Father Pitt

Would you like to see a random article?
Of course you would.

Schiller Glocke Gesang und Turn Verein, South Side

Another picture of this building, this time a composite made from four separate photographs. There is no reason not to repeat what Father Pitt wrote the last time he mentioned the Schiller Glocke Gesang und Turn Verein:

On the whole, the South Side Flats were East European and the Slopes were German. But a large neighborhood like the Flats has room for diverse microneighborhoods, and we find this “Schiller’s Bell Singing and Athletic Society” on Jane Street. The building is now turned to other uses, but the inscription remains. Pittsburgh and Allegheny used to be full of German singing societies; the Teutonia Männerchor in Dutchtown is the most prominent remnant.

June 15, 2015
Riding the Subway

The unusually deserted interior of a 4200-series trolley (number 4239 in this case) as it runs in the subway between Steel Plaza and Wood Street. The 4200 cars are Siemens SD-400 LRVs built in the 1980s and rebuilt a few years ago; they are almost identical inside to the newer 4300 series, built by CAF.

Camera: Canon PowerShot S45.

June 14, 2015
Mushrooms

In spite of the difference in color, these two very decorative mushrooms appear to be the same species; they were both growing in the same shaded lawn in Mount Lebanon in the middle of June. They are almost certainly a species of Russula, and perhaps Russula emetica; but Father Pitt is not at all sure that the exact species can be identified from a photograph. Any mushroom expert is invited to correct his identification.

Camera: Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3.

4 responses

June 14, 2015
Try Street Terminal Building

Built in 1921 for the Keystone Grocery and Tea Company, a grocery chain that did not live a long life (Father Pitt has not been able to find any reference to it after 1927), this is now Shannon Hall, student housing for the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. It is a fine example of how a utilitarian building can be made, if not beautiful, at least not ugly, by well-worked-out proportions and a tasteful choice of materials.

One response

June 14, 2015
Two Gateway Center and the Three Rivers Arts Festival

“Towers in a Park” was the ideal urban paradise of the International Style architects. It seldom worked well, and Father Pitt will tell you why: because the architects concentrated on the towers, and neglected the park. Gateway Center is one of the few really successful towers-in-a-park developments, and it is successful because the park is so attractive—benches everywhere, beautiful landscaping, and (of course) the vendors’ tents of the Three Rivers Arts Festival every June.

June 13, 2015
Pittsburgh Mercantile Company Building, South Side

Composite of six photos from the Canon PowerShot S45.

This was a store where you could buy everything, from groceries to clothes to furniture. It was most definitely not the company store for the J&L steel mill nearby, because of course such company stores were illegal in Pennsylvania. Coincidentally, however, the corporation’s list of directors was exactly the same as the list of directors of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, and the store accepted the scrip in which the workers were paid, which could be used nowhere else.

Camera, all detail photos: Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3.

The building was as magnificent as some of the downtown department stores; and, after serving as the local headquarters of Goodwill Industries for three and a half decades, it is now beautifully restored as very expensive luxury apartments under the name “The Brix at 26.”

June 13, 2015
A Railing in Heinz Hall

Camera: Kodak EasyShare Z1485 IS.

June 13, 2015
Ebony Jewelwing

Father Pitt is not an entomologist. He believes this damselfly to be a female Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata): note the spot on the upper end of the wing. But any entomologist or informed damselfly fan is invited to correct his identification—and to answer a question: do the red eyes indicate a young specimen?

Camera: Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3.

June 10, 2015
Oakland

A panoramic view of the Oakland medical-intellectual complex, as seen from Schenley Park just after sunset.

June 10, 2015
Wood Street Subway Station and Wood Street Galleries
This building now houses the Wood Street station on the ground floor (and below, of course) and the Wood Street Galleries, a free museum of installation art, on the upper floors. It was put up for the Monongahela National Bank, and the architect was Edward Stotz, who also gave us Schenley High School—another triangular classical building. It makes one wonder whether Mr. Stotz printed “Specialist in Triangles” on his business cards.

The elevator towers at the corners are later additions. They make a mess of the carefully worked out proportions of the building—Father Pitt thinks they make the whole structure look a bit like a fat rabbit—but at least they are done with similar materials.
```
Camera: Kodak EasyShare Z1485 IS.
```
June 10, 2015