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.
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.
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.
Webster Hall, built in 1926, was designed by Henry Hornbostel to be the grandest apartment block in the city of Pittsburgh. It still holds a prominent place in the Oakland monumental district, where Hornbostel contributed more buildings than any other architect.
The Winter Flower Show has always involved lights, but this year Phipps pulled out all the stops—especially in the outdoor garden, where glowing shapes constantly change colors.
With warm temperatures and steady rains, streams are rushing and brooks are babbling.
Downtown skyscrapers viewed from St. Michael’s Cemetery on the South Side Slopes. This picture is only as metaphorical as you want it to be.
St. Michael’s cemetery occupies a large patch of precipitous ground on the South Side Slopes. The views from here are breathtaking and sometimes a little terrifying. Here we see Oakland in the distance across the Monongahela, with a few rows of typical Slopes frame houses in the middle distance.
