Pittsburgh: Distrikt (October 2017)

Distrikt Hotel Pittsburgh - Great Restaurant, Nice Rooftop Deck, Small Rooms

My spouse and I stayed at the Distrikt Pittsburgh for two nights in mid-October 2017. We booked our room online using the hotel website, and we took advantage of a special grand-opening discount rate. (We first tried to make our reservation on the Stash Hotels website, but the same special rate was not available. We did receive Stash Rewards points for our say, however.) Another Distrikt hotel is located in New York City, with other Stash hotels throughout the country.

The Distrikt Pittsburgh opened in August 2017 in Downtown’s former Salvation Army building at the intersection of Boulevard of the Allies and Grant Street, near the ramp for I-376. Although the building dates back to 1924, the overall effect is hip, modern, and minimalist. Valet parking costs $35; however, there are many parking garages nearby that offer discounted evening and weekend rates (only $6 per day on weekends). The hotel offers a small pull-in porte-cochere driveway area where you can drop your bags, passengers, and/or vehicle. Public spaces include a spacious lobby that offers different seating groups (sofas, chairs, rocking lounge chairs, communal tables), including one lounge area that occupies the former stage and offers a back wall made of green plants. The lobby has an ATM machine and bicycles for loan. Outside, the architects retained the vintage tall pointed-arch doors and the art deco bas-relief sign from the original building. The designers transformed the former chapel into the bar Evangeline (named for the old women’s residence), which offers weekday breakfast, lunch, and snacks, and daily evening drinks and snacks. The former two-story gymnasium now houses the excellent hotel restaurant called Or, The Whale (see our separate review). One of the best features of this hotel is its 10^th floor outdoor rooftop terrace that offers comfortable all-weather cushioned chairs, sofas, and coffee tables, a rectangular gas fire pit, and clear wall surrounds for unobstructed views across the Monongahela River toward Mount Washington and the Monongahela Incline. The hotel also offers a fitness center, concierge service, and in-room dining.

The hotel has 185 rooms and suites spread over 10 floors, in the categories of Cozy King/Two Queens, Comfy King/Two Queens, Roomy King/Two Queens, Suite, or Penthouse with Terrace. King rooms are small, offering as little as 226 square feet up to 265 square feet. Rooms with two queen beds offer more square footage than the kings (approximately 385 square feet) in order to accommodate the second bed. We reserved the largest of the king rooms (Roomy King), which at 265 square feet was just large enough to fit two people semi-comfortably. (We cannot imagine how small the Cozy and Comfy categories are, and we often stay in NYC and other city hotels!) Our room held a king-size bed with a small nightstand on either side, a narrow console table beneath the wall-mounted TV (which lacked any type of a guide; in fact, the TV didn’t even display channel numbers, so if you liked a particular channel and wanted to return to it later, you had no idea which number you had been watching), free-standing wardrobe (which contained a luggage stand, hangers and drawers, iron and ironing board, an empty mini-refrigerator, coffee service, and electronic safe. The room was a bit dark for our taste, with only one window (in photographs, it seems like some rooms offer two windows), two bedside lamps, and one light near the door. We requested a Roomy King with a lounge chair rather than a desk, and although the chair was comfortable, it was positioned in the wrong place to watch television. Décor was sleek and modern, and we liked the striped wool blanket that accented the crisp white sheets/comforter (not a feather duvet, however). Our bathroom was a good size, with a narrow stall shower, toilet, and single sink and vanity. The hotel provides toiletries by LATHER (shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, facial soap, body soap). 

We would stay at the Distrikt again (but only in the Roomy King or larger) for the right price, but we fear that once the opening rates are discontinued, prices will exceed other (larger) room options in the city. We loved the rooftop terrace and the hotel restaurant (which is really a dining destination).