Father Pitt

Addendum: This was originally called Haddon Hall, and it was built as a hotel, or at least it was a hotel early in its history.⁽¹⁾ We now have a picture of Haddon Hall in 1929, before the modernist growth on the front.

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This is a distinctive building, and old Pa Pitt searched almost fifteen minutes for the architect without success. He would be delighted if someone could tell him who designed this little outcropping of dignified Art Nouveau. Father Pitt might suspect Kiehnel and Elliott as the architects most likely to be working in this style in Pittsburgh, but that is nothing more than a wild speculation.

The glass-block windows in the front stairwell were probably stained glass when the building opened, and we can hope that those windows are preserved in a private collection somewhere.

The modernist addition on the front is not as delightful as its architect probably hoped it would be. It was probably put there in about 1961: a newspaper ad from December 22, 1961, promotes the Walt Harper Quintet’s appearance at the “newly remodeled Haddon Hall Lounge.” (In an earlier version of this article, Father Pitt wrote, “It appears to be a glass enclosure for what was once an elegant verandah.” That was wrong: old photos from before the remodeling show no verandah.)

Footnotes

1. We found a matchbook for sale on an auction site labeled Haddon Hall Hotel, 4730 Center Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa., Tel. Mayflower 7123. (↩)