Father Pitt

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Jones and Laughlin Headquarters Building

This small skyscraper was not originally built as a skyscraper. The first part of it was put up in 1907; in 1917 five more storeys were added (very skillfully, we might add), bringing the building just about high enough to qualify as a small skyscraper in old Pa Pitt’s admittedly fluid definition of the term. The architects both times were MacClure & Spahr, who also gave us the Union National Bank Building and the Diamond Building, among others. Since 1952, this building has belonged to the city, which calls it the John P. Robin Civic Building.

February 21, 2022
First Avenue Station

The distinctive undulating platform roofs of the First Avenue subway station, seen from across First Avenue.

February 20, 2022
Tracks in the Snow

A rookie hunter might follow these tracks expecting to find a freight train; but a seasoned tracker would notice that they are Pennsylvania broad gauge, and therefore must lead to a trolley eventually.

February 20, 2022
Try Street Terminal

The First Avenue face of the Try Street Terminal (now called Terminal 21 and filled with loft apartments and offices).

February 19, 2022
Niche on the Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny West

This niche at the top of the central tower of the Western Theological Seminary seems to require a statue of some saint. Since the building was a Presbyterian seminary, it probably never had one. Perhaps we could fill it with a statue of Harry Thaw, patron saint of wastrel playboy sociopaths.

February 18, 2022
Streetcar Stopping at Hampshire, Beechview

An inbound Siemens SD-400 trolley stops at the Hampshire stop in Beechview. This is another streetcar picture for Red Line riders to enjoy while we wait for the repairs to the Saw Mill Run viaduct. And, by the way, Las Palmas across the street is an excellent place to find Latin American specialties as well as general American supermarket groceries.

February 17, 2022
Skyline Abstraction

Including parts of One Oxford Centre, the Grant Building, the Jones & Laughlin Headquarters Building, and the Try Street Terminal.

February 16, 2022
Silver Line Trolley in Castle Shannon

The only active street trackage left in the Pittsburgh streetcar system is on Broadway in Beechview, and on Warrington and Arlington Avenues when the cars are detoured over the top of the hill instead of through the Transit Tunnel. But there are several sections of what we might call semi-street trackage, where the trolleys run in a separate right-of-way either beside or in the middle of the street. Willow Avenue in Castle Shannon is one of them: half the street is reserved for trolleys. Here a Silver Line car crosses Castle Shannon Boulevard.

February 15, 2022
Wall of Ice in Banksville

Every year the cliff behind Banksville Plaza grows a spectacular crop of icicles that merge into a wall of ice.

February 14, 2022
The Canyon

Looking eastward on Fourth Avenue from the intersection with Wood Street.

February 13, 2022