Father Pitt

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Old Church Turned into Alley Houses, South Side

Update: For the history of the church, see “The Mystery of the Converted Church on the South Side.”

Father Pitt knows nothing of the history of this building at 23rd Street and Larkins Way other than what is written in the bricks. It appears to be an old church, probably dating from the earliest development of East Birmingham, that was later converted into four tiny houses facing Larkins Way. To judge by the style, the conversion is not recent. And that is about as much as Father Pitt can read in the bricks, so any more information or corrections would be much appreciated.

Camera: Canon PowerShot S45.

June 23, 2015
Uptown Mount Lebanon

The whole of Uptown, the central business district of Mount Lebanon, was included last year in a new Mount Lebanon Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. The district was designated as an outstanding example of an early automobile suburb of the 1920s, but the automobile was only half the story. Until the middle 1980s, streetcars ran down the middle of Washington Road; now they run under part of Mount Lebanon in a subway tunnel, emerging behind the business district with stairway and elevator access to the middle of everything. The ideal automobile suburb is one in which an automobile is not a necessity.

Camera: Canon PowerShot S45. The streetscape above and the picture of the Rosalia building are composites.

June 23, 2015
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