Category: Strip

  • Demolishing a Warehouse in the Strip

    Demolition

    Chunks of concrete dangle from exposed floors of a half-demolished warehouse next to the Sixteenth Street Bridge.

    Demolition

    No one will miss this ugly building—or at least no one will admit to missing it. But it does point out a principle that old Pa Pitt has often stated: prosperity is more destructive to old landmarks than any other force except possibly war—and even then it depends on the war. When the city is prosperous, there is a strong incentive to replace older things with newer, more profitable things. Fortunately Pittsburgh has learned a lot about appreciating its old buildings, and much of what is going on in the booming Strip District is restoration and adaptation rather than demolition. But old buildings are in much more danger when the city is prosperous than when the local economy is stagnant.

    Two floors of building under demolition
  • Downtown from the Strip

    From the corner of Penn Avenue and 17th Street.

  • Old St. Patrick

    Old Saint Patrick’s was the first Catholic parish in Pittsburgh, founded in 1808 in what was then the most Presbyterian city in North America. The parish moved more than once, and the current building dates from 1935, after the previous larger building burned.

    The parish has a long history, obviously, but it was never more historical than in the 1930s, when the activist labor priest Father Cox broadcast Mass from the church, led marches on Washington, ran for president on the Jobless Party ticket, and got into very public altercations with the fascist radio priest Father Coughlin, who brought an action against him in ecclesiastical court. Father Cox was found guilty of slandering another priest, and Bishop Boyle of Pittsburgh was directed to take appropriate disciplinary action. Bishop Boyle duly noted the verdict, and appears to have decided that the most appropriate disciplinary action was no action at all.

    A walled “Theotokos Garden” of statues of saints is a welcome refuge from the bustle of the Strip. Of course the most prominent of the saints is Saint Patrick.

  • Pennrose Building

    This 10-storey near-skyscraper in the Strip is a fine example of a commercial building from the early 1900s—in this case, 1906. It is in the process of turning into—what else?—luxury apartments.

  • Armstrong Cork Factory from the River

    Frederick Osterling, one of Pittsburgh’s most interesting architects, designed the Armstrong Cork Company buildings, a masterpiece of functional yet attractive industrial architecture. They have now been turned into expensive loft apartments. You can see the buildings from a different angle here.

  • Armstrong Cork Company Buildings

    Now converted to loft apartments and known as “The Cork Factory,” this landmark of industrial architecture was designed by Frederick Osterling. Here we see it from Washington’s Landing on a grey day. Since the weather was mopey, Father Pitt decided to make this picture look as much as possible as though it could have been made in 1901, when the buildings were new; but in fact it was taken just this afternoon.

    Camera: Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3.
  • Thirty-Third Street, Strip District

    A view under the railroad bridge, which covers the entire length of Thirty-Third Street.

  • Smallman Street in the Strip

    It seems typical of Pittsburgh that the city’s grandest spaces are in warehouse and industrial districts. This broad plaza, seen from St. Stanislaus Kostka church on 21st Street, is the heart of the wholesale-food business in Pittsburgh. In the last two decades it has also become a popular nightclub district. The wholesale business begins to pick up just as the clubs close in the small hours of the morning.

  • Back Side of the Strip

    Click on the picture to enlarge it.

    Smallman Street in the Strip is lined on one side with an odd combination of wholesale food outlets and trendy nightclubs. The other side is one long, low building that houses many wholesale produce dealers.