The Croghan-Schenley Ballroom is located on the first floor of the Cathedral of Learning. Behind its wooden door is a Greek Revival ballroom highlighted by four hand-carved wooden columns and a magnificent hand-cut glass chandelier that originally was illuminated by candles.
Today used for receptions and meetings, the ballroom and its adjoining parlor were originally part of a mansion built in the 1830s by William Croghan Jr. for his daughter Mary. But she never danced in it, scandalously eloping at age 15 with 43-year-old Captain Edward Schenley of the British Army. In the 1940s, the ballroom and parlor were moved and restored inside the Cathedral and christened the Croghan-Schenley Room.
Mary Schenley donated the land that became Schenley Park to the city of Pittsburgh in the late 1800s. A fountain in her honor stands in front of the Frick Fine Arts Building.