drexel Estate (1903) Bangor High School (1912) Bangor Public Library (1912)
Massachusetts	Boylston Hall^† (1870) Bussey Institute (1870–1871) Matthews Hall (1871) Smith Academy (1872) Cathedral Church of St. Paul^† (1873) J. Murray Forbes House^† (1873) Frances M. McKay House (1875) Hotel Alexandra (1875) R. H. White Department Store (1877) Bromfield School (1878) Smith College Gymnasium (1879) Dupee Estate (1880) Shepherd Brooks Estate (1880) Saint Paul's Church^† (1880) Union Club of Boston^† (1880s) Saint Mary of the Assumption Church and Rectory (1880–1886) John Payson Williston Observatory (1881) Second Harrison Gray Otis House^† (1882) Henry Bradlee Jr. House (1882) First Congregational Church Parsonage and Carriage House (1883) Kragsyde (1883–1885) Bayley House (1884) Joseph Davis House (1884) Wigglesworth Building^† (1884) Groton School (1884–1902) Elm Court (1885) Divinity Hall^† (1886) Saint Paul's Rectory (1886) King's Chapel^† (1886–1922) Divinity Library (1887) First Parish Church (1888) Fiske Building (1888) Hasty Pudding Club (1888) Rev. William Lawrence House^† (1888) Exchange Building (1889–1891) Wheatleigh (1893) Russia Wharf Building (1897) Christ Episcopal Church and Parish House (1897–1902) Town Stable^† (1898) Worcester City Hall (1898) Trinity Episcopal Church^† (1898–1899) Newell Boathouse (1900) Chickering Hall (1901) Dudley Station (1901) Middlesex School (1901–1917) Soldiers' Memorial Library (1901) Dorchester Heights Monument (1902) Cotting School (1903) Norfolk Couunty Registry of Deeds (1905) Springfield Fire & Marine Insurance Co. (1905) Whitinsville High School (1905–1907) Union Trust Company Building (1907) Weld Boathouse (1907) Statue of George Frisbie Hoar (1907–1908) Egleston Substation (1909) Lechmere Viaduct (1910) Roslindale Substation (1911) Custom House Tower (1911–1915) George Thorndike Angell Memorial (1912) St. James Theatre (1912) Cambridge Memorial Flagstaff (1913) Mary E. Wells School (1916–1917)
Minnesota	James J. Hill House (1887–1891) Duluth Union Depot (1890–1892)
Missouri	St. Louis School of Fine Arts (1879) Unitarian Church of the Messiah (1880) Dr. George Ashe Bronson House (1885) Security Building (1890–1892)
New Hampshire	New Hampshire State House^† (1910)
New Jersey	Lawrenceville School (1884–1895) Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal (1889)
New York	Union League Clubhouse (1880)
Pennsylvania	Harvey Childs House (1896) Joseph Horne Department Store (1898–1900) East Liberty Market (1900)
Rhode Island	The Breakers (1878) Vinland Estate (1882–1883) Rough Point (1887–1892) Rockhurst (1891) Fairholme^† (1896) Providence Journal Building (1906)
Vermont	Daniel Webster Robinson House (1885–1886)
Washington, D.C.	Volta Bureau (1893)
West Virginia	Pinecrest (1892)
Wisconsin	First Unitarian Society Church (1885)
Key: ^† Denotes addition, alteration, or remodel

Architects
Robert Swain Peabody John Goddard Stearns Jr. George A. Fuller Pierce P. Furber John Scudder Adkins Francis Richmond Allen Robert Day Andrews Charles L. Bevins Clarence H. Blackall Warren R. Briggs Henry Budden John Hutchins Cady Henry Ives Cobb Charles Collens Charles Sumner Frost Edward T. P. Graham Charles R. Greco S. Wesley Haynes Burnham Hoyt Charles Wilson Killam Westray Ladd Ellis F. Lawrence Ion Lewis Louis Christian Mullgardt Orlando Whitney Norcross Frederick Lincoln Savage A. C. Schweinfurth Julius A. Schweinfurth Timothy Walsh Joseph Morrill Wells Edmund M. Wheelwright Edmund Russell Willson Arthur H. Vinal

Architects

Media related to Peabody and Stearns at Wikimedia Commons

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