The giant Kaufmann’s department store grew in stages over decades. This part of it was designed by Charles Bickel, who decorated it with exceptionally fine terra-cotta ornaments.
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Squirrel Hill Methodist Protestant Church, Greenfield
H. Childs Hodgens was the architect of this church, which was built in 1911.1 It has not been M. P. for a good while; currently it is shared by the House of Prayer for All Slavic Christian Church and the Congregation Yeshua Ben David.
Kodak EasyShare Max Z990; Fujifilm FINEPIX HS20EXR. - Source: The Construction Record, September 30, 1911: “Foundations are in for the $15,000 brick and stone church, to be erected on William Pitt Boulevard and Lilac street, Squirrel Hill, for the Squirrel Hill Methodist Protestant Congregation, from plans drawn by Architect H. C. Hodgens, Vandergrift building.” William Pitt Boulevard is now Beechwood Boulevard. ↩︎
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Sholten Arms, Carrick
Father Pitt has not been able to find the architect of this fairy-tale palace, but it is in good shape. It was built for Frank Sholten, a local newsdealer who apparently wanted to expand into the landlording business, in 1928, and a Sun-Telly photographer captured the building still under construction.
“Carrick Fourth Ward in Home Building,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, May 27, 1928, part 4, p. 12. The building has a near-twin in West Homestead, and some lucky day Father Pitt or one of his correspondents will find the name of the artist behind both of them. Meanwhile, we can appreciate the details, bathed in golden late-afternoon sun.
Kodak EasyShare Max Z990.
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Janssen & Abbott in Brookline
Benno Janssen was one of the titans of Pittsburgh architecture, but even titans take on small projects once in a while. This is a fairly ordinary house on an ordinary street in Brookline, but it was designed by the firm of Janssen & Abbott.1 In spite of revisions that have changed some of the original character, it seems to retain some of the elegant simplicity of Janssen, who never wasted a line.
The front door is set back on the side of the house, which allows a broad front living room opening out on the porch, without dropping visitors right into the living room when they arrive—a clever way of making a narrow lot seem less restrictive.
Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.
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Art Deco Urn at the Beechwood School, Beechview
Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR. Press C. Dowler was the architect of the school, and may have designed the urns as well.
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Ornamental Bronze on the Frick Building
Kodak Easyshare Z990. Ornamental patterns, including a fine Vitruvian scroll (the wave pattern in the middle), over the Fifth Avenue entrance to the Frick Building.
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Italianate Double House in Manchester
Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR (a stack of three different exposures). A pair of houses probably built in the 1860s or 1870s, according to old maps, with an addition in the rear in the 1880s.
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Second Empire Storefront on Warrington Avenue, Allentown
The Alla Famiglia restaurant was one of the pioneers in the ongoing revitalization of Allentown, and its owners have spiffed up this building beautifully. They have also expanded into the old movie theater next door.
Nikon COOLPIX P100.
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Kaufmann’s Clock
First put up in 1913 (replacing a clock on a post that had stood here earlier), the Kaufmann’s clock is one of the famous sights of Pittsburgh. It keeps time, too.
Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.
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Nodding Foxtail
Setaria faberi is an aggressively weedy but beautiful Asian grass found in vacant lots, on roadsides, and at the edges of parking lots everywhere.
Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.
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