Built in 1854, this is one of several churches in Pittsburgh that solved the problem of tiny lots in crowded neighborhoods by putting the sanctuary on the second floor, leaving the first floor for social halls, Sunday-school rooms, and the like.
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First Associated Reformed Church of Birmingham
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Lorch’s Department Store, South Side
This building at the corner of Carson and 17th, known to today’s Pittsburghers as the home of Nakama, a well-known Japanese restaurant, was once Lorch’s, the “South Side’s Big Store,” as we can see in this advertisement preserved by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation:
To run a department store on the South Side in about 1901, you had to be able to serve your customers in Polish—and probably Ukrainian and Serbian and several other languages as well.
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Birmingham Bridge
This is a lot of bridge for its location. It was originally meant to carry an expressway that would connect Oakland with the South Hills, merrily destroying huge tracts of city along the way. Fortunately this is the only part of it that was built. In the picture below you can see, in the lower right corner, the stub of an entrance ramp that was never completed.
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Carnegie Library, South Side Branch
Alden and Harlow, Andrew Carnegie’s favorite architects, designed this branch library, as they did many others. This one opened in 1909.
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The History Behind the Façade
For years this building has been hidden behind a garish modernist façade. Renovation work shows us a modest mid-nineteenth-century building typical of old Birmingham, the narrow-streeted section of the South Side up to 17th Street.
Update: The building has been restored to something more like its original appearance.
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Saint Joseph’s Hospital
The old St. Joseph’s Hospital became Carson Towers, a senior citizens’ apartment building, in 1977. But the central part is the original hospital building from 1911 (or 1907, depending on the source you read), preserving the original inscription. An article in the City Paper explains some of the history. This PDF has a picture of the original building. The caption says that “The sculpture over the front door is the only part of the original façade still visible on the building that is now Carson Towers,” but the most superficial comparison will show that this entire central section is virtually unchanged, except for more modern windows too small to fit the old frames.
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St. Casimir’s High School
Like most of the other schools on the South Side Flats, this one has been converted to loft apartments. Externally, though, the building has changed very little.
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Polish School, South Side
This old Polish school on 15th Street, built in 1898, was attached to St. Adalbert’s, the big Polish parish just down the street.
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The Royal (and Its Neighbor)
The Royal was one of at least four movie houses on the South Side. From the architectural style we can guess that it was one of the earlier ones, dating from the silent era. These two buildings are currently under restoration.
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St. George’s Serbian Orthodox Church, South Side
Like most of the other churches on the South Side, this one—at 15th and Roland Streets—has been repurposed, in this case as a studio. But its outward appearance has hardly changed.
