The Bird Park Drive end of Bird Park, Mount Lebanon.
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A Walk in the Park
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A Walk in the April Woods
Bird Park, a stream-valley park in Mount Lebanon, is a good place to look for spring flowers, and a fine place to take a little healthy outdoor exercise.
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Back of the Denis Theatre
Sometimes the back of a theater bears no resemblance at all to the front of it. That is certainly true of the Denis in Mount Lebanon. The main entrance is on Washington Road, and it looks like a small storefront. Walk around the corner and down Alfred Street, and you will find this massive wall, which the architect has identified as a theater by adding Art Deco stripes in the bricks.
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Clearview Common
One way to deal with a vacant lot in a business district is to make a tiny park out of it. Seldom are these tiny parks made to such a high standard as Clearview Common, a grand name for a single vacant lot. But not many jurisdictions have as much money as Mount Lebanon has to work with. The little park is at the corner of Alfred Street and Washington Road, Uptown Mount Lebanon, and it is a very pleasant place to sit and enjoy take-out from one of the many nearby restaurants.
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Looking North on Washington Road
Looking north from Alfred Street on Washington Road, Uptown Mount Lebanon, toward the tower of St. Bernard’s.
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Looking Southward on Washington Road
The Washington Road business district as seen from Mount Lebanon Cemetery. Below, the Rollier’s clock tower, a relatively recent addition that anchors the north end of the business district perfectly.
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St. Bernard’s from Mt. Lebanon Cemetery
A winter view of St. Bernard’s from Mt. Lebanon Cemetery, featuring a fine silhouette of a tree. Below, more church and less tree.
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Peter and Paul
Reliefs over the entrance to St. Bernard’s in Mount Lebanon. You can recognize Peter instantly by his keys, and Paul by his bald head, the sword that beheaded him, and the scroll on which he is scribbling a letter to some faraway congregation.
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Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church
The west front of this church, with its outsized towers, was inspired by York Minster; it makes the church look a good bit bigger than it actually is. The hilltop location makes it a landmark visible from miles away. The congregation, a descendant of the early-settler congregation that established the St. Clair Cemetery across Scott Road, now belongs to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a young denomination founded in 1980.
Addendum: According to the September, 1931, issue of the Charette, the magazine of the Pittsburgh Architectural Club, the architects were “O. M. Topp and T. L. Beatty associated.”
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St. Bernard’s, Mt. Lebanon
Begun in 1942, this church is more elaborate than many cathedrals. The architect, William Perry, grew up in Dormont, and he seems to have realized that this was a chance to leave a magnificent legacy in his own back yard.
