Father Pitt

Category: Churches

  • Holy Spirit Parish, Millvale

    Originally St. Anthony’s, a German Catholic church; it became Holy Spirit in the 1990s parish reorganizations, when St. Anthony was merged with St. Anne. The building was put up in 1914, with substantial alterations after a fire in 1936.

    One of the surreal things about living in a movie-friendly place like Pittsburgh is that one sometimes finds oneself dropped into a fictional dimension. When Father Pitt stopped to take a picture of this church, he found that the building adjacent was not the parish school, but rather the Crockett County Sheriff’s Department; and there was a sign on the wall that connects the church with the school welcoming him to “Blackburg, Kentucky, The Portal to Shay Mountain, where coal mining is our heritage and Wild Boar & Buck legends live on.” So when, in a year or two, you happen to see a movie that takes place in Blackburg, the seat of Crockett County in Kentucky, you will know that the place is actually Millvale, and the illusion will be spoiled. Sorry about that.

    Addendum: The architect was John T. Comès, possibly Pittsburgh’s most prolific architect of Catholic churches.

  • Hiland Presbyterian Church, Ross Township

    Camera: Olympus E-20n.

    Just north of West View, this church was built in 1836, with additions in 1914 and 1936. In the large churchyard are the remains of many early settlers, including some veterans of the Revolutionary War.

    Father Pitt decided to make an atmospherically dark and mysterious churchyard picture, but below is a similar shot in brighter light.

    Camera: Canon PowerShot A540 (hacked).

  • Old St. Luke’s

    Father Pitt never needs an excuse to offer yet another picture of Old St. Luke’s, one of our most picturesque country churches. The current building dates from 1852, but the congregation goes back to colonial times, and was the epicenter of the Whiskey Rebellion.

    Camera: Canon PowerShot A590 (hacked).

  • St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Highland Park

    Completed in 1909, this typical Gothic church was designed by Philadelphia architects Carpenter & Crocker, who also designed Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Homewood and at least one of the Fifth Avenue mansions in Shadyside.

    Camera: Kodak EasyShare Z1485 IS. The composite picture above is about 25 megapixels if you click on it.

  • Dormont Presbyterian Church

    In 2013 the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists in Dormont all threw in the towel, though the borough itself seems no less prosperous than usual. The Presbyterians sold this fine 1927 building to North Way Christian Community, a chain-store megachurch, which has spent a good bit of money keeping it up.

  • First Presbyterian Church, Jeannette

    First Presbyterian Church in Jeannette is a substantial classical building with a prominent dome, one of the distinctive features of the Jeannette skyline. Domes are very unusual on Presbyterian churches around here: at the moment, Father Pitt cannot think of another one.

    A Historic American Buildings Survey picture from some time ago (possibly early 1990s? Note the front of the car in the far right) shows the church in pretty much the same state.

    Addendum: Father Pitt suspects this is a design by Fulton & Butler of Uniontown, prolific suppliers of big buildings to small cities. J. C. Fulton loved domes, and whenever we see a big dome in a town this size, we should suspect him.

    Update: Old Pa Pitt’s instinct was right, except that this church was designed before Butler became a partner in the firm. From the Construction Record, December 10, 1910: “Jeannette, Pa. — Plans will soon be started by Architect J. C. Fulton, Main street, Uniontown, Pa., for a brick church building, for the First Presbyterian Congregation, to cost $25,000. The contract will be awarded about the middle of February.”

  • Interior of Saint John Lutheran Church, Carnegie

    Saint John Lutheran Church in Carnegie is a fine Gothic building from 1929, late in the Gothic Revival, when it was possible to build a Gothic church with a faint whiff of Art Deco in the exterior. The interior is simple Gothic, but with some very elaborate woodwork, especially in the splendid reredos. This wide-angle view, taken from the balcony, was put together from three photographs.

  • St. Boniface Church

    The Parkway North swerved to avoid this splendid church, but destroyed the whole neighborhood that made up its parish. Now a worship site of Holy Wisdom Parish, St. Boniface is also home to the officially sanctioned Latin Mass community in Pittsburgh (as opposed to other Latin Mass churches that call themselves Catholic but are repudiated by the Roman Catholic hierarchy).

    Camera: Canon PowerShot S45. The picture of the west front above is a composite of six photographs.

  • Polish Hill

    Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, built by Polish railroad workers in their meager time off from work, presides over the vertiginous neighborhood of Polish Hill. This view was taken from across the Allegheny on the Herr’s Island railroad bridge, now part of a bicycle trail.

    Camera: Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3.

  • Chartiers Hill United Presbyterian Church

    A congregation near Canonsburg founded in Revolutionary times by John McMillan, “the Apostle of Presbyterianism in the West.” He preached here for decades, and his grave is here in the old churchyard, along with graves of many other early settlers.

    The current building dates from 1840, with extensive renovations in 2002. While the renovations were in progress, the whole front fell down, so that everything you see on the side with the bell tower and entrance is new.

    Update: Father Pitt has found some old pictures of Chartiers Hill Church he took in 1999, when the old front was still standing

    Camera: Olympus E-20n.