Father Pitt

Category: Oakland

  • A Second Empire Remnant, Oakland/Shadyside

    The ground floor has changed significantly, but the rest of this building is a well-preserved remnant of the times when this part of the East End was a quiet exurb of dignified gentlemen’s houses. It seems to have been built in the 1870s or early 1880s, and may always have been a corner store, since—unlike its neighbors—it was built right against the streets. Today it is the last building of its time left on Fifth Avenue for blocks in either direction, a curious anomaly among the high-rise apartments, office blocks, and monumental landmarks. It sits on the corner of Neville Street, technically in Shadyside but culturally more part of Oakland (Neville Street is the neighborhood border on city planning maps).

  • King Edward Annex, Oakland

    Since we mentioned the smaller King Edward Annex a couple of days ago when we looked at the old King Edward Apartments, here it is. The city’s architectural inventory (PDF) dates it at about 1925 (Update: This is a little too early; see below), which seems plausible. It looks a bit worn, and the top of the building is definitely not the way the architect imagined it. But it still has a restrained dignity, especially if we ignore the missing cornice. Old Pa Pitt has a suspicion that average Americans simply don’t see the tops of buildings, so when they are mutilated no one but Father Pitt notices.

    Addendum: The King Edward Annex was built in about 1927; the architects were Hannah and Sterling. Source: The Charette, Vol. 7, No. 2 (February 1927): “209. Architect: Hannah & Sterling, 209-9th Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. Owner Arthur McSorley. Title: Apartment House. Owner now taking bids. Location: Melwood Street, Pittsburgh. Approximate size: 28 apartments; four stories, fireproof. Cubage: 300.000 ft.”

  • Old King Edward and His Jesters

    Jester face

    There are two apartment buildings called King Edward in Oakland (plus a small “annex” on Melwood Avenue). The more visible one, the King Edward Apartments on Craig Street at Bayard, was built in 1929. The original King Edward, built in 1914, is behind on Melwood Avenue at Bayard Street. It seems much more staid than its larger neighbor, until we look closer and discover that it is festooned with these grotesque faces.

    Grotesque face
    Bayard Street side
    Another face
    Row of faces
    Yet another
    No faces
    Melwood Avenue front

    Addendum: The architect was H. G. Hodgkins, who also designed Hampton Hall, another Merrie England fantasy.

  • Stair-Step Rowhouses in Oakland

    Rowhouses on Louisa Street

    Pittsburgh is full of these little two-storey rowhouses from the first half of the twentieth century. They are often more spacious than they appear, because they are much deeper than you might guess. Like every other kind of building, they have to adapt to Pittsburgh topography, so that, on a sloping street like Louisa Street in Oakland, they end up stair-stepped like this.

  • Central Oakland in the Rain

    Coltart Avenue

    Rows of houses and small apartment buildings in the shadow of the Oakland medical-intellectual district.

  • You Can’t Get There from Here

    Louisa Street

    Except on foot. This is Louisa Street in Oakland, a typical Pittsburgh street interrupted by a stairway.

    Stairs on Louisa Street

  • Pile of Belgian Block

    Belgian block set aside at a hole-digging project in a street in Oakland. What Pittsburgh needs is more holes in streets.

  • The Colonnade, Oakland

    The Colonnade

    This small apartment building on Centre Avenue is named for its most obvious and distinctive feature: a two-storey Doric colonnade that has just been freshly painted.

    Addendum: According to the city architectural inventory (PDF), the Colonnade was built in 1907.

    Corner view

  • Queen Anne House on Neville Avenue

    Queen Anne house

    Another remnant of the time when Neville Avenue, now part of the apartment district on the border of Oakland and Shadyside, was a suburban retreat for the well-to-do. In spite of the fire escapes and the loss of its front porch, this house preserves most of its fine detailing, including its exceptionally tall windows.

    From the front

  • Rooftops of Oakland and Phipps Conservatory

    Looking across the rowhouses and apartments of central Oakland toward Phipps Conservatory. In the distance at upper left is the Park Mansions apartment building.