Father Pitt

Category: Homestead

  • St. Gregory Russian Orthodox Church, Homestead

    St. Gregory Russian Orthodox Church

    We are not sure who designed this church, and perhaps a parishioner can enlighten us. Our problem is too many architects: James D. Van Trump attributed it to R. N. Verbrowski, but in the Charette for December, 1949, we read: “ ‘You never know what the Russians are doing,’ is Thomas Pringle’s report on his St. Gregory Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church for Homestead. Of brick with stone trim and one-story, the church will include a chapel, will cost approximately $75,000 and, with the help of God in donations, may be undertaken next Spring.” The mystery would evaporate if we assumed that the design was Verbrowski’s, and Pringle was the local architect of record responsible for supervising the building. At any rate, whoever was responsible for the design went deep into Russian tradition to pick out the elements, but arranged them in a very modern fashion.

    Cornerstone with date 1950

    The cornerstone preserves the memory of a traumatic event in Homestead’s history: perhaps as traumatic as the 1892 labor war that temporarily turned Homestead into an independent republic, and even as traumatic as the closing of the mills in the 1980s. In 1941, with the Second World War raging in Europe and the American government wisely preparing for the possibility of being sucked into the conflict, the Homestead mill was enormously expanded. Blocks and blocks of densely inhabited streets were bulldozed; splendid churches were razed; ethnic communities were scattered. Everything between Sixth Avenue and the river was just gone. Most of the churches rebuilt somewhere in upper Homestead; but several of them, like this one, could not build until after the war was over and the surviving male halves of their congregations returned.

    Tower
    Onion dome
    Dome and side of the church
    Entrance

  • St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church (1913), Homestead

    St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church

    Homestead’s own Adam G. Wickerham, whose office was a short stroll down the street, designed this distinctive Gothic church, the foundation of which was laid in 1913.1 It replaced the earlier St. Matthew’s, which had been built only fourteen years before and still stands a few strides away. In the picture above, we can see another Wickerham building across the street: the old Rodef Shalom synagogue, now a nondenominational church.

    St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church
    St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church
    St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church
    A later wing

    Old Pa Pitt does not know the history of this later wing.

    St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS; Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.
    1. The Construction Record, August 23, 1913: “Homestead, Pa.—Foundations are in for a $35,000 stone church to be constructed on McClure avenue and Tenth street for St. Mathew’s P. E. Congrega[tion] from plans drawn by Architect Adam Wickerham, McClure avenue.” ↩︎
    Comments

  • St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church (1899), Homestead

    Old St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church

    Charles J. Rieger was the architect of this little church with a big tower, which was built in 1899.1 (This is one of the earliest Rieger projects we have found; he had many years of productive work ahead of him.) The congregation must have grown rapidly, because only fourteen years later it moved a block up the street to a larger church. This building was sold to a Hungarian congregation; at some point it ceased to be a church and had a garage door cut into it.

    Cornerstone with Maltese cross and date of 1899
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
    1. Philadelphia Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide, March 29, 1899, p. 201: “At Homestead, Allegheny county, the vestry of St. Matthews’ Episcopal Church, at a meeting held a few days since, instructed the architect to have all plans and specifications ready by April 4th. Rev. W. J. White Frederick Howden and George Hatcher, committee, Architect Chas. Rieger, Renshaw Building, Pittsburg, Pa., is the architect, and will receive the bids.” ↩︎
    Comments

  • St. Nicholas Carpatho-Rusyn Orthodox Church, Homestead

    Domes of St. Nicholas

    It is traditional to paint onion domes blue like the heavens, or to gild them if the congregation is feeling rich. But Homestead was known for one thing, so these domes are glimmering Homestead stainless steel.

    St. Nicholas Orthodox Church

    This church was designed by Button & McLean, who also designed yesterday’s Homestead Senior High School. The Button of the pair was Lamont Button, whom we have met as a designer of high-class houses for the upper middle classes. Ground was broken in 1936, but the church got stuck at the basement level. It remained stuck until 1949, when the job was finally finished.1

    St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
    St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
    Front of the church
    Entrance
    Medallion
    Medallion
    Medallion
    Cornerstone
    Domes
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
    1. “Who, What, Why, When and Where in Today’s Church Work,” Charette, December, 1949, p. 17. See also the Wikipedia article on St. Nicholas Carpatho-Rusyn Church. ↩︎
    Comments

  • Homestead Senior High School

    Entrance to the Homestead Senior High School

    This snappy-looking modernistic school was designed by Button & McLean (Lamont H. Button and Paul F. McLean), who were taking bids in November of 1938.1 It was later bought by the Steel Valley Council of Governments, an association of boroughs and cities in the Mon Valley, which has turned it into a shop where you can take your humans to have them serviced.

    Homestead Senior High School

    When old Pa Pitt took these pictures, there was a band rehearsing somewhere in the building that included a pretty good vibraphone player.

    Homestead Senior High School
    Fukifilm FinePix HS20EXR.
    1. Proposals, Pittsburgh Press, November 30, 1938, p. 32. “Copies of plans, specifications and other contract documents will be on file and open to public inspection at the offices of the Architects, 119 East Montgomery Avenue, North Side, Pittsburgh, Pa.…” From many other listings we know that 119 East Montgomery Avenue—a street that no longer exists—was the office of Button & McLean. ↩︎
    Comments

  • Rodef Shalom Synagogue, Homestead

    Rodef Shalom Synagogue (Temple of the Crucified One)

    This is a synagogue that looks the part every inch, and its current occupants have kept all its distinctive features. It was built in 1913, and the architect was the very local Adam Wickerham,1 whose office was only three blocks away. It’s a tribute to Wickerham’s versatility that he designed two prominent religious buildings that face each other across Tenth Avenue—this and St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church—and made each one look exactly right for its congregation.

    Rodef Shalom Synagogue (Temple of the Crucified One)
    Entrance
    Ornament with Star of David, menorah, scroll of the Law
    1. The American Contractor, February 8, 1913: “Homestead, Pa .—Synagogue: $20,000. 2½ sty. 46×85. Homestead. Archt. A. H. Wickersham [sic], 601 McClure st., Homestead. Owner Rudolph Sholam [sic], Homestead, Plans in progress; M. H. Moss, secy, building committee, Munhall, Pa., will take figures until Feb, 26. Press brick, stone trim, hardwood & yellow pine finish & floors, gas & electric fixtures.” ↩︎

    Correction: In an earlier version of this article, old Pa Pitt, who was working on multiple articles at once, had accidentally typed “Point Breeze” in the title instead of “Homestead.”

  • Homestead Methodist Episcopal Church

    Built in 1911, this church served the Methodists until 1995. It is now home to the Lamb of God Church. The architects were Vrydaugh & Wolfe.

    Here, by the way, is an example of how one develops an instinct for church architecture. Father Pitt did not know what congregation originally built this church, and how would one easily find out without some research? (One might have done the research, but it is always better to spare oneself trouble if one can.) The answer is by guess. “It looks Methodist,” Father Pitt thought to himself; and, with that clue, finding the information was easy.

  • Homestead Municipal Building

    Homestead municipal building

    It would be interesting to know who was the architect of this eclectic pile, and whether he was the nephew of the burgess. It might have been more attractive before the bricks and stone accents were painted the drabbest possible grey, but it was probably never a beautiful building. It has, however, grown some character with age, and old Pa Pitt is pleased that it has been fairly well preserved, except for the installation of some standard-size windows and doors in holes that are too big for them.

    Inscription

    This stonework reminds Father Pitt of Titus de Bobula.

    From down the hill

  • Monongahela Trust Co., Homestead

    Inscription

    This beautiful Corinthian bank has found another use, so we hope the building will be preserved now that things are looking up in Homestead.

    Monongahela Trust Co.

    Think how invitingly bright the banking hall must have been when those lofty windows were open to the light.

    Capital

  • Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church, Homestead

    Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church, Homestead

    Many other Eastern churches have gilded or painted domes, but these domes are genuine made-in-Homestead stainless steel. Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church has its own Wikipedia article. It is a Ruthenian, or Rusyn, or Carpatho-Russian congregation that belongs to the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, a group of Ruthenian churches that left the Roman Catholic Church because the American bishops refused to allow them to keep their Eastern Rite traditions, notably married clergy. (The problem was later addressed with a separate Ruthenian Greek Catholic hierarchy for North America—too late to prevent this particular split.) The building itself was begun in 1936, but, what with one thing and another, it was not completed until 1950.

    It was a day of sun and clouds, so we have pictures in very different lighting.

    In the sun
    From the north
    Entrance