This long-lens view from Mount Washington shows us how architect William P. Hutchins crammed as much church and diocesan office space as possible into a tiny downtown lot. The church was built in 1936 in a part of town that was not the most fashionable at the time, and the location and the Depression probably account for the general modesty of the structure. But within its modest limits, it certainly makes the most of its lot.
Hutchins is not one of our most celebrated architects, but he did give the Catholics in Pittsburgh some distinguished buildings. An article about St. James Church in Wilkinsburg gives us some more information about him.
Old Pa Pitt was about to link to some of his earlier pictures of St. Mary of Mercy and discovered that he never published them. Here are a few pictures from ground level.
2 responses to “St. Mary of Mercy Church”
What is the height from ground level to the tip of the cross on top of the church?
Old Pa Pitt can only answer with the wildest of guesses, although someone at the church office might know the exact answer. Looking at the five-storey diocesan office building next to the church, and comparing the height of the tower to that, it looks as though the cross might be the equivalent of about eight floors up. Using the common figure of ten feet per floor for an office building, we would come up with about eighty feet.