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  • Old St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cathedral, Munhall

    St. John the Baptist Byzantine Cathedral

    Back in 2014, old Pa Pitt took these pictures of the old St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Munhall. In the intervening years Father Pitt has learned much more about making adjustments to photographs to produce a finished picture that looks like the scene he photographed, so he presents these pictures again, “remastered” (as the recording artists would say) for higher fidelity.

    The church was built in 1903 for a Greek Catholic (or Byzantine Catholic, as we would say today) congregation. When Pittsburgh became the seat of a Ruthenian diocese, this became the cathedral.

    The mad genius Titus de Bobula, who was only 25 years old when this church was built, was the architect, and this building still causes architectural historians to gush like schoolgirls. It includes some of De Bobula’s trademarks, like the improbably tall and narrow arches in the towers and side windows and the almost cartoonishly weighty stone over the ground-level arches. It’s made up of styles and materials that no normal architect would put together in one building, and it all works. Enlarge the pictures and note the stonework corner crosses in the towers and all along the side, which we suspect were in the mind of John H. Phillips when he designed Holy Ghost Greek Catholic Church in the McKees Rocks Bottoms, which also makes use of De Bobulesque tall and narrow arches.

    St. John the Baptist Cathedral
    Rectory

    The rectory was designed by De Bobula at the same time.

    Architectural rendering of the cathedral and rectory

    This illustration of the church and rectory was published in January of 1920 in The Czechoslovak Review, but it appears from the style to be De Bobula’s own rendering of the buildings, including the people in 1903-vintage (definitely not 1920) costumes.

    Old St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cathedral
    Kodak EasyShare Z1485; Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3.

    The Byzantine Catholic Cathedral moved to a modern building in 1993, still in Munhall, and this building now belongs to the Carpatho-Rusyn Society. According to the Web site, the organization is currently doing “extensive renovations,” which we hope will keep the church and rectory standing for years to come.


    Comments
    June 22, 2025
  • Rowe Building (Penn-Highland Building), East Liberty

    Rowe Building

    Built in 1898 for Rowe’s department store, this building has been called the Penn-Highland Building for years now. The architects were Alden & Harlow.

    Crest on the corner

    Lions stare back at you from all over the building.

    Lion ornament
    Rowe Building
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS; Sony Alpha 3000 with 7Artisans f/1.4 35mm lens.

    Comments
    June 21, 2025
  • Spotted Lanternfly Nymph

    Early nymph of spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula)
    Olympus E-20N with cheap screw-on close-up lens.

    These little black bugs with sporty polka dots are the earlier nymph stage of the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula), the pest that has invaded Pittsburgh by the zillions and is threatening to kill off our local population of Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), another invasive pest that is the spotted lanternfly’s primary host. Old Pa Pitt recalls an old Roman saying about the curse of an answered prayer that seems appropriate here.


    Comments
    June 20, 2025
  • Frick Annex

    Frick Annex, later the Allegheny Building, Pittsburgh
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    Built in 1906, this skyscraper was designed by Daniel Burnham, architect of the neighboring Frick Building, as the second part of Henry Frick’s architectural tantrum that cut off the light and air from the Carnegie Building. The Carnegie Building was demolished to make way for the nearly windowless Kaufmann’s Annex; this building, which gets plenty of light, is now luxury apartments.

    June 20, 2025
  • Building More Hospital

    New UPMC Presbyterian building with cranes
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

    The new UPMC Presbyterian building nears completion in Oakland.


    Comments
    June 19, 2025
  • Presby Reflects Presby

    Old Presbyterian Hospital reflected in curved surface of new
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    The older Presbyterian Hospital (designed by E. P. Mellon) reflected and distorted in the curved surface of the new UPMC Presbyterian building now being finished up in Oakland.


    Comments
    June 19, 2025
  • City-County Building

    City-County Building

    Edward B. Lee won the competition for the design of the City-County Building in “association” with Palmer & Hornbostel. Lee’s was the name in the headlines, and Lee was the only architect mentioned in the ordinance ratifying the results of the competition. But years later Lee explained that the design was Henry Hornbostel’s, with Lee just executing drawings from Hornbostel’s design. As flamboyant as he could be, Hornbostel was also generous and encouraging to his colleagues.

    Newspaper clipping with architects’ elevation of winning design for City-County Building
    Front page of the Pittsburgh Post, January 20, 1914.

    But old Pa Pitt has a suspicion that there might be more to the story than mere generosity.

    In 1904, Hornbostel had won the competition for the Carnegie Tech campus, beating—among others—the famous Cass Gilbert.

    In 1907, Hornbostel had won the competition for Soldiers and Sailors Hall, beating—among others—Cass Gilbert.

    Now he was entering another really big competition, and the judge was Cass Gilbert, who had been selected to “prepare and conduct” the competition.1 Perhaps Hornbostel calculated that his design would have a better chance with somebody else’s name on it.

    Arms of the City of Pittsburgh

    Reliefs by sculptor Charles Keck depict the arms of the City of Pittsburgh (above) and the County of Allegheny (below). Keck also contributed sculptures for Soldiers and Sailors Hall.

    Arms of Allegheny County
    Arch of the City-County Building
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    The three enormous arches are the most distinctive features of the building. Comparing the preliminary elevation above with the finished building, we can see that they were made even larger later on in the planning.


    Comments
    June 18, 2025
  • Pumpkin Blossom in the Rain

    Wet pumpkin blossom
    Nikon COOLPIX P100.

    Comments
    June 17, 2025
  • Jr. O. U. A. M. Building, Oakland

    Jr. O. U. A. M. Building

    The Junior Order of United American Mechanics is a fraternal order that was originally the young people’s division of the Order of United American Mechanics. Since it has its own Wikipedia article, old Pa Pitt will send you there for information about the order. For this building, however, he is happy to be your source of information. It was built to be the national headquarters of the organization, which had previously been in the Wabash Building downtown. “The new five-story building of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics at Forbes and Halket sts., was completed last June at a cost of about $350,000, exclusive of the site. The national headquarters of the order, which formerly were in the Wabash building, occupy the entire fourth and fifth floors of the new building, while the lower floors are given over to offices and store rooms.” (Pittsburgh Press, Monday, January 4, 1926.) This building was designed by Louis Stevens, best known for elegant homes for the well-to-do, but also the designer of all the public buildings in the borough of Overbrook (now part of the city of Pittsburgh).

    Jr. O. U. A. M.
    Cornerstone, with date of foundation (1853) and construction (1924)

    The cornerstone was laid in 1924, but the building was completed in 1925.

    Cartouche
    Entrance

    It will come as no surprise that the building now belongs to the University of Pittsburgh.

    Metalwork
    Metalwork
    Cornice
    Jr. O. U. A. M. building
    From Magee Hospital
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10; Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

    Comments
    June 17, 2025
  • Birmingham Bridge

    Birmingham Bridge from the south shore

    Opened in 1977, this bridge was meant to be part of a titanic expressway system that would have demolished city neighborhoods for the convenience of suburban commuters, which explains why it seems to be so much more bridge than the location requires. It replaced the two-lane Brady Street Bridge.

    Birmingham Bridge from the pedestrian walkway

    Right now the bridge is getting one of its periodic refurbishings.

    Birmingham Bridge
    Birmingham Bridge
    Birmingham Bridge

    So far all our pictures of the Birmingham Bridge have been from the southern end. Our last picture is from the north, taken from Fifth Avenue in Soho.

    Birmingham Bridge
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    Comments
    June 16, 2025
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