Father Pitt

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Firehouse in West Park

A charming little firehouse that has been converted into a woodworker’s shop. Windows and doors have been filled in or replaced, but the outlines of the building have not been disturbed.

Father Pitt knows the important facts about this building because they are marked right on the building, which should be mandatory for every building project. It was built in 1926, and the architect…

…was Joseph Pock, a name old Pa Pitt has not run across before. It will not be surprising if we find that many of the characteristic buildings of West Park were designed by Mr. Pock.

The original firehouse lanterns still have their original shades.

Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

October 11, 2024
The Imperial Bank

The bank for the little mining town of Imperial occupied a building that accomplished its architectural mission perfectly. It was small, but it gave the impression of being respectable and substantial—a place where your money would be safe.

Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

October 11, 2024
Alley in Lawrenceville

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Garden Way, looking eastward toward Children’s Hospital.

October 10, 2024
Storefront on Potomac Avenue, Dormont

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A beautiful storefront with veiny marble and a large panel of stained glass spanning the whole width. Note the properly inset entrance, so that the door does not fly open into passing pedestrians’ faces—a requirement we have forgotten.

October 10, 2024
The Yards at Three Crossings, Strip

Kodak EasyShare Z981.

This large apartment development between Railroad Street and the Allegheny opened in 2016. WTW Architects were the architects of record, and this is a good example of the type of patchwork-quilt architecture that has been fashionable in the last decade or two. On the one hand old Pa Pitt thinks these buildings are much more interesting than the plain brick boxes that were fashionable after the Second World War. On the other hand, bricks last, whereas Father Pitt fears some of these other materials will begin to look a bit scraggly in about fifteen years.

October 10, 2024
South Side Slopes and Oakland

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Rooftops of houses on the South Side Slopes, with Oakland and its usual cranes in the background.

October 9, 2024
Craig Street Branch of the Pittsburgh National Bank, Oakland

Built in 1961–1962, this branch bank conveys the impression of being low and flat. It seems much shorter than it is; our brains don’t process how huge those concrete beams are, but note the height of the people in front. The deliberate lowness is an interesting choice, because the firm that designed it was Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, whose other famous works include the Sears Tower, which was the tallest building in the world for two decades; One World Trade Center, the current tallest building in the Western Hemisphere; and the Burj Khalifa, which so far has not been surpassed.

James D. Van Trump described the building in The Stones of Pittsburgh: “Two great concrete beams cantilevered from slender piers support a concrete roof of great span. A bold and stark essay in pure construction.” The roof extends dramatically from the building to shelter a small parking lot in the rear.

October 9, 2024
Houses on Goettmann Street, Troy Hill

Composite of three photographs from the Kodak EasyShare Z981.

Modest frame houses with spectacular views across the Allegheny.

October 8, 2024
By the Montour Railroad in Imperial

The Imperial station on the Montour Railroad has become, with much remodeling, the Findlay Township Activity Center, which residents can rent for (you probably guessed already) activities. A neat little red caboose sits beside the old railroad bed, which is now the Montour Trail.

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October 8, 2024
Glasshouse Apartments, Station Square

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With skyscrapers in sunset light.

October 7, 2024