Father Pitt

Category: Churches

  • Saint George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral

    There are at least three cathedrals in Oakland, in addition to the Cathedral of Learning, which is a cathedral metaphorically but not the seat of a bishop. Most Pittsburghers would be able to identify St. Paul’s, the Roman Catholic cathedral. Many would remember that there’s a Greek Orthodox cathedral, because its famous food festival attracts enough of a crowd to have an impact on Oakland traffic. This is the third. It was built as a Syrian Orthodox church in 1955, and it interprets traditional Eastern Christian forms with a sort of modernist severity.

    Addendum: According to James D. Van Trump, the architects were the firm of Diamond & Reisner.1

    Map

    1. “Our Eastern Domes, Fantastic, Bright…”: Some Orthodox and Byzantine-Rite Churches in Allegheny County, by James D. Van Trump. Reprinted from Carnegie Magazine. PHLF; The Stones of Pittsburgh No. 12. ↩︎

  • Tabernacle of the Union Baptist Church, South Side

    Tabernacle of the Union Baptist Church, South Side, Pittsburgh

    This is a kind of machine-age Gothic, all sharp angles instead of the tapered points of more traditional Gothic forms. Built in 1881, this is no longer used as a church, but the exterior has been lovingly preserved.

  • Holy Assumption of St. Mary Orthodox Church, South Side

    Holy Assumption of St. Mary Church, South Side, Pittsburgh

    Clearly this was built as a Protestant church, but the Orthodox congregation has been here for quite some time now. Here we see the west front in the warm rays of the evening sun.

  • Defying the Storm

    Spires of the Tabernacle of the Union Baptist Church, South Side

    Spires of the Tabernacle of the Union Baptist Church, South Side, Pittsburgh, highlighted in evening sun against a stormy sky.

  • Tower of St. Bernard’s, Mount Lebanon

    Tower of St. Bernard’s Church

  • South Side Presbyterian Church

    South Side Presbyterian Church

    This church at the corner of Sarah and 20th Streets is a good example of a curious phenomenon in old city churches: the sanctuary is on the second floor, with the first floor devoted to meeting halls, classrooms, and offices. This is a common adaptation to very small lots in very crowded neighborhoods like the South Side. Note the difference in brick color along the side wall: the front of the church, with its impressive tower, was a later addition to a more ordinary-looking Presbyterian meeting house.

  • Parsonage, First Trinity Lutheran Church

    Parsonage, First Trinity Lutheran Church

  • First Ruthenian Church, South Side

    First Ruthenian Church

    This church was built as the First Ruthenian Church (a Presbyterian church for Ruthenian immigrants), and later became a Byzantine Rite church. Now, like many other things on the South Side, it’s a bar.

    Addendum: The architect was Chauncey W. Hodgdon, whose churches were usually in the Gothic style, but who adopted a mixture of classical and Byzantine for this very unusual congregation.1

    1. Source: “More Work for Builders Made by the Architects,” Pittsburgh Daily Post, September 15, 1912, p. 36: “Bids will close early in the week on the erection of a one-story brick and stone church building, to be built on the Southside for the Ruthenian Church, of the Presbytery of Pittsburgh. Architect C. W. Hodgdon prepared the plans for the structure, which will be 32×66 feet, costing $25,000.” ↩︎

  • Tower of Bellefield Presbyterian Church

    Tower of Bellefield Presbyterian Church and Bellefield Towers

    The church was pulled down to make way for an office block, but the tower was left to preside over its old corner.

  • First Trinity Church, Shadyside

    First Trinity Church

    A fine Gothic building with a prominent tower in the west front, this church sits right on the border between Shadyside and Oakland—it would be in Oakland if it were on the other side of the street. The view is marred by utility cables, which is true of most things in most American cities. Europeans put those things under the ground; Americans seldom even notice what an aesthetic blight they are, not to mention how often storms bring them down.