Thackeray Hall houses Pitt's Department of Mathematics. Previously, it housed the Mathematics Library in room 430,[2] whose collection is now located in the Bevier Engineering Library of Benedum Hall.[3] On the ground floor are many university student services: class registration, tuition billing, and transcripts, as well as housing the Advising Center of the School of Arts and Sciences on the second floor.[3]
The building is the former National Union Fire Insurance Company building built circa 1923–1925 in the Early Classical style.[4][5] The building was purchased by the university in 1968 for $1.875 million ($16.4 million in 2023 dollars[6]), and was originally purposed for faculty offices.[7] It was known as the Social Sciences Building until 1972 when it was renamed Mervis Hall and designated as the home of the Graduate School of Business.[4] In 1983, when the Graduate School of Business moved into a new building also named Mervis Hall, it was renamed Thackeray Hall.
^Kideny, Walter C. Pittsburgh's Landmark Architecture: The Historic Buildings of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, 1997, pg. 351