This tasteful Gothic church, finished in 1928, anchors the south end of the Uptown Mount Lebanon business district. The architect was Thomas Pringle, who also gave us the Salvation Army Building downtown.
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Southminster Presbyterian Church, Mount Lebanon
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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.
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Dormont Presbyterian Church
Dormont Presbyterian Church (now North Way Community Church) in winter sunlight.
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Transept Tower, St. Paul’s Cathedral
A large Gothic church can be prickly with towers. In addition to the great front towers whose spires can be seen for miles, St. Paul’s has a pair of smaller towers on each transept front.
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St. Simon the Zealot
A statue of St. Simon the Zealot on the east transept façade of St. Paul’s Cathedral. He is identified by the instrument of his martyrdom, the saw, which (according to one common tradition) was also how the prophet Isaiah was killed.
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St. Paul’s in Winter Sunlight
A winter view from the Mellon Institute. This is a high-dynamic-range picture made from three separate photographs, which helps preserve the detail in the shadows as well as the sunlight.
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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.
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Emmanuel’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Castle Shannon
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.
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Heinz Chapel
A neatly framed view from Forbes Avenue.
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The Four Evangelists on St. Paul’s
In order: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, on the Fifth Avenue front of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Oakland.
