Father Pitt

Category: Oakland

  • Cathedral of Learning

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    Looking up at the masterpiece of Charles Z. Klauder, still the most convincing Gothic skyscraper in the world.

  • Heinz Chapel

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    The Heinz Memorial Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh, designed in fantasy-Gothic style by Charles Z. Klauder, who designed a whole complex of fantasy-Gothic buildings for Pitt with the Cathedral of Learning at its center.

  • Cathedral of Learning from Greenfield

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    We took similar pictures in early spring; now here is the view in the late summer, considerably leafier.

  • Church of the Ascension

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    Right on the border between Oakland and Shadyside, the Church of the Ascension is one of the diminishing number of black stone buildings in Pittsburgh. Father Pitt hopes that his pictures will preserve the memory of our black stones when the last stone building has been sandblasted.

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  • Inside the Cathedral of Learning

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    The Cathedral of Learning, designed by Charles Z. Klauder, is the second-tallest Gothic building in the world (after the Woolworth Building in New York), and by far the most successful adaptation of Gothic style to the skyscraper. Like many of the most memorable feats of architecture in Pittsburgh, it confidently approaches the boundary between genius and madness without ever stepping all the way over that line. The Commons Room, a Perpendicular-style fantasy in stone, is one of the most impressive spaces in a city full of impressive spaces.

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  • Nationality Rooms: Turkey

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    The Turkish room, just completed in 2012, has a panoramic view of Istanbul (not Constantinople). Old Pa Pitt is much taken with the clever arrangement of fold-down desks.

  • Nationality Rooms: Lithuania

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    In the rear of the classroom, a copy of “The Two Kings” by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, in which the titular kings stumble on a tiny Lithuanian village radiating Lithuanian culture to the world.

  • Nationality Rooms: Germany

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    The German classroom is full of dark carved woodwork, and scenes from famous German fairy tales are depicted in the stained glass. Below: Little Red Riding Hood.

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    “Guten tag, Rotkäppchen, wo hinaus so früh?” (“Well, hello there, Little Red Riding Hood! Where are you going so early?”)

  • Nationality Rooms: Austria

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    This is the sort of room in which one feels one ought to be negotiating a treaty. Modeled after the Haydnsall in the Esterházy palace in Eisenstadt, it includes copies of three of the famous ceiling murals by  Tencalla, which depict the wedding of Cupid and Psyche. (The copies were done by the Pittsburgh artist Celeste Parrendo.)

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  • Nationality Rooms: China

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    A gilt dragon on the ceiling looks down on the Chinese classroom in a possessive way. Dragons are supposed to bring good luck, but this one looks as though he plans to make quite sure you are worthy first.