One of the many black stone buildings that still remained in Pittsburgh in the 1990s. Like almost all the others, Sixth Presbyterian has since been cleaned and restored to its original color.
Father Pitt has always wondered why the Presbyterians kept numbering their churches. “First Presbyterian” is an honorable distinction. “Fifth Presbyterian” just sounds tired. And then why stop at six? There is a Seventh Presbyterian in Cincinnati, for example. (Update: They did not stop at six; in fact both Presbyterian and United Presbyterian churches in Pittsburgh went into the double digits. Sixth Presbyterian is the highest number still going that we know of.)
Addendum: The architect was John Lewis Beatty; the church was built in 1902.1
- Record & Guide, February 12, 1902. “J. Lewis Beatty, Jackson Building, has prepared plans for the Sixth Presbyterian church and they have been approved by the Building Committee, of which Dr J. Guy McCandless, Director of Public Works, is the chairman. It will be 32 x 132 feet, of sandstone, hardwood interior finish, handsome furniture and fixtures. The cost will be about $60,000.” The measurement of 32 feet has to be incorrect; no church of any consequence is that narrow. About 82 feet would be plausible, according to the lot measurements on the 1923 Hopkins map. ↩︎
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