Father Pitt

Why should the beautiful die?

St. Walburga’s Church, Lincoln–Lemington–Belmar

St. Walburga’s Church, now Cornerstone Baptist Church

You never know what you might find when you go trawling in the depths of the archives. These pictures were taken in September of 2014, but old Pa Pitt never published them. Why not? His memory is vague, but he suspects it was because he was planning to publish them when he worked out the history of the building, and he never did work it out. Finding the pictures by random luck the other day stimulated him to finish the job, and here they are.

The tower with dome

St. Walburga’s was a German parish founded in 1903—the last ethnic German parish founded in the city of Pittsburgh. The cornerstone of this building was laid in April of 1927; the building was dedicated a year later in April of 1928. The architects were the Cleveland firm of Potter & Gabele & Co., and if Father Pitt told you how much time he spent trying to find that information before finally locating it in the Pittsburgh Catholic for April 19, 1928, you would wonder a little about whether he should be regarded as competent to manage his own life.

St. Walburga’s in 1928
The church at its dedication, from the Pittsburgh Catholic, April 19, 1928, p. 3. Almost nothing has changed externally.

J. Ellsworth Potter was a successful architect who designed churches in traditional styles until his death in 1958. Henry Charles Gabele was associated with Potter until 1932, but after that seems to have fizzled out as an architect (see a brief notice in this PDF Cleveland Architects Database).

Tower

St. Walburga’s parish was suppressed in 1966, a victim of postwar demographic change. Today the building belongs to the Cornerstone Baptist Church, whose congregation obviously treasures it and keeps it in beautiful shape.

West front
St. Walburga’s Church
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3; Kodak EasyShare Z1485.

See a random picture
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You could buy this book
if you wanted a book.

Father Pitt

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2 responses to “St. Walburga’s Church, Lincoln–Lemington–Belmar”

  1. Herwardus

    Thanks for this detailed post – I’d tried to look up what this lovely church’s history before and couldn’t figure it out.

    Reply
  2. T Weber H Zwergel Family decendent

    The original stained glass windows from Saint Walburga Church, some bearing the names of parishioners like the Webers, are now located at the Shrine of St Walburga at St. Emma’s Monastery and Retreat House in Greensburg Pennsylvania. The shrine is a beautiful small star shaped building created from the stain glass windows which were originally in St. Walburga’s Church on Lincoln Avenue in Pittsburgh. The monastery provided a nice brochure which described what is pictured in each window telling the story of St. Walburga’s life including how she was born in England in 710 and went to Germany as a missionary. There are 12 windows in all. The windows are beautifully detailed and the craftsmanship is amazing. The monastery website http://www.stemma.org may have more information as well.

    Theodore and Henrietta (Zwergel) Weber and family were among the members of this church in the early 20th century. They lived in a historic home up the street at 1810 Lincoln Ave (the home built in 1858 predated the turn of the century Lincoln Avenue growth was known as the Doak house and was located at the end of the street car line. It no longer exists). The Webers operated a dairy in the area. Theodore was the brother of Isidor Weber. Sister Pauline Zwergel also related to this family is buried in Sisters of Divine Providence Cemetery in the North Hills.

    As a decendent of original parishioners of St Walburga I’m so happy that this beautiful church worship space is being celebrated and preserved by Cornstone Baptist Church. May God Bless your parish. Thank you.

    Reply

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