Like many other churches on the South Side, this one is becoming loft apartments. The exterior, at any rate, will be preserved.
Camera: Canon PowerShot 590 IS.
Addendum: The architect was Marius Rousseau, according to the parish’s Golden Jubilee book.
When the New Urbanist SouthSide Works development was built, the Town Square here on Sidney Street was clearly meant to be its retail heart. But it also lined a previously empty stretch of Carson Street with new storefronts in architecture cleverly echoing, without imitating, the Victorian shops of the old South Side. In effect, it extended the prosperous Carson Street business district a few more blocks. The result has been that the Carson Street side prospers, while the Town Square has had some trouble filling vacant storefronts. Nevertheless, the prosperity of Carson Street, as it continues to grow, should leach into the Town Square.
Camera: Canon PowerShot A540.
A well-proportioned building little changed since it was put up. You may notice, by the way, that older storefronts always have inset doors. Why is that? you ask. Somehow we have forgotten the reason for this obvious precaution, but our ancestors had much more practical minds than we have. For fire safety, doors should open outward. If they are flush with the sidewalk, however, they can open outward right into the face of a passing pedestrian and break his nose.
Another branch library by Andrew Carnegie’s favorite architectural firm, Alden & Harlow, who also gave us (as Longfellow, Alden & Harlow) the main Carnegie Institute building in Oakland.
Solof’s was a furniture dealer, and there is nothing particularly impressive about this building except that the exterior has hardly changed at all since the building was new. It gives us a very good picture of the commercial South Side of the early twentieth century.
Addendum: The architect was W. A. Thomas; the building was constructed in about 1917.
Camera: Canon PowerShot A590 (hacked). The picture below is a fairly large composite.
Like almost every other school on the South Side, this one has been turned into apartments.
Update: For the history of the church, see “The Mystery of the Converted Church on the South Side.”
Father Pitt knows nothing of the history of this building at 23rd Street and Larkins Way other than what is written in the bricks. It appears to be an old church, probably dating from the earliest development of East Birmingham, that was later converted into four tiny houses facing Larkins Way. To judge by the style, the conversion is not recent. And that is about as much as Father Pitt can read in the bricks, so any more information or corrections would be much appreciated.
Update: The building has been adapted as artists’ lofts and studios as “the Brew House.” The original text of the article follows.
The Duquesne Brewing Company produced what used to be Pittsburgh’s favorite beer. This old building has had a hard life since the brewery closed; it was taken over by artist squatters for a while, who probably kept it from falling to pieces, but the city has no tolerance for poor squatters who claim buildings that could be redeveloped by rich people. The various attempts at redevelopment seem to get only so far, however. Right now it seems to be in the middle of one of those attempts, and for the building’s sake we may hope that this one succeeds.
No matter how trendy the neighborhood gets, the alleys in the South Side never seem to change: they’re still impossibly narrow and filled with tiny houses in a riot of textures. Above: Larkins Way. Below: Carey Way.
This building has a curious history, only part of which is revealed by the capsule history on the congregation’s Web site:
“In 1917, SS. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church was established in this building. In the early 1930’s due to economic realities, the faithful of SS. Peter and Paul lost their building, and were forced to move. In January of 1943, the present Church structure and parish home were regained by the faithful of SS. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church and in keeping with tradition, the Church was renamed in honor of the Theotokos.”
This paragraph leaves out the origin of the building, which (according to the two date stones) was put in its present form in 1886; the date 1862 is either the date of the foundation of the former congregation or the date when the church was originally built, with a large expansion in 1886. The architecture is clearly American Protestant. “Economic realities” almost certainly means “running out of money.” But “in keeping with tradition” is not well explained: it suggests a Russian tradition that dictates that, when you buy a building from a Protestant church that’s moving out, and then lose it to an economic depression, and then win it back again in a poker game or something, you ditch the saints you came in with and rename it for St. Mary. An Orthodox reader may be able to explain the tradition better to Father Pitt.
At any rate, the church has been Holy Assumption for more than seventy years now, and it is one of the few really successful congregations on the South Side Flats—where others are losing members, this one seems to be growing and thriving.
