Wesley W. Posvar Hall
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Wesley W. Posvar Hall is a classroom and administrative building located on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Posvar Hall houses the School of Education, the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, the University Center for International Studies, and the Social Sciences Departments. At 74,695 square feet (6,939 m²) the building is the largest academic-use and classroom building on campus, providing administrative offices, classrooms, lecture halls, a modest food court, and a computer lab. Built in the Brutalist style then popular, it is now often reviled as one of the ugliest buildings on campus.
The building stands on the original site of Forbes Field, home stadium of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team from 1909–1970 and, at various times, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Homestead Grays, and Pitt's own football team. The stadium was dismantled starting in July 1971, and construction on the new building started soon afterwards and continued until 1974. The building incorporates many reminders of the famous ballpark—the home plate of Forbes Field remains near its exact spot, protected under lucite glass. The outfield wall is outlined in the sidewalk by bricks, and the portion of the famously deep left-center field wall still stands across the street, marked "457 Feet". Classrooms were named and numbered to reflect the seating section of the old stadium where they were located. Students, and others, were endlessly confused by this system, and the numbering was finally changed, to simpler four-digit numbers, in 2004. The building was originally named the Forbes Quadrangle, but on October 21, 1999, the University's Board of Trustees voted to name the building in honor of Wesley W. Posvar, the 15th chancellor of the University. In May 2000, the building was officially renamed in a dedication ceremony to Wesley W. Posvar Hall, although some older students and staff, and some signs in the building, still refer to it as Forbes Quad.
