Weekend crowds throng Point Park in the early-evening sun. Taken with a Kodak Retinette, whose tidy German precision, with a Schneider-Kreuznach lens and Compur-Rapid shutter, makes it a pleasure to take on a walk in the city.
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Looking Up at the PPG Tower
Looking up at Philip Johnson’s PPG Tower, the centerpiece of PPG Place and the de-facto symbol of downtown Pittsburgh, from the Diamond.
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The Diamond
This little corner of the Diamond (the Diamond is called “Market Square” on maps) looks like the Pittsburgh of olden times, before steel-cage construction made skyscrapers sprout everywhere. Taking away the neon and the road signs, it could be a Victorian engraving. Father Pitt begs your forgiveness for the cheap lens on this digital camera, which makes straight lines impossible. (Update: With better software, we have been able to eliminate most of the distortion. For comparison, the original image is reproduced below.)
The Diamond is a block up Forbes Avenue from the Gateway Center subway station.
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Fifth Avenue Place from the Diamond
Fifth Avenue Place looms over the Diamond (which is spelled “Market Square,” but pronounced “Diamond”). At night, the needle at the top is illuminated from below, so it looks as if the building is about to emit a space probe.
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Pigeons
Downtown Pittsburgh can be as crowded for pigeons as it is for people. This tree bears its strange avian fruit in Mellon Square.
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Ornamental Ironwork on the William Penn
An ornate iron grille on the side of the William Penn Hotel. Even in the most prosaic things, beauty and function can get along happily together. —An update: The architect of the William Penn was Benno Jassen, whose favorite ironwork artist was Samuel Yellin. Although old Pa Pitt has not been able to find any reference to the artist who made them, he believes that these grilles are probably Yellin’s work.
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Rare Surviving Victorian Lettering
The demolition of a building on Forbes Avenue downtown laid bare not only a splendid canvas for some rather unimaginative graffiti, but also half of a painted sign for a Victorian cafe that once occupied this spot. The part that survives is in an extraordinary state of preservation, so we can appreciate the rakish backslant of the bold but ornate letters that spell out “–mmel’s Cafe.”
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Artist’s Market
The Three Rivers Arts Festival opened yesterday. Here we see the artist’s market behind the fountain at Gateway Center.
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Frick Park Gatehouse
In the early evening, the Frick Park gatehouse at Reynolds Street and Homewood Avenue seems like the portal to an enchanted forest.
