Father Pitt

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House from the 1880s in McKees Rocks

Kodak EasyShare Z1285.

In the 1880s, the old Lorenz Hufnagle property was sold off in lots and built over with little frame houses like this.

1890 Hopkins plat map with this house circled. Frame houses are yellow on these maps; brick houses are red.

Later, when Island Avenue became a commercial district, the little frame houses were replaced by storefronts and apartment buildings—except this one, which survived almost unaltered. At some point it was sheathed in diamond asbestos-cement shingles, which are nearly perfectly preserved. It would probably cost a fortune to remove them because of the asbestos, but in this stable state they pose no danger.

September 27, 2024
The City of a Dream

Fujifilm FinePix HS10, with an imitation Tri-X Pan filter applied.

As some vast heart that high in health
   Beats in its mighty breast,
So, to and fro, thy living wealth
   Throbs through the boundless West.
Thy keels the broad Ohio plow,
   Or seek the Atlantic main;
Thy fabrics find the Arctic snow,
   Or reach Zahara’s plain!

Toil on, huge Cyclop as thou art,
   Though grimed with dust and smoke,
And breathing with convulsive start—
   There’s music in each stroke!
What if the stranger smirch and soil
   Upon thy forehead sees?
Better the wealth of honest toil
   Than of ignoble ease!

And yet thou’rt beautiful—a queen
   Throned on her royal seat!
All glorious in emerald sheen,
   Where thy fair waters meet.
And when the night comes softly down,
   And the moon lights the stream,
In the mild ray appears the town,
   The city of a dream!

——“Pittsburgh” by E. M. Sidney in Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art, Vol. XXX (1847), p. 249.

September 26, 2024
Auditorium Entrance, Andrew W. Mellon Middle School, Mount Lebanon

The National Forum warns us that we have to keep an eye on this school. All the schools of its era in Mount Lebanon were designed by Ingham & Boyd, or by Ingham, Boyd & Pratt once Pratt became a partner. This one comes from the era when they were adapting Art Deco elements to their usual ruthlessly symmetrical classicism, and the result shows some similarity to the same firm’s Buhl Planetarium. It has not changed much since it was built, except that, when the name was changed from “Junior High School” to “Middle School,” the inscription was clumsily applied with no spacing between the letters. That bugs old Pa Pitt, but he is not going to get up on a ladder and fix it himself.

Father Pitt does not know the sculptor of these two medallions, but he has a pretty good guess. Compare them to the reliefs by Sidney Waugh on Buhl Planetarium: The Heavens and The Earth and Primitive Science and Modern Science. It seems likely that the same architects hired the same sculptor for these reliefs.

Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

The marquee is festooned with unexpectedly colorful Art Deco swags.

September 26, 2024
Fancy Bricks in Stowe Township

In spite of considerable alteration, much of what makes this building on McCoy Road distinctive has been preserved. Most noticeable, of course, is the patterned brickwork that reminds old Pa Pitt of some buildings known to have been designed by Charles Geisler, prolific architect of small and medium-sized apartment and commercial buildings. He was also fond of this style of roof, which would originally have been covered with tile. And Father Pitt thinks the slightly clashing juxtaposition of a round arch in the middle with extremely broad Jacobean arches is also very Geislerian.

Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

The building was originally a store with two apartments above; the store has been filled in with Permastone (or the equivalent) and made into a third apartment.

September 25, 2024
Walnut Apartments, Shadyside

Samsung Galaxy A15 5G.

A complex grouping of windows and a variety of textures make this building more interesting than many. It has probably changed over time. The overhangs would originally have had tile rather than asphalt shingles. The sunrooms under them were probably balconies. The central stairwell windows probably had art glass in them.

Instead of one central entrance, the building has three entrances, and it appears to have been divided that way for a long time if not originally. It is possible that the ground floor was originally storefronts, which could have created a complex arrangement of entrances when the storefronts were adapted as apartments.

September 25, 2024
Adapting to a Vertical Lot

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6.

In other cities, this lot would be unbuildable. In Pittsburgh, we just have to make some adaptations. The house (now divided into three units) has a garage around the back on the left side (where you can’t see it in this picture). Suppose you were on the ground floor, meaning the floor that is level with the street in front, and you decided to go down to your car in the garage. You would have to go down into the basement. Then you would have to go down into the other basement. Then you would have to go down into the other other basement, where the garage is. Then you would have to back your car down the steep slope from the garage to the street. Altogether, there are six levels to this house in back, though only three in front. Gaining three storeys from front to back is unusual for a house in most places; in Pittsburgh, it’s just the way we deal with the topography God gave us.

September 24, 2024
Looking Up at the Horne’s Building

Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

The decorated cornice of the Horne’s building gleams in late-afternoon sun.

Kodak EasyShare Z1285.

September 24, 2024
The Roxian, McKees Rocks

Composite of three photographs from the Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

One of the most cheering indicators of new vitality in McKees Rocks is the Roxian, beautifully restored and adapted as a concert venue. Its glorious terra-cotta façade looks as fresh as when the building was put up.

Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

September 23, 2024
Variations on the Pittsburgh Foursquare in Beechview

Some variants on the Pittsburgh Foursquare from one block in Beechview. They all have the same basic layout of reception hall, parlor, dining room, and kitchen on the ground floor; three or four bedrooms and bathroom on the second floor; and two or more rooms on the third floor. Above, a fairly late version, probably from the 1920s. The lines are simpler and the roof is shallower.

Here is a well-preserved larger version with its original slate roof and multiple dormers. Note the arched window in the dormer. The bay on the left side of the house, which goes up from the dining room into the master bedroom, is very common in Pittsburgh Foursquares of the early 1900s. It allows cross-ventilation and ample light into those rooms in spite of the narrowness of the gap between houses.

This variant without the pyramid roof creates more room in the third floor.

A very large example of the Pittsburgh Foursquare, but the layout of rooms is more or less the same; they are just bigger rooms.

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6.

Finally, a much-renovated house with a gambrel roof, which probably has more room on the third floor in proportion to its size than any of the others.

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September 23, 2024
Carnegie Science Center

Tasso Katselas designed the Carnegie Science Center, which is being renamed for the Kamins after a huge donation. The picture above is combined from two separate photographs.

Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

September 23, 2024