Father Pitt

Category: Churches

  • Old Church in Spring Hill

    One of old Pa Pitt’s many regrets is that he did not buy this old church on Rhine Street in Spring Hill, merely to preserve its unique Art Nouveau façade. Behind the façade was a pedestrian frame building clinging to the side of the hill, but the façade itself was not quite like anything else in Pittsburgh. This picture was taken in 1999; the church was demolished some time after 2016, when the abandoned hulk still appears in Google Street View. The stained glass probably still exists somewhere; it was removed before the building was demolished.

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  • St. Peter & St. Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Carnegie

    There are two Ukrainian churches in Carnegie. The Catholic one is an enlarged Quonset hut. This one is an Art Nouveau interpretation of traditional Ukrainian architecture by the Hungarian architect Titus de Bobula. Together with its next-door neighbor, the Russian Orthodox church, it makes this corner of Carnegie look exotically East European.

    The effect is even more curious when the distinctively Ukrainian domes are seen through a distinctively American maze of utility cables.

  • Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church, Mexican War Streets

    A small but very tasteful church (finished in 1909) that faces the beautiful expanse of West Park across North Avenue. The architect, according to this brochure, was Robert Maurice Trimble, a native of Allegheny.

  • Sweeping the Cathedral Steps

    In old-postcard colors, a view of the front steps of St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland.

  • St. George’s Serbian Orthodox Church, South Side

    Like most of the other churches on the South Side, this one—at 15th and Roland Streets—has been repurposed, in this case as a studio. But its outward appearance has hardly changed.

    https://www.openstreetmap.org/export/embed.html?bbox=-79.98922348022462%2C40.42605029552272%2C-79.97725009918214%2C40.430787137931915&layer=mapnik&marker=40.42841875843012%2C-79.98323678970337


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  • St. Matthew’s Church, South Side

    Like many other churches on the South Side, this one is becoming loft apartments. The exterior, at any rate, will be preserved.

    Camera: Canon PowerShot 590 IS.

    Addendum: The architect was Marius Rousseau, according to the parish’s Golden Jubilee book.

  • Brush Creek Salems Church, Irwin

    Now Brush Creek Salem United Church of Christ, this beautiful and stately building is nearly 200 years old: it was built somewhere around the years 1816-1820, serving the colonial-era community of Brush Creek outside Irwin. The adjacent Brush Creek Cemetery has marked burials going back to the 1700s, with some extraordinary works of folk art among the tombstones.

  • St. Bernard Church and School, Mount Lebanon

    The rear of St. Bernard Church, as seen from the St. Clair Cemetery.

    Camera: Olympus E-20n.

  • Union Church, Robinson Township

    Formerly Union Presbyterian Church, this congregation has been here more than two centuries. In the adjacent burying ground are several Revolutionary War veterans, and the hilltop church with the cemetery below is irresistibly picturesque.

    Old Pa Pitt, however, could not get a good picture of the church today, because he was there in the afternoon when the sun was shining in the wrong direction. So instead he gives you the next best thing, which is an atmospheric picture. You can always compensate for a picture’s defects by turning it black and white and calling it art.

    Camera: Canon PowerShot A590 IS (hacked).

  • North Zion Lutheran Church, Baldwin Borough

    North Zion Lutheran Church is about a mile due south of Zion Lutheran Church in Baldwin Borough. Father Pitt will leave worrying about the cardinal directions to foreigners; Pittsburghers expect everything to be turned upside-down or sideways. The main part of the little church was built in 1859, and the congregation that inhabits it has been here for more than two centuries. Burials in the graveyard adjacent go back to 1812, but the earliest legible tombstones seem to be from the 1840s.

    Camera: Olympus E-20n.