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  • Mount Lebanon Baptist Church, Dormont

    Tower and spire

    Mount Lebanon Baptist Church has been without a congregation since 2013, but it is kept up, and we hope it has or finds a sympathetic owner. In spite of the name, the church is in Dormont, which was in the “Mount Lebanon district” until it became a separate borough.

    Mount Lebanon Baptist Church
    Cornerstone with dates 1911 and 1930

    The church was put up in 1930; the architects were Lawrence Wolfe (the middle term in a dynasty of Wolfes who were in the architecture business for more than a century) in association with Smith & Reif.

    Mount Lebanon Baptist Church
    Entrance and tower
    Entrance and window
    False pulpit

    This decoration seems to be meant to represent an outdoor pulpit of the sort that was popular in medieval times. It is not functional, or at least not easily used, but it does send the message that the minister could step out here and denounce the whole borough if it became necessary.

    Entrance
    Door pulls and locks

    For hardware connoisseurs, here are some very elegant door pulls and locks.

    Door pulls
    Lantern
    Shield
    Vine decoration

    Grape vines in Gothic style make up most of the carved decoration.

    Vine ornament
    Address and office plaque
    Office sign
    Gable with quatrefoil window
    Tower decorations
    Olympus E-20N; Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    Some of the decorations verge on an Art Deco interpretation of Gothic.

    We have more pictures of Mount Lebanon Baptist Church in different lighting at a different season.


    Comments
    August 31, 2025
  • St. Patrick’s Church and Cemetery, Noblestown

    West front of St. Patrick’s Church

    According to the parish history at the diocesan site, this church was built in 1900, after previous buildings had been destroyed by fire twice in the 1890s. In old Pa Pitt’s opinion, the black tinted window coverings do the church no favors, but no one asked him.

    St. Patrick’s Church
    St. Patrick’s Church
    St. Patrick’s Church
    St. Patrick’s Cemetery gate

    Behind the church is a cemetery remarkable for its precipitous slope, which makes it necessary for some plots to be terraced.

    Cemetery slope
    Cemetery with terraced plots
    Olympus E-20N; Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    Comments
    One response
    August 31, 2025
  • A Bungalow in Beechview by W. Ward Williams

    Ward Brown bungalow

    W. Ward Williams was the architect of this bungalow, which was built in about 1911 for Ward Brown1 and has been preserved in excellent condition. It was the subject of a photo feature in the Gazette Times for October 12, 1913.

    Bungalow and Stone Fireplace
    Ward Brown bungalow and garage

    A garage that looks like it wants to be just like Daddy when it grows up.

    Garage
    Ward Brown bungalow
    Ward Brown bungalow
    Sony Alpha 3000.

    Comments
    August 30, 2025
  • Bellefonte Apartments, Shadyside

    Bellefonte Apartments

    Georgian details applied to a pair of mirror-image apartment buildings on Elmer Street. The huge sunny bays might be described as exceptionally tall oriels, since they do not reach the ground, but instead terminate in surprisingly folksy carved wooden brackets.

    Bracket
    Bellefonte Apartments
    Pillar
    “Bellefonte”
    “Apartments”
    Entrance
    Nikon COOLPIX P100.

    Comments
    August 30, 2025
  • Brookline War Memorial

    Brookline War Memorial

    The Brookline war memorial sits in a little triangular park formed by the curve of Brookline Boulevard meeting Chelton Avenue and Queensboro Avenue. The cannon is placed in position to repel invaders from Dormont and Beechview.

    Brookline Honor Roll
    Nikon COOLPIX P100.

    Comments
    August 29, 2025
  • Rafferty Rows, Squirrel Hill

    Rafferty row on Beeler Street

    We saw these houses last fall on a dim and rainy evening, and at that time we explained what little we knew about their history. Here are the ones on Beeler Street in bright sunshine.

    Rowhouses on Beeler Street
    Rowhouses
    Rafferty row on Beeler Street
    Olympus E-20N.

    Comments
    August 28, 2025
  • Arts-and-Crafts Apartments in Shadyside

    728 Summerlea Street

    Update: Thanks to our correspondent David Schwing, we have more information on this building, which is a kind of split-level apartment house with three floors if we count a high basement, the entrance being between two levels. We had originally called it a duplex, but it seems to be a triplex. The architect was C. P. Hitchens, a developer-architect who designed his own buildings; he bought the lot in 1911.

    The arts-and-crafts style of the building, with a tinge of Spanish mission, is expressed in patterned brickwork and big carved wooden brackets. The windows have been replaced, but the tiles and brackets at least have been preserved.

    Perspective view
    Bracket
    Entrance overhang
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    Comments
    August 27, 2025
  • Rennerdale First United Presbyterian Church

    Rennerdale First United Presbyterian Church

    The little village of Rennerdale sits halfway between Carnegie and Oakdale on the Noblestown Road. This corner-tower frame church, with its Colonial-style details, reminds us of the Noblestown Methodist Episcopal Church designed by James Allison; and since we know that Allison designed other buildings in the area, it would not surprise us to find that he was responsible for this one. It has been swathed in artificial siding, as our few surviving frame churches usually are; but the siding men did an unusually good job of making sure that the windows and doors were properly framed. The church still belongs to its original congregation.

    Rennerdale U. P. Church
    Entrance
    Belfry

    There’s still a bell in that belfry.

    Rennerdale
    Olympus E-20N.

    Comments
    August 26, 2025
  • C. P. Hitchens Apartment Building on Wilkins Avenue, Squirrel Hill

    5521 Wilkins Avenue

    Old maps show that this apartment house was built after 1910 and before 1923, and that the owner was C. P. Hitchens. C. P. Hitchens was a Pittsburgh architect, so it’s probable that he designed the building. It’s an attractive design with elements of everything from Romanesque (the recessed arched entrance) to Prairie Style, all harmonized so that nothing seems out of place.

    Entrance
    Brickwork over the entrance
    Perspective view
    Olympus E-20N.

    Comments
    August 26, 2025
  • Some Details of Highland Towers, Shadyside

    Lunette with “Highland Towers” and address

    We’ll have to wait till the leaves are off the trees to get anything like a complete picture of the front of Highland Towers, one of Frederick Scheibler’s most famous buildings. But this collection of details should be enough to demonstrate why architectural historians drool over it. The building brings a fresh breath of Art Nouveau to Highland Avenue.

    Entrance
    Courtyard
    Balconies

    As built in 1914, the apartments were luxurious residences. Each had a living room, dining room, solarium, kitchen, library or guest room, two bedrooms, bathroom, and servant’s chamber. There were garages in back with gardens on the roofs.

    Mosaic and windows

    Scheibler took the idea for these mosaic patterns from the German graphic designer, architect, industrial designer, type designer, and artist Peter Behrens.

    Mosaic
    Grille
    Front wall
    Nikon COOLPIX P100.

    Comments
    August 25, 2025
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