Sometimes a camera’s flaws can be used to some advantage. An old and slightly foggy lens on a cheap Agfa folding camera gives the proper air of mystery to these scenes from the Allegheny Cemetery.
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Snow at Chatham Village
Chatham Village is a 1930s utopian community on the back slopes of Mount Washington. Though it was built to be housing for everyman, the simple good taste of the architecture and the beauty of the rolling grounds have made it more valuable than the surrounding neighborhood.
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Exuberantly Gothic
Calvary Methodist Church in Allegheny West is famous for its Tiffany windows, some of the greatest works of the Tiffany studios. Even if it didn’t have those windows, though, it might still be famous for this doorway.
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Your Money Is Safe
The Dollar Bank has never been the biggest or richest bank in the city, but the lions that flank the entrance certainly inspire confidence.
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Falling Up
Looking up into the rotunda of the Union Trust Building gives one the uncanny sensation of falling up into the vortex.
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Night and Day
It is the civic duty of every Pittsburgher who entertains out-of-town visitors to take them up to Mount Washington and show off the skyline. These two pictures were taken a few years ago, but the overall impression changes little.
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Sunset or Sunrise?
Stained glass from a mausoleum in Allegheny Cemetery. Is it a sunset or a sunrise? That depends, perhaps, on what we think of death.
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Curves and Angles
The dome of the Allegheny Observatory, Observatory Hill, painted gold by the declining sun.
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Egyptian Fantasy
The Winter mausoleum in Allegheny Cemetery is an Egyptian-revival fantasy. The bronze doors show Mr. Winter himself as a pharaoh embarking on his journey through the underworld.
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Downtown from West Park
The skyline of downtown Pittsburgh seen from West Park. The bare branches, jagged buildings, and high contrast of a cloudy winter day make the picture, taken with an old and slightly leaky folding camera, look like a steel engraving.