We describe the growth of a highly ordered pentacene film on the Au(110) surface, investigated in both real and reciprocal space using scanning tunneling microscopy and low-energy electron diffraction techniques. At high coverage, a unidirectional multilayer of pi-stacked molecular row is formed with long-range order. Investigations of the interface at low molecular coverage show that this molecular arrangement is a direct consequence of a pentacene-induced surface reconstruction. Pentacene molecules initially adsorb between atomic gold rows of the Au(110)-(1x2) missing row structure and induce a (1x3) surface reconstruction, acting as a template for the organic film formation. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.