Father Pitt

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Entrance to the Frick Building

The Frick Building was designed by Daniel Burnham to convey one message, and with its austere classical dignity it succeeds perfectly. The message was “Henry Frick is more important than Andrew Carnegie.” The Frick Building dwarfed the Carnegie Building next door, which had once been the tallest in the city; by the time Frick had surrounded Carnegie’s building with taller buildings, the Carnegie Building was no longer an attractive place to be, and it was demolished to make way for the Kaufmann’s annex.

December 2, 2019
Union National Bank Building

The architects, MacClure and Spahr, gave this classical tower an unusual rounded corner, and drew attention to the main entrance by placing it in that corner.

November 29, 2019
Christmas at PPG Place

In old-postcard colors, the Christmas tree and skating rink at PPG Place.

November 26, 2019
Frost Grapes

These are the grape vines that take over whole lots and smother large trees. When they get to tree-smothering size, they produce thousands of these little grapes, which are intensely flavorful and quite tart. They sweeten a bit after a frost. The grapes hang on into the winter; these were hanging on a huge vine in Beechview in late November.

November 25, 2019
Base of the Tower at PNC Plaza

The base of earth’s greenest skyscraper, as it called itself when it was going up, is all shiny curves and lights and reflections.

November 23, 2019
Carved Brackets

Carved brackets over the front door of a Victorian rowhouse on the South Side.

November 23, 2019
First Presbyterian Church

First Presbyterian was designed by the Philadelphia architect Theophilus P. Chandler, whose name makes him sound like the obstructive villain in a Marx Brothers farce. Above we see it from across Trinity Churchyard, with the last leaves of autumn still clinging to an oak tree in front of Trinity Cathedral. Below, details of the Gothic decoration.

Not many churches are confident enough of the permanence of their service times to have them literally set in stone.

November 21, 2019
Spire of Trinity Cathedral

The spire of Trinity Cathedral, with the Oliver Building in the background and the pinnacles of First Presbyterian Church in front and to the right.

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November 21, 2019
Kerr Monument, Trinity Churchyard

Hidden on the left side of the cathedral is a narrow arm of the churchyard with a few old monuments, with the massive bulk of the Oliver Building towering over them. Most people who visit Trinity Churchyard never find their way to this side of it, but it’s worth a few moments of contemplation.

November 19, 2019
Victory Building

The Victory Building, at Liberty Avenue and 9th Street, is a small skyscraper designed by Andrew Carnegie’s favorite architects, Alden and Harlow. It’s only eleven storeys tall, but it follows the classic base-shaft-cap pattern of the Beaux-Arts skyscraper style in America.

November 18, 2019