Father Pitt

Category: Churches

  • St. Anthony Chapel, Troy Hill

    St. Anthony Chapel

    Father Suitbert Mollinger was the founding pastor of of Most Holy Name of Jesus parish on Troy Hill. He was also rich: he had inherited a good bit of money, and he used it in travels through Europe to buy up saints’ relics that were otherwise being tossed out in the waves of revolutions that were washing across the continent in the middle 1800s. He built this chapel to house the collection, which is probably the largest accumulation of relics in one building in the world. He dedicated it to his patron St. Anthony of Padua.

    St. Anthony

    Here is St. Anthony of Padua himself, shown as he often is in art with a book on which the Christ child is sitting, referring to the story that Anthony was once meditating on Scripture when the child Jesus himself appeared to him.

    Inscription: Aedificium in honorum Sti Antonii Patavini

    Building in honor of St. Anthony of Padua…

    Inscription: Erectum A.D. MDCCCLXXXII. Amplificatum A.D. MDCCCXC.

    …erected 1882, enlarged 1890.

    Main entrance
    Side door
    St. Anthony Chapel
    St. Anthony Chapel
    Kodak EasyShare Max Z990.
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  • Second Presbyterian Church, Wilkinsburg

    Second Presbyterian Church

    Later known as the Mulberry Presbyterian Church. O. M. Topp and Charles W. Hutchison, “țhe well-known Pittsburg architect,” were the architects of this church, built in 1911.1

    In spite of his self-declared notability, Charles W. Hutchison has not left much of a visible architectural legacy: after some searching, old Pa Pitt found only two projects definitely attributable to him, of which this is one. It was probably his own church: he lived in Wilkinsburg. His moment of greatest fame came the year after this church was built, when his honeymoon trip was interrupted by the wreck of the Titanic: he and his bride were passengers on the Carpathia, the ship that picked up Titanic survivors. He sold his story, with a well-made diagram of the scene of the rescue, to the Press, which put him on the front page as “the well-known Pittsburg architect.”

    Front page of the Pittsburgh Press with Hutchison’s story
    Pittsburg Press, April 21, 1912, p. 1.

    Olaf M. Topp, on the other hand, was a very successful architect with a long career ahead of him and much experience behind him. Half the prewar Lutheran churches in the Pittsburgh area were designed by Topp, in addition to a few for other denominations; and in secular buildings his greatest work was the still-lamented Jenkins Arcade.

    Entrance

    A while ago this church was taken over by an organization with ambitious plans to turn it into a Center for Civic Arts. The plans seem to have run hard up against economic reality, however, and when old Pa Pitt visited recently the building was up for sale again.

    Decorations over the entrance
    Entrance
    Side entrance
    Hinge
    Lantern
    1. “Cornerstone Laying Among Church Events,” Press, August 27, 1911. “The church was designed by O. M. Topp and Charles M. Hutchison.” The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation plaque has the architect as “F. Hoffman & Company,” but that was the contractor. ↩︎

  • St. Paul’s Cathedral, Oakland

    St. Paul’s Cathedral

    These are far from the first pictures of this cathedral that old Pa Pitt has published, and they certainly will not be the last. A cathedral is too big a deal to take in all at once.

    West-front elevation

    The west front (liturgically speaking1) is a towering Gothic fantasy whose scale is hard to convey in a photograph. Here the human figures on the steps give us some context.

    Part of the west front
    Front doors

    The main doors turn on the mightiest hinges in Pittsburgh.

    Hinge
    South transept façade

    This would be a magnificent main front for any church; here it is just the façade of the south transept.

    South transept entrance
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    The south-transept entrance.

    We have many more pictures of St. Paul’s from many years of passing by with a camera.

    1. In describing church architecture, the altar is always considered “east,” which makes the entrance opposite the altar “west,” and so on, regardless of what your lying compass says. ↩︎
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  • South Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Wilkinsburg

    South Avenue United Methodist Church

    Wilkinsburg’s own Milligan & Miller were the architects of this church, built in 1907.1

    South Avenue United Methodist Church
    Arcaded porch

    Old Pa Pitt’s favorite features of this church are the arcaded porches, like medieval cloisters, on both sides of the building.

    Porch

    The wheelchair ramp on this side was added with good taste (and a high budget).

    Date stones: Wilkinsburg M. E. Church, built 1878; Methodist Episcopal Church Built A. D. 1843; Organized 1832

    Cornerstones from the previous churches are set in the wall under the roof of the right-hand porch.

    Porch
    South Avenue United Methodist Church
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    We also have some monochrome pictures of the South Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church.

    1. “Old Town of Aspect All Modern,” Pittsburg Press, July 14, 1907. “One of the most important additions to the structural beauty of the place will be the new South Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, which is to replace the old burned down last February. It is to cost $125,000 and will be one of the finest church buildings in the community. The construction is under the charge of Architects Milligan & Miller, who designed the plans.” ↩︎
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  • More Details of Heinz Chapel, Oakland

    Heinz chapel

    More details of Heinz Chapel, including the arms of various American colleges and universities. We have another collection of details of Heinz Chapel here, or you can see our whole collection of Heinz Chapel pictures spanning nearly nineteen years.

    Heinz Chapel
    Transept gable
    Carved stone
    Detail
    Arms and tracery
    More ditto
    With this one you also get some slate roof
    Heinz Chapel
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
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  • Mifflin Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Regent Square

    Mifflin Avenue M. E. Church

    Still serving its original congregation, now as the Mifflin Avenue United Methodist Church. This church in the Wilkinsburg quarter of Regent Square, a single neighborhood divided among four municipalities, was built in 1923. The architect was Victor A. Rigaumont, who would later become nationally famous as a reliable designer of Art Deco movie palaces. Perhaps we can see a little Hollywood sensibility already in this church: the design is more flamboyant than the usual corner-tower Gothic church, and the huge Gothic arch that includes both the three front entrance doors and the windows above them is more like a set designer’s fantasy Gothic than a pedantically correct interpretation of medieval forms.

    Mifflin Avenue M. E. Church
    Entrance
    Door
    Lantern
    Basement door of the Mifflin Avenue M. E. Church

    Note the signature above this tiny basement door: “V. A. Rigaumont R. A. Architect.”

    Mifflin Avenue M. E. Church
    Entrance to the education wing

    The education wing was built thirteen years earlier, in 1910; the architects were Wilkinsburg’s own Milligan & Miller. The older building was used as the worship space until the main church was built.

    Mifflin Avenue M. E. Church
    Sony Alpha 3000 with 7Artisans f/1.4 35mm lens; Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

  • Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church (Christ Missionary Baptist Church), Brushton

    Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church

    This charming little church was built in 1912; and, having said that, old Pa Pitt has exhausted his knowledge on the subject. It now belongs to the Christ Missionary Baptist Church, which has kept it in beautiful and nearly original condition, as we can see from this photograph taken just before the dedication in December of 1912.

    Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Brushton, which is to be dedicated tomorrow
    “New Church to Be Dedicated,” Gazette Times, December 7, 1912, p. 2.
    Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church
    Cornerstone
    Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church
    Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church
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  • East Liberty Presbyterian Church

    East Liberty Presbyterian Church

    Like a great European cathedral, East Liberty Presbyterian Church, which Ralph Adams Cram considered his masterpiece, is too huge and complex to take in all at once. We can only appreciate some of the details, and then come back later for more. Here are some views from various spots in East Liberty.

    Spire
    Tower
    Oriel
    Oriel
    Highland Avenue entrance
    Weathercock
    The church from Highland Avenue
    Oriel
    From Penn Avenue
    Tower
    Detail of the tower
    Highland Avenue side
    Dormers
    From Highland and Baum
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
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  • St. Ambrose Parish, Spring Hill

    St. Ambrosius Catholic Church inscription

    Three buildings of St. Ambrose parish (now part of Holy Wisdom parish) are lined up along Haslage Avenue on tiny lots. We begin with the church, built in 1894, when the parish was going by the Latin version of the name. (If the atmosphere in these pictures seems a bit murky, that is because they were taken on one of the recent days of Canadian smoke in the air.)

    St. Ambrosius Church

    The church has been crusted over with so many additions and alterations that it is hard to imagine what it looked like when it was built. It seems, however, to have been a typical small Romanesque church of the late 1800s, with the usual decorative brickwork and an outsized tower in front. Father Pitt did not succeed in finding the name of an architect.

    St. Ambrosius Church
    Detail

    These chimneys and the cross-bearing crest were obviously meant to be seen, but they are now almost completely invisible behind later construction.

    St. Ambrosius Church

    The next building to be put up was the convent, in 1911. It was designed by Edmund B. Lang,1 who (along with his brother Herman) designed many buildings for German Catholics.

    Convent
    School and church

    Finally, in 1928, the school was built. The architect was William P. Hutchins,2 who matched his design to the round arches and crenelated brick ornamentation of the church.

    Front elevation of St. Ambrose School
    Saint Ambrose School inscription
    Entrance
    Entrance
    Capital
    Entrance
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
    1. The Construction Record, November 19, 1910: “Architect E. B. Lang, House building, awarded to H. J. Eberz, 721-13 First avenue, Northside, the contract for erecting a 2½-story brick and stone convent, on Haslage avenue, Northside, for St. Ambrose’s Roman Catholic Congregation. Cost $6,000.” ↩︎
    2. “Lay Cornerstone of St. Ambrose School Sunday Afternoon,” Pittsburgh Catholic, May 31, 1928. “The new school was designed by William P. Hutchins, architect, and the Pittsburgh Engineering and Construction Corp. is the general contractor.” ↩︎
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  • Heinz Chapel, Oakland

    Heinz Chapel

    Heinz Chapel, built over five years from 1933 to 1938, is one of the complex of three great Charles Z. Klauder buildings at the center of the University of Pittsburgh, along with the Cathedral of Learning and the Stephen Foster Memorial. A while ago old Pa Pitt picked out some of the details with a long lens.

    Heinz Chapel
    Heinz Chapel
    Entrance
    Reliefs over the entrance
    Reliefs over the entrance
    Lamb
    Reliefs and Gothic decorations

    The decorations include the arms of various colleges and universities.

    Reliefs and Gothic decorations
    Reliefs and Gothic decorations
    Reliefs and Gothic decorations
    Reliefs and Gothic decorations
    Pinnacle
    Base of the spire
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
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