[5][6] The five-story building of stone, brick, and terra cotta was completed in 1910 in the Neoclassical Beaux-Arts style by architect Henry Hornbostel and today serves as space for a variety of academic classrooms, labs, offices, and centers.

[7] It is located between, and connected to, the university's Old Engineering Hall and Space Research Coordination Center (SRCC) along O'Hara Street in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

[10] Several other departments, including Asian Languages, Chemistry, and Archaeology, have offices, classrooms, and labs in various locations throughout the building.

The details of the building include ornamental elements reflective of classical design including Doric columns as well as cornice and pediment containing repeating classical terra cotta decorative patterns incorporating waves, palmettes, or leaves, as well as granite rosettes and Greek Key motifs.

[7] Armstrong contends that Thaw Hall's worth as a historic building is demonstrated in Hornbostel's intentional manipulation of effects of light and shadow by the application of varying amounts of relief to the ornamentation in order to create alternate dark and light patterns that are still observable from a distance, while abating the effect as the viewer looks at the lower parts of the building.

The Basement level has only a single entrance, located in a recessed door on the stairs leading from the Mezzanine level into SRCC; a single exit, a glass vestibule leading into the OEH vehicle turnaround; and an elevator door located inside an office space, which is locked off to external access.

The Space Research Coordination Center (SRCC), sometimes referred to as the Space Research Coordinating Center, was completed in 1965[15] from funding obtained from a $1.5 million NASA grant for studies in the natural sciences, social sciences, engineering, and health areas concerned with the aerospace field.