From vacant church to global creative agency, this 20,000 sq ft space was ideal for their open floor plan needs for creative, animation and brand production space. The rehab included tons of studio area, a real stone grotto, a guitar humidor and Dolby Theater.
THIS IS RED is a global creative agency & production company. Story, brand, design & ideas.
THIS IS RED | 605 E 9th Avenue Munhall
Our space
Our office is a century-old, Art Nouveau masterpiece & (former) cathedral.
THIS IS RED is a global creative agency. Our office is a 20,000 square foot former Slovakian church that was designed to look and sound amazing. Surrounded by the stunning architecture, history, craftsmanship and materials that are impossible to recreate today, you’ll have a soulful experience you won’t soon forget.
Pittsburgh made the steel that made America, and it was immigrants who made Pittsburgh. By the 1880’s an influx of Slovak Catholic immigrants in the region created the need for a Slovak parish. The new church, St. Michael Church, was initially fostered by the Holy Ghost Fathers of Duquesne University. However, parishioners wanted a priest who spoke their language, and sought out a Slovak seminarian in St. Paul, MN to take on the job.
In 1909, the wooden church building was dismantled, moved to the current location, and rebuilt despite some outcry from the congregation. By 1927, however, the congregation had grown so much that the wooden structure had to be torn down completely to accommodate a larger building. The sanctuary was enlarged once again in the years following WWII. The structure and façade of the building has remained much the same ever since.
By the late 1960’s, the steel industry began to fade and with it, much of the surrounding community. Facing declining population and increasing maintenance costs for decades, the Diocese of Pittsburgh officially closed St. Michael Church on November 1st, 2009. In the summer of 2016, the church building began its second life as THIS IS RED.
When fog machines and 10K’s don’t mix well with fire alarms, a traditional office space just isn’t in the cards. At THIS IS RED, we believe our space should fit us, rather than the other way around. Our office was hand built by immigrants and once played host to the meanest bingo night on the Monongahela. That’s because our office is a former church building – the former St. Michael’s Slovak Roman Catholic Church to be exact. Complete with 20,000 square feet of hand-cut mahogany, tile work, Italian marble, and a fully stocked whiskey bar. Yep, that fits us.
THIS IS RED is a global creative agency & production Company delivering Creative & Story services to mega-brands and scrappy startups.
We have experience in every medium and we don’t play favorites. We don’t use animation just because it’s sexy and we don’t just use social just because it’s edgy. We look for the smartest avenues of communication. Whether it’s interactive, an event, mobile app, or social media, THIS IS RED tells the story to connect a brand with its consumers.
