Father Pitt

Author: Father Pitt

  • Hot Metal Bridge

    This rehabilitated pair of bridges gets its name from the fact that the downstream span was used to transport hot metal across the river between the two sections of the giant J&L steel plant. The upstream span (which technically used to be the Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge) is now open to automobile traffic; the downstream span is reserved for bicycles.

    Although official records spell this “Hot Metal Bridge,” it is always pronounced “Hotmetal Bridge,” with the accent on the first syllable.

  • Fifth Wood Building

    This is classicism walking the knife edge between Art Deco on the one side and modernism on the other. The architect was George H. Schwan, a Pittsburgher whose only other major commission in town that old Pa Pitt knows about is the Twentieth Century Club in Oakland. [Update: The Twentieth Century Club is usually attributed to Benno Janssen. Schwan may also have designed the Natatorium Building in Oakland, or the renovations that made it into a movie theater.] Schwan did not starve, however: he was a much-employed designer of attractive smaller houses, and his most famous commission was designing practically all the original buildings in the model Akron suburb of Goodyear Heights.

    Addendum: Father Pitt knows of more works by Schwan than he did when he wrote this article. See the Great Big List of Buildings and Architects for old Pa Pitt’s latest research.

  • Beckert Seed & Bulb Co.

    This old sign is still fairly clear on the back of a peculiarly triangular building on Liberty Avenue. You can see it from the Diamond; it’s just off Forbes Avenue over the little alley called Delray Street.

  • Tunnel Park

    Tunnel Park is a strip of green on the river side of the SouthSide Works development. The name comes from the fact that there is a railroad tunnel beneath the green. And here is the entrance to the tunnel, which is not very picturesque but is something of a curiosity.

  • Monongahela House

    Back in the 1800s the Monongahela House was Pittsburgh’s first-class hotel. Charles Dickens stayed here, which was not enough to give him a good impression of the city. The hotel went through several incarnations; this is how it looked in 1888.

    Source: Allegheny County Centennial.

  • Standard Life Building

    This Fourth Avenue tower is smaller than some of the others, but just as splendid as its most ostentatious neighbors. It was designed by Alden and Harlow in their usual exquisite taste.

  • Pittsburgh Piety, by David Gilmour Blythe

    Old Pa Pitt does not know what church this is meant to represent, but he suspects a Presbyterian church: the preacher is clearly the main attraction, but the Gothic details suggest the commercial wealth that Pittsburgh Presbyterians have traditionally been known for. This painting hangs on the wall of Blythe paintings at the Carnegie; the curators date it 1860-1862.

  • First Baptist Church

    The First Baptist Church in Oakland was designed by Bertram Goodhue, a disciple of Ralph Adams Cram, the greatest figure in American Gothic architecture.

  • Morse School

    Now part of the Morse Gardens apartments, this fine-looking 1874 school was designed by T. D. Evans, about whom old Pa Pitt knows nothing else. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

  • Reliefs on the City-County Building

    On the left, the arms of Allegheny County; on the right, the arms of the City of Pittsburgh.

    Allegheny County.

    Pittsburgh.

    Addendum: The sculptures are by Charles Keck, who also worked with architect Henry Hornbostel on numerous other buildings, including Soldiers and Sailors Hall.