Father Pitt – Page 360 – Why should the beautiful die?

Selling Brookline

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Brookline today is a pleasant city neighborhood whose central avenue, Brookline Boulevard, is the broadest commercial street in Pittsburgh–a fact that will greatly surprise visitors from other cities, where residential streets may well be broader than Brookline Boulevard. In 1905, it was mostly vacant lots, but this advertisement promises a glowing future that–for the most part–actually came to pass. The neighborhood will enjoy even greater advantages when it is taken into the city of Pittsburgh: “the vote has been taken, the matter is officially settled.” The acrimonious annexation of Allegheny was still very much up in the air at that point, and the public would need assurance that Brookline would not present similar difficulties.

June 9, 2008

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Floral Wallpaper

Rosa multiflora (it has no common name except “multiflora rose” and some nicknames too impolite to repeat here) is a noxious and invasive weed that can take over whole hillsides with its thick, rambling, thorny shoots. In June, it’s also one of our most beautiful flowers, covering itself with clusters of white roses and filling the air with rose perfume.

Here are two versions of a Rosa multiflora picture that will make a splendid desktop wallpaper for your computer. Nothing is more restful, or more conducive to productive work, than a view of green leaves and white flowers. Click to enlarge; right-click to download the full-size version.

The wide-screen version is for typical wide-screen screen resolutions of 1680 by 1050 or smaller.

The standard version is for screen resolutions of 1280 by 1024 or smaller.

June 6, 2008

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Back End of the Mexican War Streets

The Mexican War Streets are mostly flat, but at the back end they start to creep up the hill toward Perry Hilltop. This beautiful block of rowhouses is just about perfect: the street paved with Belgian block, the houses well taken care of but not ostentatiously overrestored, and filled with friendly neighbors.

Brick sidewalks have their own charm, and they become more charming as they age and grow more difficult to walk on.

May 7, 2008

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Spring Wildflowers of the Stream Valleys

Stream valleys with precipitous slopes—too precipitous even for Pittsburghers to build on—cut through the city and suburbs everywhere. In the spring, wild woodland flowers take advantage of the last few days before the leaves come out and the shade closes in. These flowers all grew within a few yards of each other in the Squaw Run valley.

Trillium grandiflorum, Large-Flowered Trillium

Mertensia virginica, Virginia Bluebells

Claytonia virginica, Spring Beauty

Phlox divaricata, Blue Phlox

Trillium erectum, Wake-Robin (white form)
[In an earlier version of this article, this was misidentified as Trillium cernuum.]

Tiarellia cordifolia, Foamflower

Viola pallens, Northern White Violet

Viola pennsylvanica, Smooth Yellow Violet

May 5, 2008

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Spring at Phipps

The Spring Flower Show at Phipps Conservatory had a whimsically classical theme: Praxiteles by way of Salvador Dali.

April 26, 2008

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Spring in West Park

The trees in the old arboretum are leafing out, the cherries and the violets are blooming, and the ducks in Lake Elizabeth are fat and happy.

April 26, 2008

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A Stroll through Allegheny Cemetery

A short stroll in the snow through an enchanted landscape filled with fantastic temples, angels, and cold beauties with warm hearts.

February 26, 2008

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I Love You, Lillian Russell

Lillian Russell may be the most celebrated beauty in the history of the United States.

Her fourth and last husband was a Pittsburgh newspaperman, which earned her a mausoleum in the Allegheny Cemetery. On Valentine’s Day, someone left glass pebbles spelling out “I love you” in front of the door.

February 20, 2008

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Dead, but Still Busy

Mr. O’Neill is possibly the only resident of the Allegheny Cemetery who is still working at a desk job post mortem. Eugene O’Neill is buried nearby, but not any Eugene O’Neill you know.

February 20, 2008

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Museum as Art

The Frick Art Museum in Point Breeze was built as a home for Helen Clay Frick’s art collection. It’s a small collection, but chosen with good taste–a Boucher here, a Reynolds there, and a roomful of priceless medieval religious art. The building itself is less than forty years old, but the timeless design could easily have been a Renaissance palace.

February 18, 2008

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