Father Pitt

Category: Oakland

  • Highlights of Greek Architecture in the Carnegie Institute

    Sphinx on the Votive Column of the Naxians

    The Hall of Architecture in the Carnegie gives us a whirlwind tour of Western architectural history from Egypt to the Renaissance, through the medium of life-size plaster casts. Above, the sphinx on the Votive Column of the Naxians at Delphi. It originally stood on a column more than thirty feet high, and the Carnegie’s cast is elevated to give viewers an approximation of the angle at which the sculpture was meant to be seen.

    Sphinx from the front
    Façade of the Temple of Athena Nike

    The façade of the Temple of Athena Nike, a textbook Ionic temple, and the model for many a mausoleum in Pittsburgh cemeteries.

    Porch of the Maidens

    The Porch of the Maidens, whose caryatids were much imitated in the Renaissance.

    Comments

  • Hall of Sculpture at the Carnegie

    Hall of Sculpture

    The Hall of Sculpture was designed as a model of the interior of the Parthenon. It used to be crowded with plaster casts of antique sculptures; most of the casts have been moved to the Hall of Architecture, leaving the Hall of Sculpture mostly empty except when special exhibits are mounted there.

    Hall of Sculpture
    Ground floor
    Balcony
    Ground floor
    Balcony
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS; Samsung A15 5G.
    Comments

  • Grand Staircase at the Carnegie

    Grand staircase from the ground floor

    The building was designed by Longfellow, Alden & Harlow; the murals were painted by John White Alexander.

    Decorated newel post
    Grand staircase from the second floor
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS; Samsung Galaxy A15 5G.
    Comments

  • Building More Pitt

    Research Tower at the University of Pittsburgh under construction
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    After three years of construction, the Research Tower at the University of Pittsburgh is getting closer to completion. Here we see the back of the building from Halket Street, with workers applying finishing touches. It looks as though this will be another patchwork-quilt building.

    Comments

  • Two Victorian Rows on Craig Street

    207–213 South Craig Street

    Two rows of houses that have adapted to the trendy business atmosphere of South Craig Street. The row above has been adapted with minimal external modifications.

    Breezeway

    Since old Pa Pitt is a connoisseur of breezeways, he could not neglect this exceptionally fine example.

    207–213 South Craig Street
    311–315 South Craig Street
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

    This row has been altered a bit more, though some care was taken to preserve its distinctive outlines.

    Comments

  • Store and Apartments by S. A. Hall, Oakland

    41–425 South Craig Street

    This building at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Craig Street was designed by S. A. Hall in 1904.1 It still holds down its corner very well, and most of the original details are preserved—including the art-glass transoms.

    Stained glass with torch
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.
    1. Source: Pittsburg Press, April 26, 1904. “Architect S. A. Hall has awarded to the Iron City Construction Co. the contract for the erection of a two-story brick and stone store and apartment building on the corner of Craig and Forbes streets for George A. Charles. The structure will cost $25,000.” The building ended up with three floors instead of two, but Mr. Charles is shown as owner of the property on plat maps. Thanks to David Schwing for the information. ↩︎
    Comments

  • College Club, Oakland

    College Club

    Lamont Button, who made a specialty of high-class houses for the higher classes, designed this club for university women, which opened in about 1932. “It is planned to provide rooms on the second and third floors for college girls working in the city,” the Press reported. “The first floor will have a large social hall and tearoom. In the basement will be a main dining room and several smaller dining rooms. An auditorium seating 470 will be included in the plans.”

    College Club

    Today the building belongs to Pitt, but on the outside it has hardly changed from Button’s elegant design—a simplified, modernized Georgian that could hardly look out of place anywhere, and fits perfectly in the wildly diverse Craig Street streetscape.

    College Club
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.
    Comments

  • Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building, by Janssen & Abbott

    The architects’ rendering of the Pittsburgh Athletic Association Building. It was published as the frontispiece to the Catalogue of the Pittsburgh Architectural Club’s Fifth Exhibition, March, 1910.

    We have photographs of this building by day and by night.

  • Bellefield Bridge

    Bellefield Bridge and Carnegie Library
    From Greater Pittsburg, 1905.

    A view across the Bellefield Bridge toward the Carnegie Library in Oakland. The bridge is still there, but you can’t see it. The hollow was filled in with the bridge still in place, and the Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain sits on top of the buried bridge now.

    This view shows the library building before the enormous expansion in 1907. The two towers were victims of the expansion—but also perhaps victims of some negative criticism. The building in general—designed by Longfellow, Alden & Harlow—was highly praised, but some critics thought the towers a bit embarrassing. When Alden & Harlow (Longfellow had decided to stay in Boston) designed the new addition, the towers came down.

  • A November View of the Cathedral of Learning

    Cathedral of Learning through fall leaves
    Kodak EasyShare Z981.