We’re outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, near Monroeville. Today’s building is a real curiosity of roadside commercial architecture. I’ll be honest with you up front—I haven’t been able to track down what it was originally! I have a couple of guesses, though, and I’m curious to hear yours. Even better if anybody happens to know this building!

Here it is, in the most current Google Street View imagery:

It’s recently been boarded up; here’s an image from a little longer ago with the door and windows still exposed.

Here it is in 2009, with businesses open, and with a different color scheme!

In 2007, it had even a different color scheme! In the above image, the building is split between a Chinese buffet and a Hooters. In 2007, it was a Japanese restaurant and a Hooters. Before that, it may have been another Chinese restaurant, based on this Instagram post and this old Yellow Pages entry, which includes what looks like a picture of this building.

Now the fact that this apparently singular building was home to two distinct restaurants is just a hint at its likely history. Take a look at the roof! (The top right corner here is the Hooters half.)

Behind the glass-block façade, there’s a peaked-roof area with skylights, and behind that, there’s a glass bubble seating area, like an old Wendy’s. Here’s the glass bubble and the skylight area:

Also notice how uneven the roof looks. My guess is that we’re looking at some kind of club or lounge, originally, but likely with multiple additions on an original structure still sort of remaining in the middle. It looks like three semi-distinct buildings in one. It reminds me a lot of this small strip mall in Fairfax, Virginia, that actually turned out to be…just go read the post!

I’ll see what more I can find out about this one, but I’ve been aware of it for awhile and it’s really fun, and quite possibly surprising too.

Related Reading:

What Do You Think You’re Looking At? #9

What Do You Think You’re Looking At? #12

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