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Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Building

The Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Building, originally known as the Schmulbach Building, was West Virginia’s first high-rise office building. The 12-story structure was built in 1904–07 on Market Street in downtown Wheeling. Still the city’s tallest office building, it remains a local landmark.

The massive H-shaped building was designed for the German immigrant brewer and industrialist, Henry Schmulbach, by Wheeling architects Millard F. Giesey and Frederick Faris. The building was taken over by the Wheeling Steel Corporation in 1921 and renamed. The first two floors of the structure are faced in granite, and the upper floors are faced in cream-colored brick. The building is part of the Wheeling Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The building changed hands as Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation was bought and sold. In March 2011, the Russian steelmaker Severstal sold Wheeling-Pitt, and several other operations, to Renco Group Inc. In May 2012, RG Steel, a subsidiary of Renco, filed for bankruptcy, and in 2013, the building was sold to an Ohio company, Access Infostructures.

In 2021, city leaders announced that the privately owned building would be transformed into a residential high-rise with more than 100 loft apartments plus street-level retail options. Two years later, the project has more than doubled in cost.