Forbes Hall is a residence hall of the University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

 (Oakland

Oakland (Pittsburgh)

Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...

 campus) and is located in Forbes Pavilion on Forbes Avenue

Forbes Avenue

Forbes Avenue is one of the longest streets in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has a length of about ten miles and is named for General John Forbes , whose expedition recaptured Fort Duquesne and who renamed the place Pittsburgh in 1758.The westernmost terminus of Forbes Avenue lies at...

 approximately four blocks from the Litchfield Towers

Litchfield Towers

Litchfield Towers, commonly referred to on campus as "Towers," is a complex of dormitories at the University of Pittsburgh's main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

 complex. The name Forbes Hall, which specifically refers to the residence hall component of the building, is sometimes interchangeably used with the name Forbes Pavilion, which refers to the entire six-story structure.

Use

The Department of Parking, Transportation, and Services is located on the lowest level of Forbes Pavilion. A student mail center and internet kiosks are also available in the lobby of Forbes Hall for use by those with a Pitt user account.

A large recreation hall is on the second floor, complete with television and pool table. A second floor rooftop patio overlooks Forbes Avenue with an adjoining indoor patio room.

Occupying the remaining floors of Forbes Hall are a mix of 232 first-year men and women in double rooms that are air-conditioned. Some of the doubles have adjoining semi-private bathrooms. There are communal showers, two kitchenettes, and a laundry area on each floor. Each wing of Forbes Hall has a study room. Select rooms overlooking Forbes Avenue and Euler Way in the back of the building have small balcony areas accessible by two adjacent rooms. Each room is provided with cable and ethernet connections.

Students Pursuing Academics and Careers in Engineering, commonly referred to as the "SPACE" was relocated to Forbes Hall in 2011 after previously being located in Litchfield Tower A. Prior to this, from the Fall of 2007 semester until 2011, Forbes Hall had housed the University Honors College

University of Pittsburgh Honors College

The University of Pittsburgh Honors College is an undergraduate college providing a program of advanced study at the Oakland campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...

 program for first-year and upper-class men and women, which was subsequently moved to Sutherland Hall.

History

Forbes Pavilion was originally built as a nursing home

Nursing home

A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...

 whose construction was completed in 1964, the nursing home closed after eight years of operations due to financial difficulty. The facility was acquired by the university and renovated to provide living quarters to students. The residence hall, consisting of three wings of four floors or residential space each, opened to students in September, 1978. The University's Health Book Center, previously located for 20 years in Scaife Hall, was located on the lowest level of Forbes Pavilion from 1988 to 2011, prior to moving into the main university book store, The Book Center, on the ground level of Holland Hall.

It is alleged that Dan Marino

Dan Marino

Daniel Constantine "Dan" Marino, Jr. is a retired American football quarterback who played for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League...

 lived in Forbes Hall during his college days.

G-20 incident

On the evening of September 24, 2009, the city of Pittsburgh was in the first official day of hosting the 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit

2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit

The 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh Summit was the third meeting of the G-20 heads of state in discussion of financial markets and the world economy.The G-20 is the premier forum for discussing, planning and monitoring international economiccooperation....

. Protesters and police in riot gear, many of whom on both sides were from outside the region, clashed in and around the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland and along Forbes Avenue. The protesters, who had lit a garbage dumpster on fire, were pushed by the police down to the proximity of Forbes Hall where students were observing the scene from the Forbes Hall second floor patio and from their room balconies. Police then allegedly projected canisters of pepper spray

Pepper spray

Pepper spray, also known as OC spray , OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent that is used in riot control, crowd control and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears...

 onto the patio or balconies of Forbes Hall essentially gassing the students who lived in the dorms, an action that resulted in at least one student being treated at the nearby hospital, UPMC Presbyterian.

External links

• University of Pittsburgh Housing: Forbes Hall