Father Pitt

Category: Shadyside

  • Arlington Apartments, Shadyside

    This fine apartment block stands at the corner of Aiken and Centre Avenues, right on the edge of Shadyside. This afternoon the sun illuminated the whole Aiken Avenue front, so Father Pitt enlisted the aid of modern technology to get a picture of the entire façade from multiple photographs. There are some noticeable stitching errors, but this is probably the best impression you will find of the Aiken Avenue front of this building—at least until old Pa Pitt gets a better picture.

    The original picture is about 55 megapixels and more than 22 megabytes of data, so don’t click on the picture if you’re on a metered connection.

  • Third Presbyterian Church

    “Mrs. Thaw’s Chocolate Church,” as it was called when it was put up, this splendid building was designed by Theophilus P. Chandler, Jr., and opened in 1903. Mary Thaw, the widow of Henry Thaw, paid for most of it, and doubtless specified the architect; Chandler had also designed the Thaws’ mansion, which (alas) is long gone. Chandler was also the architect of First Presbyterian downtown and the titanic Duncan mausoleum and column in the Union Dale Cemetery.

    The picture of the front above is put together from eight different photographs, which is the only way old Pa Pitt could get the whole building from this angle.

    Camera: Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3.

  • Shadyside Presbyterian Church

    Camera: Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3.

    Designed by Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, the successors to H. H. Richardson, this church has an honest Richardsonian pedigree to go with its Richardsonian Romanesque style.

    Can you tell that old Pa Pitt is enjoying his new software toy? The picture above is a wide-angle shot stitched together from nine separate photographs. The fisheye view below is stitched together from six; if you click on it, you can have it at about 38 megapixels.

    Camera: Kodak EasyShare Z1485 IS.

    Finally, here’s a picture from the north side of the church, where there is room to get far away enough to take the picture all in one shot.

    Camera: Kodak EasyShare Z1485 IS.

  • Coronado Apartments

    The Spanish inspiration is unusual for a Pittsburgh building, but this one has all the Moorish elements to make it properly Iberian—tiled roof, series of small arches, geometric mosaics. It faces a triangular park at the intersection of Centre, Aiken, and Liberty Avenues—a place that could have been one of Pittsburgh’s most splendid urban spaces, if Baum Boulevard on the other side had not developed as a row of car dealers.

    Camera: Kodak EasyShare 1485 IS.

  • Queen Anne House in Shadyside

    In American terminology, the Queen Anne style is a hodgepodge of every style of architecture except, perhaps, anything that was popular during the reign of Queen Anne. With its oversized front-facing gable and multiple textures, this house perhaps fits in the “Shingle Style,” often regarded as a division of the Queen Anne style.

  • The Castle on Morewood Avenue

    The old adage that “a man’s home is his castle” is given a literalist interpretation in this Richardsonian Romanesque mansion from 1893. It stands out on a street of standout houses.

  • Rodef Shalom Temple

    Although it’s technically in Shadyside, Rodef Shalom stands at the east end of the Oakland monumental district, the long row of dazzling architecture along Fifth Avenue. Much of the dazzle was contributed by Henry Hornbostel, and few of his buildings are more dazzling than this. It was built in 1907, and it is far and away the finest synagogue building in Pittsburgh.

  • Sacred Heart, Shadyside

    KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

    Two splendid churches face each other across Shady Avenue. One is Ralph Adams Cram’s Calvary Episcopal. This is the other: Sacred Heart, one of the most tastefully beautiful Gothic churches in a city with one of the best collections of Gothic churches in the Western Hemisphere.

  • Ellsworth Terrace

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    Ellsworth Terrace, a narrow court of Craftsman-style townhouses in Shadyside, is a century old this year. It was quite modern in style when it was built. The pseudo-Victorian building at the end is a modern addition.

  • 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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