Father Pitt

Category: Castle Shannon

  • St. Anne’s Church, Castle Shannon

    St. Anne’s Church

    Edward J. Schulte was a master of the modern in ecclesiastical architecture. Wherever he went, all over the United States, he left churches that were uncompromisingly modern in their details, but also uncompromisingly traditional in their adaptation to Christian worship. St. Anne’s, which was finished in 1962, is a fine example of his work.

    Date stone
    A date stone on the grounds.

    The details are modern, but the form of the church is perfectly adapted to the ancient Christian liturgy. Too many modern architects expected the liturgy to adapt to the building, but Mr. Schulte obviously knew Christian tradition.

    We might point to the baptistery as an illustration of what we mean.

    Baptistery of St. Anne’s

    It’s a strikingly modern building, bang up to date for the Kennedy administration. But in its form and position it reminds us of…

    Baptistery of Neon

    …the Baptistery of Neon in Ravenna, seen here in a photograph from A History of Architecture in Italy by Charles A. Cummings (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1901). Built in the late 300s or early 400s, it was originally an extension of a large basilica, just like this baptistery. The one in Ravenna is one of the oldest Christian buildings still standing; Mr. Schulte reached right back to Roman imperial days to find his inspiration.

    St. Anne’s with baptistery
    The church and tower

    The most striking feature of the church is a detached bell tower more than a hundred feet high.

    Philip Murray tower
    Philip Murray tower

    The tower was donated by the United Steelworkers of America in honor of Philip Murray, the union’s first president. St. Anne’s was his home parish, and he is buried in St. Anne’s Cemetery.

    This tower is dedicated to the memory of Philip Murray by theUnited Steelworkers of America, November 9, 1962
    Relief of St. Anne and St. Mary and inscription

    A relief of St. Anne and St. Mary is accompanied by a quotation from Psalm 44 in the Vulgate numbering (Psalm 45 in the numbering used in Protestant and newer Catholic Bibles).

    Base of the tower
    St. Anne
    St. Anne and St. Mary
    Base of the tower
    Base from the side
    Tower from the side
    Top of the tower with cross
    The west front of the church

    The (liturgical) west front of the church1 is a balaced composition in geometry and symbolism.

    West front
    St. Anne’s Church

    Some roof work was going on when old Pa Pitt visited. (Update: A parishioner informs us that the work was in the basement, including an elevator, which is doubtless why we saw workers on the roof.)

    St. Anne’s convent entrance

    The entrance to the convent.

    St. Anne’s Church
    St. Anne’s through a trellis
    Side entrance
    Side entrance
    Window
    Kodak EasyShare Z1285; Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.
    1. In traditional churches, the altar end is always referred to as “east,” even when it is not in the east by the compass. The end opposite the altar, where the main entrance is traditionally placed, is thus the west, and if—as in this case—the compass says the west front faces northeast, then the compass is entitled to its opinion. ↩︎

  • Railroad Viaduct in Castle Shannon

    Castle Shannon railroad viaduct

    The West Side Belt Railroad came through Castle Shannon aerially on this long viaduct. Here we see it crossing the Blue and Silver Line trolley tracks. The line is still active as part of the Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railroad.

  • First National Bank, Castle Shannon

    First National Bank, Castle Shannon

    You might pass this little building by without a second glance as you walked along Poplar Street, if you ever did walk along Poplar Street (a very pleasant street) in Castle Shannon. But if you did pause, you might notice the tall Corinthian columns and sturdy-looking quoins (those patterns in the bricks that are meant to look like cut stone) and think, “I wonder whether that used to be a bank.”

    Then you would look up at the pediment, and all doubt would be removed.

    Vault alarm

    The electric vault alarm still sits prominently in the pediment where a richer bank might have had an allegorical figure of Commerce.

    To judge by old maps, this bank was built between 1890 and 1906.

    Corinthian capital
    First National Bank

  • Castle Shannon

    Castle Shannon

    The center of Castle Shannon is the intersection of Castle Shannon Boulevard and Willow Avenue, which carries the trolley line. The only way to get a good visual impression of this oddly shaped business district is with a series of broad panoramas.

    Trolley crossing Castle Shannon Boulevard

  • Silver Line Trolley in Castle Shannon

    Silver Line car crossing Castle Shannon Boulevard

    The only active street trackage left in the Pittsburgh streetcar system is on Broadway in Beechview, and on Warrington and Arlington Avenues when the cars are detoured over the top of the hill instead of through the Transit Tunnel. But there are several sections of what we might call semi-street trackage, where the trolleys run in a separate right-of-way either beside or in the middle of the street. Willow Avenue in Castle Shannon is one of them: half the street is reserved for trolleys. Here a Silver Line car crosses Castle Shannon Boulevard.

  • Pittsburgh Myanmar Christian Church, Castle Shannon

    Here is another wooden Gothic church whose details have been obscured by modern siding, and old Pa Pitt suspects the job was done by the same contractor who pasted siding over the First Presbyterian Church in Castle Shannon. The tower has been obscured beyond recognition—but note the railing on top, which suggests that it may be a fine place for a bird’s-eye view of the borough. This was the Castle Shannon United Methodist Church, but now it belongs to a lively congregation of immigrants from Myanmar.

    A more than usually lush growth of utility cables is also prominent in this picture.

  • First Presbyterian Church, Castle Shannon

    First Presbyterian Church, Castle Shannon

    A wood-frame country church whose most identifiable feature is its big square belfry. Artificial siding has eaten up some of the trim and made the walls a little monotonous, but the shapes of the various masses still make an interesting composition.

    Belfry

  • Emmanuel’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Castle Shannon

    Emmanuel’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

    This is the old church, which apparently now hosts a congregation called Providence Church. Next door the Lutherans have a newer building, now called Emmanuel Lutheran, since the possessive was banned from church names in the late twentieth century. This building is not a work of high architecture, but it is a pleasant village church in the Gothic style, and the substantial square corner tower makes it look like an anchor of the neighborhood.

    Inscription