The Civic Arena: Pittsburgh's Igloo

They called it the Igloo. And with its massive retractable dome rising over the Lower Hill District, the Pittsburgh Civic Arena looked like nothing else in American sports.

The Building

The Civic Arena opened in 1961 as a multipurpose venue, home to the Pittsburgh Penguins from the team's founding in 1967 until 2010. The building's most distinctive feature was its retractable stainless steel dome — the largest retractable roof structure in the world when it was built, an engineering marvel that could open to the sky on warm evenings.

The dome rarely opened in practice — Pittsburgh's weather being what it is — but it remained a defining feature of the building's identity. From the outside, the Igloo was unmistakable: a gleaming silver dome rising from the Pittsburgh skyline, visible from across the city.

The Championships

The Civic Arena hosted two Stanley Cup championship celebrations for the Penguins — in 1991 and 1992, the back-to-back titles that made Mario Lemieux a Pittsburgh legend. Those championship runs transformed the Penguins from a struggling franchise into one of the NHL's marquee teams, and the Igloo was the house where it all happened.

The Demolition

The Civic Arena closed in 2010 when the Penguins moved to the new Consol Energy Center. It was demolished in 2011 despite significant preservation efforts — a loss that still stings for many Pittsburgh residents who saw the building as an architectural landmark as much as a sports venue.

The Civic Arena Pittsburgh Retro T-shirt is for Penguins fans and Pittsburgh history lovers alike. Find it in the Pittsburgh collection.