Father Pitt

Category: South Side

  • South Side Market House

    South Side Market House

    The South Side Market House was built in the heart of old Birmingham in 1893. The architect was Charles Bickel.

    South Side Market House

    Originally the building was much more elaborate:

    South Side Market House in 1914, before the fire
    The South Side Market in 1914 by the Pittsburgh City Photographer, from Historic Pittsburgh, where you can see the full-size original.

    However, in 1915, a fire gutted the building, leaving only the outer walls standing.

    Ruins of the market after the fire in 1915
    The full-size original is at Historic Pittsburgh.

    Mr. Bickel was still alive at the time, but the reconstruction was designed by the city’s own talented Stanley Roush.

    Architect’s drawing of rebuilt market
    Drawing of the rebuilt market house by the architect, Stanley Roush. You can see the full-size original at Historic Pittsburgh; Mr. Roush’s signature is at lower left.
    Cartouche: Destroyed by fire and rebuilt, A. D. 1915

    This bovine cartouche commemorates the death and resurrection of the South Side Market.

    Cartouche from the side
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    The fire was not the end of the building’s adventures. In 1950, public markets having become obsolete in Pittsburgh, the building was remodeled as a recreation center under the supervision of Button & McLean, who left the exterior almost unchanged from Roush’s 1915 design.

    Plaque: South Side Recreation Center, 1950

    It was refurbished again in 2012 as a “Healthy Active Living Center” for senior citizens. Father Pitt does not yet know who supervised that remodeling, but he would be delighted to hear from anyone who has information.

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  • FBI Building, South Side

    FBI building

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Pittsburgh field office, officially the Martha Dixon Building, looks like a Hollywood producer’s idea of a building FBI agents would work in. It is an outstanding example of the style old Pa Pitt calls neoneoclassical, in which the symmetry and forms of classical architecture are stripped of all ornaments like carved capitals or sculptured pediments that would shock the sensibilities of moderns. “To glamorize the four-story, 160,000 sq ft (15000 m2) structure, precast concrete components were used on the façade of the building.” So says an article in PCI Journal for November–December 2002, and Father Pitt would like to mark it as the first time he has seen the word “glamorize” applied to anything having to do with precast concrete. The result is a building that is designed to offend no one’s taste, and if you think that is easy you should try it some time. The architects were DRS Architects of Pittsburgh, who have also done offices for the DEA as well as some prominent buildings for local universities.

    Central section
    FBI building
    FBI building
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
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  • South 11th Street, South Side

    South 11th Street

    South 11th street is a narrow street of little rowhouses, many dating from before the Civil War. Here are a few random views on the southern end of the street.

    101 South 11th Street
    101
    105 and 107
    Sidewalk
    126 South 11th Street
    128 and 128 and a half
    Kodak EasyShare Max Z990.
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  • St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, South Side

    Dome of St. John the Baptist Church

    The domes of St. John the Baptist, with the skyline in the background, figure in many postcard views of Pittsburgh. So if you want to sell postcards, here is your chance. Like all Father Pitt’s pictures, these are donated to the public domain, so you can do what you like with them.

    St. John the Baptist Church with skyline in background
    Domes of St. John the Baptist
    Side of a dome
    Tower and dome
    Tower
    Dome
    Dome
    St. John the Baptist Church
    St. John the Baptist Church
    Kodak EasyShare Max Z990; Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.

    We also have pictures of the church from the other direction and some pictures of the interior.

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  • Rosenhild Building, South Side

    A. Rosenhild Building

    A lot of things have happened to this building over the years: the windows have been replaced with the wrong size, and the ground-floor storefront has been heavily altered. But the changes are mostly superficial, and might easily be undone. The building still carries an ornate crest with the date 1889 and the initials of the original owner: A. Rosenhild.

    Crest with “A. R. 1889”
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
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  • Italianate House on Carson Street, South Side

    2120 East Carson Street

    This little house is one of the few survivors from the days when much of Carson Street in East Birmingham was residential. It preserves most of its fine mid-Victorian Italianate detail, so it is worth a closer look than most pedestrians on the busy sidewalk of Carson Street usually give it.

    Front door

    One unfortunate change is the entrance. Instead of double doors with an art-glass transom, we have a stock door from the home center and pieces of plywood around it. But the elaborate woodwork surrounding the entrance is still intact.

    Transom and lintel
    Woodwork
    Lantern
    Downstairs window

    It is typical of Italianate houses that the downstairs windows are very tall. This is the bright and cheerful branch of Victorian domestic architecture.

    Bracket

    The windowsills rest on ornate iron brackets.

    Bracket
    Lintel
    Upstairs window
    Upstairs windows and cornice
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
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  • Swift & Co. Warehouse, South Side

    2026 East Carson Street
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    According to a Sanborn Fire Insurance map from 1924, this warehouse was built in 1917 with fireproof construction, brick curtain walls, concrete floors and roof. It belonged to Swift & Co., a wholesale meat dealer; later it seems to have passed to a produce dealer, and that 1924 Sanborn map has “Produce W. Ho.” neatly pasted over whatever was marked on the outline of the building before.

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  • Back in the Beer Business

    Duquesne Brewery Clock
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    After eight years with no advertising, the colossal Duquesne Brewery Clock is back in the beer business for the first time in a quarter-century—advertising what was once a runner-up rival to Duke.

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  • Second Empire on the South Side

    Carson at 18th

    These two very similar buildings are some of the most splendid Second Empire architecture in Pittsburgh. The Second Empire style is so called from its popularity during the Second French Empire: that is, the reign of Napoleon III. The most distinguishing mark of the style is the mansard roof, which supposedly became popular in Paris because buildings were taxed by the number of floors, but the attic didn’t count as a floor—thus you could have a floor’s worth of free space under a mansard roof. In its other details, the Second Empire style is a species of Renaissance revival closely related to the Italianate style that overlapped it in fashion.

    1739
    1739
    Windows
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
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  • Finials and Brackets on Carson Street, South Side

    Decorations at the top of a Victorian building
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.