Father Pitt

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Duquesne Brewing Co. Building, South Side

Update: The building has been adapted as artists’ lofts and studios as “the Brew House.” The original text of the article follows.

The Duquesne Brewing Company produced what used to be Pittsburgh’s favorite beer. This old building has had a hard life since the brewery closed; it was taken over by artist squatters for a while, who probably kept it from falling to pieces, but the city has no tolerance for poor squatters who claim buildings that could be redeveloped by rich people. The various attempts at redevelopment seem to get only so far, however. Right now it seems to be in the middle of one of those attempts, and for the building’s sake we may hope that this one succeeds.

June 22, 2015
Martin’s Cabin

Martin’s Cabin is a log house of the 1700s preserved in Schenley Park. There are not very many buildings of that era left within city limits: the Fort Pitt Blockhouse, the Neill Log House, this cabin, and possibly the Old Stone Tavern are the only ones Father Pitt knows of. It is a curious fact that all the grand houses of stone and brick in old Pittsburgh have long since disappeared, but this humble poor man’s cabin remains. (UPDATE: Note the kind comment below reminding us of the John Woods House in Hazelwood, which is in fact a stone house, though not one of the grandest of its time.)

Camera: Canon PowerShot S45.

June 22, 2015
Strand Theatre Building, Oakland

[Update: We have more on the history of this building, which was the Natatorium Building before it became a theater.]

This once-splendid movie house on Forbes Avenue was designed by Harry S. Bair, a specialist in neighborhood movie palaces who also designed the Regent in East Liberty. According to comments on Cinematreasures.org, it was built with the screen at the street end: you had to walk up a long hall to come in at the rear of the theater. Thus it took advantage of the hillside location to make a naturally sloped auditorium. The building ceased to be a theater about four decades ago; it is now retail stores and apartments.

The picture above is a composite of four photographs.

One response

June 22, 2015
Mt. Lebanon Municipal Building

Mount Lebanon is a township, technically speaking; but it feels more like a city of its own. Post-Gazette columnist Peter Leo always referred to it as “the Great State of Mount Lebanon,” which sums up how Pittsburghers think Mount Lebanese think of themselves. The central business district is “uptown”—a word that means an area outside downtown in most cities (even Pittsburgh itself), but in southwestern Pennsylvania usually means a downtown area that happens to be on a hilltop. Uptown and the surrounding area is now a national historic district, and this 1930 Art Deco building is one of its gems: it is the masterpiece of its architect, William Henry King, Jr.

A decade-old article from the Trib has quite a bit of good information about the building.

Camera: Canon PowerShot S45. The picture of the whole building above is a composite of four photographs.

June 22, 2015
Bugs

These beautifully marked insects seem to be what entomologists call “true bugs,” and they bear a strong resemblance to milkweed bugs. But they are not identical, and Father Pitt would very much appreciate hearing from someone who can tell him exactly what these are. There were quite a few of them on a well-chewed hickory sapling in the Mount Lebanon woods.

Camera: Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3.

June 21, 2015
Mushrooms

It has been good weather for mushrooms. These extraordinarily fugitive little mushrooms pop up overnight and are completely withered by afternoon. Father Pitt believes that they are Parasola plicatilis, but any mushroom-lover is invited to correct his identification.

Camera: Canon PowerShot S45.

June 21, 2015
Letsche Elementary School (1941 Addition), Hill District

In 1941, this addition with interesting Art Deco panels was grafted on the otherwise classical Letsche Elementary School in the Hill District. The school is now the Pittsburgh Student Achievement Center, a school for students who do not thrive in more traditional schools.

June 21, 2015
Former Greek Orthodox Church, Bedford Avenue, Hill District

This old church seems to be vacant right now. It has been home to other congregations over the past decades; but a hundred years ago, when the Hill was a lively melting-pot of every race and creed, it was a Greek Orthodox church. The architecture is interesting: Father Pitt is not enough of an expert on Greek churches to make a definitive pronouncement, but it looks as though the church was built by local builders familiar with generic Protestant churches. The details—round arches, onion dome, and perhaps the stepped façade—are Eastern, but the shape, with its peaked roof and entrance through a central tower, is the shape of small Protestant churches everywhere.

Camera: Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3.

June 21, 2015
U. S. Steel Tower

U. S. Steel is actually moving out of this tower to a new building to be constructed in its shadow, where the Civic Arena used to be. But this will always be the building that says “steel” on the skyline, or (depending on your opinion of the architecture) the building that says 2001: A Space Odyssey. When it opened in 1971, it was the tallest building outside New York and Chicago. Though there are many taller buildings now, it is still record-breakingly massive. There is no other building with a roof that big that high. All taller skyscrapers are narrower at the top; the U. S. Steel Tower is an acre on each floor and an acre on the roof. There is a good bit more office space in here than in the Empire State Building.

The architects were Harrison & Abramowitz, who also gave us the noticeably similar Westinghouse Building (now called 11 Stanwix) and the Alcoa Building (Regional Enterprise Tower for a while, but seems to be called something else now).

June 20, 2015
Clifford B. Connelley Trade School

Now the home of the Energy Innovation Center, this grand old school on the brow of the Hill taught useful skills to generations of students. The architect was Edward B. Lee, who was a favorite school designer around here.

June 20, 2015