Gateway Center seen from the Gateway subway station.
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Burning of the Union Depot in 1877
The Railroad Riots of 1877 destroyed millions of dollars in property in Pittsburgh, not least of which was the main Pennsylvania Railroad station. The railroad commissioned Daniel Burnham to design the new station, a masterpiece that is still with us today, but also a big fat raspberry to the rioters, telling them to their faces that the railroad only grew stronger in the face of their opposition. This print (which old Pa Pitt has cleaned up a bit) comes from a book called Pen and Pencil Sketches of the Great Riots, which is a history of all the famous urban riots in America up to 1882.
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Deer Tracks in the Snow
Late-afternoon sunshine highlights deer tracks through the snow in a little glen in Mount Lebanon.
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Mills by Night
This painting by H. A. Bailey was probably made in the 1940s or early 1950s. It has never been published before, so here is a rare privilege for old Pa Pitt’s readers.
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Pittsburgh Skyline a Century Ago
Old Pa Pitt does not have an exact date for this old postcard, but it appears to be from about 1915 or so, to judge by the buildings. In those days, Pittsburgh was one of the three great homes of the skyscraper, along with New York and Chicago.
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Grand Staircase, Carnegie Museum
The Grand Staircase is meant to be the main focal point of the museum, but the unsympathetic addition of the Scaife Galleries, with a new main entrance, makes the staircase something of a backwater. It’s still grand, however, even when overrun by the International. The murals are by John White Alexander.
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St. Paul’s Cathedral
St. Paul’s Cathedral, the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, in the Fifth Avenue monumental district. (The Oakland neighborhood has at least three cathedrals—Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Antiochian Orthodox—or four if you count the Cathedral of Learning.) A cathedral is the architectural equivalent of a coral reef; over the centuries, it accumulates a diverse ecosystem of art and history. St. Paul’s is only a little over a century old, but it’s beginning to show signs of the rich diversity that only time can bring.
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St. Paul
The statue of St. Paul (by Joseph Sibbel) over the main entrance to St. Paul’s Cathedral in Oakland. He is reading from, presumably, one of his own letters, and he casually holds the sword that beheaded him.
