Modest frame houses with spectacular views across the Allegheny.
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Houses on Goettmann Street, Troy Hill
Composite of three photographs from the Kodak EasyShare Z981. -
Lowrie Street, Troy Hill
The narrow streets of Troy Hill are lined with rows of little houses with every kind of siding in every color, and unexpected views of the downtown skyline pop up here and there. This is the section of Lowrie Street across from the Voegtly Cemetery. Since the neighborhood changes so little over time, Father Pitt thought it might be fun to fiddle with the colors a little to make this picture look like an old Anscochrome slide.
It is a measure of the comprehensiveness of the Internet that old Pa Pitt is not actually the only human being on the Web who remembers Anscochrome.
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Troy Hill and Spring Hill
A long lens shows us part of Troy Hill (foreground, above the colorful mural) and Spring Hill (background, including the high-rise apartment block) from across the Allegheny. Although the view from here makes it look as though they are all one contiguous hilltop neighborhood, in fact they are separated by the narrow Spring Garden valley, and it is something of a feat to get from Troy Hill to Spring Hill.
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Grace Lutheran Church, Troy Hill
Taller than it is long, Grace Lutheran Church occupies a tiny space in the narrow streets of Troy Hill, a traditionally German neighborhood straddling a narrow hilltop above the Allegheny.
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Ober House in Troy Hill
A rare “Stick Style” Victorian, this was the home of Mr. J. P. Ober of Eberhardt & Ober. The style was common elsewhere in the country, but Pittsburgh preferred heavier, stonier styles in its domestic architecture. As commonly happens to an opulent house in a working-class neighborhood, this has become a funeral home.
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Grace Lutheran in Troy Hill
The narrow streets and sudden drops in Troy Hill make for some unusual adaptations. Stuffed into a tiny lot, Grace Lutheran Church is as tall as it is long, with its main sanctuary on the second floor. It’s impossible to get a picture of the building without wires in front, and removing the wires with an image editor would be dishonest, which is Father Pitt’s way of saying “too much work.”
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Catholic Deco
Click on the image to enlarge it. North Catholic High School in Troy Hill was built in 1940. Its greatest claim to distinction is the set of unique reliefs by Charles Bradley Warren illustrating “The Pursuit of Knowledge.” “Unique” is a word thrown about with little regard for its etymological meaning, but here it seems descriptive. Where else will we find any similar combination of Catholic iconography, Art Deco style, and scientific progressivism? The reliefs are a little grimy from decades of heavy industry in the valley below, but they have lost none of their power to astonish a first-time visitor to Troy Hill.
No, old Pa Pitt has not reversed one of the photographs. These are two different reliefs over doors on opposite sides of the building, identical except that they are mirror images of one another. In each relief, the monkish scientists gazing into the distance are turned to face a stunning view of the Allegheny valley and the city of Pittsburgh.
Click on the image to enlarge it. -
The Famous Troy Hill Clydesdales
There are, of course, no famous Troy Hill Clydesdales, but these horses and this wagon visited long enough to enliven a September parish fair in Troy Hill. Here we see them with St. Anthony’s Chapel in the background.
