Father Pitt

Category: Wilkinsburg

  • Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wilkinsburg

    Front elevation, Calvary Lutheran

    This church, kept in good shape as the Pittsburgh Urban Christian School, has a complicated architectural history, and old Pa Pitt will not attempt to sort it all out. The cornerstone bears a date of 1915:

    Cornerstone with date 1915

    We have seen the name O. M. Topp associated with the church, but a 1931 biography of Arthur N. Steinmark lists this church among his accomplishments.1 In 1915 Steinmark was working for MacClure & Spahr, which makes it seem unlikely that he designed the 1915 portion. But the church is a complex of attached buildings, and Steinmark might have been responsible for some of it.

    Update: Our correspondent David Schwing points to the page on Calvary Lutheran at Wilkinsburg Sacred Spaces, which tells us (quoting an anniversary book),

    On December 15, 1929, “Calvary had a rededication service at the completion of a $35,000 building expansion and improvement program which added the tower, the Rose Window, the balcony and included the renovation of the Chancel.”

    That $35,000 project is probably Steinmark’s work. Father Pitt believes, however, that only the top of the tower was part of the Steinmark project, because an old picture on that same page shows the rest of the tower as Pittsburgh black stone like the rest of the church, but the top as pristine white.

    Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church
    Entrance
    Tower

    The top of the tower is probably a replacement for a doomed spire. (Update: See the update above. It is possible that a spire was planned and never built, as often happened with church towers.)

    Calvary Lutheran, Wilkinsburg
    Transept window
    Calvary education wing

    This smaller section appears to be the older sanctuary; old maps suggest that it is probably the 1900 church designed by Wilkinsburg’s own L. A. Raisig,2 given a new stone front to match the main building.

    Front of the education wing
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
    1. Pittsburgh of Today: Its Resources and People, By Frank C. Harper. New York: American Historical Society, 1931. (Page 309.) ↩︎
    2. Record & Guide, August 8, 1900, p. 511. “At Wilkinsburg, Station D, Pittsburg, a $25,000 brick church will be erected by the Calvary Lutheran Society. L. A. Riasig, Penn and Wood streets, architects. Rev. J. Bradley Markward, pastor.” ↩︎
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  • Educational Wing of the Second Presbyterian Church of Wilkinsburg

    Educational wing

    We have seen pictures of this building before, but a fine building in poor condition will disappear sooner or later without a miraculous intervention, so it is always good to seize the opportunity to harvest a few more pictures when one is in the neighborhood. (There’s a for-sale sign on the door: you could buy this building right now and make the miracle happen.) The educational wing was built in 1928; it was designed by Lawrence Wolfe, with O. M. Topp, one of the architects of the original 1911 church to which it is attached, as associate architect.1

    Entrance
    Entrance
    Key ornament
    Open-book ornament
    Lantern
    Oak-leaf ornament
    Window
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
    1. The Charette, June, 1928: “507. Architect: Lawrence Wolfe, 119, E. Montgomery Ave., N.S., Pittsburgh, Pa. (O. M. Topp, Associate Architect). Title: School Building for Second Presbyterian Church, Wilkinsburg, Pa. Location: Franklin and Mulberry Streets, Wilkinsburg, Pa. Ready for bids July 15. Approximate size: Three stories and basement. Cubage: 200,000 cu. ft. Stone walls.” ↩︎
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  • Franklin Apartments, Park Place

    Franklin Apartments

    A small and attractive apartment building in the part of Park Place that belongs to Wilkinsburg. Father Pitt does not know the architect, but these curved metal balconies that look as though they are serving the tenants up on platters were a favorite detail of Wilkinsburg’s own Milligan & Miller.

    Balconies
    Kodak EasyShare Max Z990.
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  • Penn Water Company Building, Wilkinsburg

    Penn Water Company building

    J. H. Giesy was the architect of this little utility-company palace, built in 1916.1

    Entrance
    Above the entrance
    Lunette with address 712
    Shield with relief

    The relief in the shield is so shallow that it has eroded to near invisibility. It looks to old Pa Pitt like an allegorical figure pouring out water, but he is happy to be corrected by someone with a better eye or more accurate information.

    Penn Water Company Building
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    We have more pictures of the Penn Water Company from a year ago, before the doorway got its coat of fluorescent aqua.

    1. American Contractor, October 16, 1915, p. 58. “Office Bldg.: 2 sty. & bas. 50×100. $20M. Wilkinsburg, Pa. Archt. J. H. Giesey, Mellon Bank bldg., Pittsburgh. Owner Penn Water Co., Oliver bldg., Wilkinsburg. Bids in; will soon let contr. Brk.” ↩︎
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  • Second Presbyterian Church, Wilkinsburg

    Second Presbyterian Church

    Later known as the Mulberry Presbyterian Church. O. M. Topp and Charles W. Hutchison, “țhe well-known Pittsburg architect,” were the architects of this church, built in 1911.1

    In spite of his self-declared notability, Charles W. Hutchison has not left much of a visible architectural legacy: after some searching, old Pa Pitt found only two projects definitely attributable to him, of which this is one. It was probably his own church: he lived in Wilkinsburg. His moment of greatest fame came the year after this church was built, when his honeymoon trip was interrupted by the wreck of the Titanic: he and his bride were passengers on the Carpathia, the ship that picked up Titanic survivors. He sold his story, with a well-made diagram of the scene of the rescue, to the Press, which put him on the front page as “the well-known Pittsburg architect.”

    Front page of the Pittsburgh Press with Hutchison’s story
    Pittsburg Press, April 21, 1912, p. 1.

    Olaf M. Topp, on the other hand, was a very successful architect with a long career ahead of him and much experience behind him. Half the prewar Lutheran churches in the Pittsburgh area were designed by Topp, in addition to a few for other denominations; and in secular buildings his greatest work was the still-lamented Jenkins Arcade.

    Entrance

    A while ago this church was taken over by an organization with ambitious plans to turn it into a Center for Civic Arts. The plans seem to have run hard up against economic reality, however, and when old Pa Pitt visited recently the building was up for sale again.

    Decorations over the entrance
    Entrance
    Side entrance
    Hinge
    Lantern
    1. “Cornerstone Laying Among Church Events,” Press, August 27, 1911. “The church was designed by O. M. Topp and Charles M. Hutchison.” The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation plaque has the architect as “F. Hoffman & Company,” but that was the contractor. ↩︎

  • South Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Wilkinsburg

    South Avenue United Methodist Church

    Wilkinsburg’s own Milligan & Miller were the architects of this church, built in 1907.1

    South Avenue United Methodist Church
    Arcaded porch

    Old Pa Pitt’s favorite features of this church are the arcaded porches, like medieval cloisters, on both sides of the building.

    Porch

    The wheelchair ramp on this side was added with good taste (and a high budget).

    Date stones: Wilkinsburg M. E. Church, built 1878; Methodist Episcopal Church Built A. D. 1843; Organized 1832

    Cornerstones from the previous churches are set in the wall under the roof of the right-hand porch.

    Porch
    South Avenue United Methodist Church
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    We also have some monochrome pictures of the South Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church.

    1. “Old Town of Aspect All Modern,” Pittsburg Press, July 14, 1907. “One of the most important additions to the structural beauty of the place will be the new South Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, which is to replace the old burned down last February. It is to cost $125,000 and will be one of the finest church buildings in the community. The construction is under the charge of Architects Milligan & Miller, who designed the plans.” ↩︎
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  • Royal York Apartments, Wilkinsburg

    Royal York Apartments

    A modernistic apartment building in a good state of preservation. Father Pitt sees nothing Yorkish or royal about it in particular; the same building could have been called the Monte Carlo or the Emperor Montezuma or the Thomas Jefferson with just as much stylistic appropriateness. But the name is important in selling the idea of the building to tenants: you will be able to say, “I live at the Royal York,” and that sounds much more impressive than “815 North Avenue.”

    Entrance
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
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  • Abandoned Apartment Building on South Avenue, Wilkinsburg

    Apartment building at 901 South Avenue

    Old Pa Pitt takes it as one of his missions to record things that may vanish soon, so that posterity will have some visual memory of them. This apartment building is abandoned, and it had been given some unsympathetic remodelings before it was entirely given up on. Nevertheless, it was an attractive if ordinary building, and it could be made attractive again if Wilkinsburg became a trendy neighborhood. Right now it survives because no one has the money and the will to tear it down.

    Apartment building at 901 South Avenue

    Addendum: Thanks to our correspondent David Schwing, we can identify the architects as Wilkinsburg’s own A. Dudgeon & Son. The building was called the Eleanor; it was built in 1905.1

    Apartment building at 901 South Avenue
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
    1. Gazette, February 17, 1905, p. 13. “Architects A. Dudgeon & Son have plans nearly completed for an $18,000 flat building for J. M. Lesher in South avenue, Wilkinsburg.” Plat maps show the building, called the Eleanor, owned by J. M. Lesher in 1915. ↩︎
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  • Carl Building (Shields Building), Wilkinsburg

    Carl Building

    Designed in 1902 by the Beezer Brothers, this was Wilkinsburg’s contribution to the early skyscraper age. It was put up for Leopold Vilsack, a real-estate investor who was also one of the founders of the Iron City brewery. He named it for his son Carl; later it became known as the Shields Building.

    Architects’ rendering
    Pittsburgh Gazette, April 12, 1902, p. 8.

    When it was announced, the building was to have eight floors. One floor fell away between initial design and construction.

    Base of the building

    The building is now apartments. The base has been refurbished with a simpler and more abstract design that hardly registers as different from the original until we look at it closely.

    Cap with terra-cotta ornaments

    The cap is festooned with elaborate Baroque terra-cotta ornaments.

    Cap with terra cotta
    Carl Building
    Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.
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  • Horner School, Wilkinsburg

    Inscription over the Wallace Avenue entrance to the Horner School

    Alden & Harlow were the architects of this classically symmetrical school, which was built in 1926. Alden had died in 1908, and Harlow had only another year to live (he died in 1927); it seems that by this time much of the design work in the firm was done by Howard K. Jones. The school now is kept in good shape as the home of various community services.

    Horner School
    Horner School
    Horner School
    Terra-cotta ornament

    The 1920s were in the middle of the golden age of terra-cotta ornament.

    Terra-cotta ornament
    Cornice with terra cotta
    Clock
    Side of the school, showing slope

    The architects had a typically Pittsburghish lot to deal with, so the school has four floors above ground on the Wallace Avenue front and two in the rear on North Avenue.

    North Avenue face
    North Avenue entrance
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    The North Avenue entrance is reached by a bridge over a sort of trench that exposes the windows of the floor below.

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