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The Nittany Lion Inn
State College, Pennsylvania, United States · Independent · Accessible Luxury
The Nittany Lion Inn opened in 1931 on the Penn State campus because State College had no first-class hotel for visitors: 75 Georgian-style rooms at about $3.50 a night, financed by a $350,000 private loan and run by the Treadway Corporation. Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Frost, Eisenhower and Louis Armstrong stayed, and a Penn State president called it the university's living room.
- 234 rooms
- Opened 1931
- Neighborhood: Penn State University Park
About The Nittany Lion Inn
- Trustees pushed the inn through after the 1929 crash; every Pennsylvania governor since 1931 has been a guest.
- Scholar Hotel Group bought the building in 2022 on a long-term ground lease; Penn State still owns the land.
- The 2023-24 renovation by OGP Architects took rooms from 223 to 234 and reopened 3 September 2024.
History
The Nittany Lion Inn opened in 1931 on Penn State's University Park campus as a Georgian colonial hotel known as Penn State's living room. It hosted U.S. presidents, governors, and visiting scholars. The university sold the building to Scholar Hotel Group in 2022 while retaining the land. After a COVID closure and a multi-million-dollar renovation, the inn reopened in September 2024.
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