Father Pitt

Why should the beautiful die?

Some Details of the Old Presbyterian Hospital, North Side

Date stone with date MCMVI

A few months ago Father Pitt published a view of the front of the old Presbyterian Hospital on the North Side, which is where Presby lived before it moved to Oakland to become the nucleus of the medical-industrial complex there. Since he was walking by the building again the other day, old Pa Pitt thought he would add a few more details.

Presbyterian Hospital
Taken in January, 2025, with a Kodak EasyShare Z1285.

Addendum: The architect was C. C. Badgley of Fairmont, West Virginia, whose plans were chosen from among several submitted by local architects.1

After Presby moved out, this site was used as Divine Providence Hospital for many years. The last we heard, the building was mostly vacant, but was being considered for conversion to “affordable” apartments.

Entrance
Entrance

We can just make out the ghosts of letters spelling out “DIVINE PROVIDENCE HOSPITAL.”

Window with tree

If we cannot find a use for a building, Mother Nature will.

Window
Nikon COOLPIX P100.
  1. Source: Record & Guide, December 28, 1904, p. 845. “The plans for the proposed Presbyterian Hospital at Sheridan and Montgomery avenues, Allegheny, will be prepared by Architect C. C. Badgley, Fairmont, West Virginia. The cost of the building will be about $100,000.” ↩︎

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One response to “Some Details of the Old Presbyterian Hospital, North Side”

  1. Catherine S

    Thank you for posting the photos and information. I often had wondered what became of this historic facility and its beautiful building.

    How well I remember Divine Providence Hospital. I grew up in Reserve Township above Troy Hill and the North Side. As an adventurous kid, I had several visits to Divine Providence Emergency Room for stitches and a few breaks. As a teen, I was trained and volunteered as a Candy Striper (not stripper) there. Do the hospitals even have those anymore? That was a great program.

    I also remember some Allegheny County or maybe it was City Summer program I went to used the little portion of park by Divine Providence for us all to meet up before we went on our daily adventure. Everyone knew where Divine Providence was. We even had a few representatives from Divine come talk to us one day about working in the medical sector.

    I always loved the old world beauty of Divine Providence. The woodwork, the various marbled and tiled floors, the lighting, the beautiful little chapel. It wasn’t a big hospital like they are now, but it wasn’t tiny either. And the hospital had a foundation in faith, which I loved. There were Sisters and a few Priests who worked there as well.

    When I was at Divine on my days or evenings that I volunteered, I loved to go to the children’s ward to visit the young children there. Some situations were heartbreaking but the children were all so beautiful and so well cared for. I loved visiting the maternity ward and seeing the newborns. Sometimes even got to help out there.

    It was a hospital, but it had a very “homey” quality to it. It didn’t even smell like a hospital. The Nurses, the Sisters, the Doctors were all so caring, so nice. They were more concerned with the treatment of their patients rather than how much money the patients brought in. Back then it was a whole different way of thinking, of working and of caring than it is today. It’s such a shame that so many people have lost their way to human decency and kindness for greed and profit.

    Such a shame to see a beautiful facility abandoned and left to rot. It makes my heart cry. I would love to see it refurbished and made into affordable and decent living space for people – NOT some fancy-schmancy, high-cost space that ultimately never gets fully utilized, then gets run down and finally ends up back where it is now. Maybe it could be made a facility for medical needs, not necessarily a full hospital but a place for doctors visits, maybe emergency care, outpatient procedures.

    I just thought of the perfect fit. Why doesn’t UPMC sell it to Oak Street Health? Then Divine Providence can maintain some of its history and maintain the medical excellence it was once known for. It could even include a small sort of museum from when it was a hospital in Allegheny City ~ former name for the North Side. Just don’t let it become another of those fine, beautiful historic buildings from our past; just left and abandoned and forgotten. And for Heaven’s sake, DON’T turn it into a parking facility! That’s just an out and out insult. And unnecessary to boot

    It’s time we start making something positive with these locations and preserving our history. There isn’t a person under 25 today who could even begin to know what a place like Divine Providence was like and what it meant to the Doctors, Nurses, Sisters, Patients, Candy Stripers and Volunteers there and the Community that it served. But I remember…

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