Historic Wheeling-Pitt Lofts

Photos from January 8, 2021 City of Wheeling press conference at the Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Building. Press conference held on the 12 floor, former Executive Offices of Wheeling Pitt. Mayor Glenn Elliott spoke along with Steve Coon of Coon Restoration and Sealants and Peter Ketter from Sandvick Architects. Coon Restoration will be converting the building to 110 apartments with retail on the first floor.
Hope to post future photos of the progress.

History of Schmulbach Building (Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Building):
Wheeling architect Frederick Faris designed this building for brewer Henry Schmulbach around 1904, and construction was completed in 1907. It was – and is – Wheeling’s tallest building, rising twelve stories. At the time of its completion, the building was said to be the largest office building in the state. Contractors were: Caldwell & Drake, general contractors; Structural Steel Riverside Bridge Company; R.W. Kyle, plumbing and heating; Martin Brick Company of Pittsburgh, face brick; Philip Carey Company, roofing; Wheeling Wall Plaster Company, plaster; L. Schreiber & Sons of Cincinnati, ornamental iron; and Otis Elevator Company of Pittsburgh, elevators.

The earlier, 1901 “Atlas of the City of Wheeling” shows on this site the footprint of a smaller, possibly three-story frame building, also owned by Henry Schmulbach. According to the 1901-1902 Wheeling City Directory, the property at that time housed the Diamond Restaurant (“strictly first-class, seats especially reserved for ladies; oysters, fish, game, etc., in season, Charles F. Otto, proprietor”), a laundry operated by Wah Yee (who also lived in the building), a shoemaker, and a billiards/bowling parlor. The German Bank (of which Schmulbach served as president for more than 20 years) and Grand Opera House stood to the south; the residence of Albert M. and Frederick Schenk and the five-story Peabody office building were located to the north.

The new building served mixed uses. The 1907-1909 City Directory shows that the building was approximately two-thirds full. The first floor housed William Wertheimer & Company, clothiers; the Baltimore Dairy Lunch Room; the Schmulbach Building cigar stand; Guttridge & Rand, tailors; and George E. Johns Company, ladies’ cloaks, etc. The second through eleventh floors contained a variety of insurance, advertising, real estate, physician, dentist, attorney, coal company, and architect offices. And the top floor housed a public library in the front and the National Telephone Company in the rear. Brass hardware featured the letter S, for Schmulbach.

Owner Henry Schmulbach (1844-1915) immigrated to Wheeling from Germany with his family when he was eight years old. He began work as a cabin boy on Ohio River steamboats when he was only ten. He later owned a grocery store for a few years before acquiring Nail City Brewing Company. Under its new name of Schmulbach Brewing Company, it became the biggest producing beer concern in the state, with a capacity of 200,000 barrels a year. He amassed a large fortune through the brewery and other business ventures, with a self-proclaimed goal of becoming the richest man in the Ohio Valley. A specific success of note was the building up of the German Bank. In 1879, the bank lost heavily because of failures of tobacco growers to pay their obligations, and its stock had deteriorated to such an extent that it was only worth 40 cents on the dollar. When other bank directors considered closing the bank, Schmulbach and Chester D. Hubbard opposed the closing, and under its new management, the bank grew and prospered. Its successor is now known as Wesbanco.

Schmulbach was also a part owner of the twelve-boat Wheeling-Cincinnati Steamboat Company, was a director of the Top Mill, which later became part of Wheeling Steel, and was a heavy stockholder in the Mingo Iron Company, which later became part of Carnegie Steel. In 1892, the Wheeling Bridge Company appealed to Schmulbach for financial aid, and he furnished funds to build the Steel Bridge and the Aetnaville Bridge. His other interests included hotels, railroads, horseracing, and the National Telephone Company. In addition to building this building, Schmulbach had also built Mozart Park in 1893, along with a 610-foot incline that carried patrons from South Wheeling to the amusement park that served only his beer.

Schmulbach left no descendants. His widow, nee Eva Pauline Bertschy, sold the building in 1920 to Wheeling Steel Corporation. It served as headquarters for that company and its successors (Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel, Severstal Steel, RG Steel) until 2013. The building is owned by Dr. John Johnson’s Access Infrastructure LLC.