Father Pitt

Category: Downtown

  • McBride Building

    McBride Building
    Because it’s impossible to get a picture of the whole building like this without standing very close in Pittsburgh’s narrow streets, the perspective of this picture has been adjusted on two planes to look more natural. You can see the seam if you enlarge the picture to 100%, so go ahead and do that if you’re curious.

    Built in 1901 for the W. W. McBride Paper Company, this near-skyscraper was designed by Frederick Sauer.1 A few alterations have been made, but the building still stands much as Sauer designed it.

    Front of the building

    A casual look at the building gives the impression that it has a stone base, but the effect comes from using white face brick for the lower two floors—with inset ridges to imitate cut stone—and Sauer’s favorite buff brick for the rest.

    Mitchell’s on the ground floor claims to have been established in 1906, so it has been going since shortly after the building opened.

    McBride Building with W. W. McBride ghost signs
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    By 1923 this was known as the Bowman Building, but W. W. McBride ghost signs are still visible on the northern side.

    1. Source: Record & Guide, February 27, 1901, p. 136. “Plans are in course of preparation by F. C. Sauer, Hamilton Building, for a seven-story brick warehouse to be erected for W. W. McBride, at Third avenue and Ross street.” ↩︎
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  • Grant Street Entrance to the Union Trust Building

    Entrance to the Union Trust Building from across Grant Street
    Samsung Digimax V4.

  • J. D. Thompson Building

    608 Wood Street

    This building on Wood Street, right across from the subway station, was probably put up in the 1880s; it appears on an 1890 map as belonging to Jonathan D. Thompson, and in 1923 still belonged to J. D. Thompson. The elaborate stone front is liberally decorated with incised patterns. We would call the style Italianate; the architect probably thought of it as Italian Renaissance.

    608 Wood Street

  • EQT Plaza

    Detail of EQT Plaza
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    A geometric abstraction from EQT Plaza, built as the CNG Tower.

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  • Some Details of Horne’s Department Store

    Inscription: Joseph Horne Co., with dates 1849 and 1897

    The history of the Horne’s building is a complicated one. The original building was one of the last works of William S. Fraser, one of the most prominent Pittsburgh architects of the second half of the nineteenth century. Only a few years after it opened, a huge fire burned out much of the interior. Some of the original remained, but, since Fraser had died, Horne’s brought in Peabody & Stearns, a Boston firm that also had an office in Pittsburgh, to design the 1897 reconstruction. Another fire hit the building in 1900, but most of it was saved. You can see a thorough report on the fire, with pictures, at The Brickbuilder for May, 1900.

    Horne’s department store

    In 1922, a large expansion was added to the building along the Stanwix Street side, with the style carefully matched to the 1897 original. The new building was taller by one floor, but all the details were the same, including the ornate terra-cotta cornice.

    Cornice meets cornice
    Entrance to the 1922 section of Horne’s
    Inscription with dates 1849 and 1922
    Horne’s clock
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    The Horne’s clock, a later addition, is not as famous as the Kaufmann’s clock, but it served the same purpose as a meeting place for shoppers. It is once again keeping the correct time.

  • Gateway Station

    Entrance to Gateway station
    Entrance to Gateway station
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.
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  • Gateway to Gateway Center

    Entrance to the grounds of Gateway Center, with fountain in distance
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.
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  • Fifth Avenue Place

    Liberty Avenue entrance to Fifth Avenue Place
    Part of the shaft of Fifth Avenue Place

  • Centre City Tower

    Centre City Tower

    Built in 1971, this is now number 23 on the list of tallest buildings in Pittsburgh. The architects were the venerable Chicago firm of A. Epstein and Sons.

    To make a more realistic-looking rendition of the building than is optically possible, old Pa Pitt adjusted the perspective on two planes. This adjustment has comical effects on the background, but the main subject looks natural now.

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  • Faces on the Keenan Building

    Keenan Building

    The Keenan Building, designed by Thomas Hannah for the Colonel Keenan who had built the Press into the city’s leading newspaper, was elaborately decorated. Although the shaft was modernized somewhat half a century ago, most of the decorations remain, and among them we find portraits in terra cotta of people who were considered important to Pittsburgh when the building was erected in 1907.

    William Penn

    William Penn, the Proprietor, who gave Pennsylvania a republican form of government.

    William Pitt

    William Pitt, friend of the Colonies, for whom Pittsburgh was named.

    George Washington

    George Washington, Father of His Country.

    Stephen Foster

    Stephen Foster, at the time Pittsburgh’s most famous composer.

    Mary Schenley

    Mary Schenley, who owned half the city and donated Schenley Park.

    Andrew Carnegie

    Andrew Carnegie, who was a big deal.

    Theodore Roosevelt

    Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States.

    Edwin Stuart

    Edwin Stuart, Governor of Pennsylvania.

    George Guthrie

    George Guthrie, Mayor of Pittsburgh.

    Terra-cotta ornaments
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    There are faces on the second floor as well, but they are identical decorative faces.

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