The ornate cap of the Benedum-Trees Building, with the PPG Place Christmas tree poking its head into the picture. Enlarge the images to appreciate the wealth of carved detail.
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Trinity A. M. E. Church, Hill
A modest church from 1925 in an unusual Spanish Mission style. That style was very popular for houses and apartments in the 1920s, but in Pittsburgh it is seldom found in churches.
The well-preserved, though somewhat bedraggled, Italianate house next door is also worth noting.
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United Steelworkers Building (IBM Building)
The diamond grid is not an ornamental facing: it holds up the building, along with a central core. “Diagrid construction” is a little more common today, but still fairly unusual; perhaps the most famous or notorious example of it is the Gherkin in London. This was a very early example. It was finished in 1964, and although it was originally built for IBM, it fits its current owner very well: its steel grid is a good demonstration of what steelworkers are capable of. The architects were the New Orleans firm of Curtis and Davis.
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One Oliver Plaza
This is not Father Pitt’s favorite building downtown, but it was one of the last works of a distinguished modern architect: William Lescaze, who died in 1969, the year after One Oliver Plaza was built. The building has had several names since then; it now goes by the name K&L Gates Center. Old Pa Pitt’s friend Dr. Boli has remarked that the names at the tops of the skyscrapers are a good index of who is most ruthlessly exploiting the masses at the moment. K&L Gates is a gigantic law firm.
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Apartment Building on Broadway, Dormont
Old Pa Pitt’s fascination with small apartment buildings is hard to explain, except that—as he has mentioned before—they often gave lesser architects a chance to execute unusual ideas. This building is made of very simple elements, but arranged in an unusual rhythm, the balconies forming strong verticals that are accented by brick projections at the roofline.
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Software Engineering Institute
The Software Engineering Institute, Oakland, at twilight.
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Sixteenth Street Bridge
The architectural parts of the Sixteenth Street or David McCullough Bridge, built in 1923, were designed by Warren and Wetmore, architects of Grand Central Station in New York. The fact that the bridge does not fall down is attributable to the engineer, H. G. Balcom.
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Every Day in 2022
Throughout the year 2022, old Pa Pitt managed to put up at least one new article every day. To celebrate the changing of the years, here are twelve of his favorite pictures from last year, one for each month:
January
A vase of witch hazel.
February
Church of the Ascension, Shadyside.
March
Crocuses in the rain.
April
Fox squirrel.
May
Interior of Heinz Chapel.
June
Mammatus clouds at sunset.
July
Spotted Lanternfly nymph.
August
Retreating storm clouds behind the spire of Third Presbyterian Church, Shadyside.
September
Atlas on the Kaufmann’s Clock.
October
Chimney pots on the South Side.
November
The skyline of downtown with November leaves.
December
The colossal columns of the Mellon Institute illuminated from within at twilight.
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Carnegie Library, Hill District Branch
Another elegant little branch library by Alden & Harlow. Although the branch library moved a short distance away to a larger modern building, this one was fortunately taken over by a mosque and is therefore still loved and kept up.
