A dragonfly rests on a wooden step. A moment after this picture, it took off hunting again.
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Lowrie Street, Troy Hill
The narrow streets of Troy Hill are lined with rows of little houses with every kind of siding in every color, and unexpected views of the downtown skyline pop up here and there. This is the section of Lowrie Street across from the Voegtly Cemetery. Since the neighborhood changes so little over time, Father Pitt thought it might be fun to fiddle with the colors a little to make this picture look like an old Anscochrome slide.
It is a measure of the comprehensiveness of the Internet that old Pa Pitt is not actually the only human being on the Web who remembers Anscochrome.
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St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Highland Park
Completed in 1909, this typical Gothic church was designed by Philadelphia architects Carpenter & Crocker, who also designed Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Homewood and at least one of the Fifth Avenue mansions in Shadyside.
Camera: Kodak EasyShare Z1485 IS. The composite picture above is about 25 megapixels if you click on it.
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Solof Building, South Side
Solof’s was a furniture dealer, and there is nothing particularly impressive about this building except that the exterior has hardly changed at all since the building was new. It gives us a very good picture of the commercial South Side of the early twentieth century.
Addendum: The architect was W. A. Thomas; the building was constructed in about 1917.
Camera: Canon PowerShot A590 (hacked). The picture below is a fairly large composite.
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Victoria Lilies Are Back at Phipps
Problems with pumping equipment, according to Phipps staff, have kept the famous Victoria Lilies out of the Victoria Room for years. But now they are back and in full bloom.
Cameras: Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3 and Canon PowerShot A590 (hacked).
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Caterpillars
Two caterpillars share a blade of grass. Father Pitt does not know what kind of moth or butterfly they will grow into, but as caterpillars they have a particularly tasteful black-and-white design.
Camera: Canon PowerShot A590 (hacked).
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Dormont Presbyterian Church
In 2013 the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists in Dormont all threw in the towel, though the borough itself seems no less prosperous than usual. The Presbyterians sold this fine 1927 building to North Way Christian Community, a chain-store megachurch, which has spent a good bit of money keeping it up.
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Clouded Sulphur on a Purple Coneflower
Another butterfly (this one Colias philodice) on a Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). The Clouded Sulphur seems to be nothing but a plain yellow butterfly as it flutters past, but a close examination reveals bright pink antennae and a pink rim around the wings.
Camera: Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3.
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Silvery Checkerspot on Purple Coneflower
The flower (Echinacea purpurea) looks a bit bedraggled, but the butterfly (Chlosyne nycteis) is in fine shape.
Camera: Canon PowerShot A590 (hacked).
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First Presbyterian Church, Jeannette
First Presbyterian Church in Jeannette is a substantial classical building with a prominent dome, one of the distinctive features of the Jeannette skyline. Domes are very unusual on Presbyterian churches around here: at the moment, Father Pitt cannot think of another one.
A Historic American Buildings Survey picture from some time ago (possibly early 1990s? Note the front of the car in the far right) shows the church in pretty much the same state.
Addendum: Father Pitt suspects this is a design by Fulton & Butler of Uniontown, prolific suppliers of big buildings to small cities. J. C. Fulton loved domes, and whenever we see a big dome in a town this size, we should suspect him.
Update: Old Pa Pitt’s instinct was right, except that this church was designed before Butler became a partner in the firm. From the Construction Record, December 10, 1910: “Jeannette, Pa. — Plans will soon be started by Architect J. C. Fulton, Main street, Uniontown, Pa., for a brick church building, for the First Presbyterian Congregation, to cost $25,000. The contract will be awarded about the middle of February.”
