Since PNC bought the Skinny Building, arguably the world’s narrowest commercial building, it has been shrouded and under renovation. The shrouds are off now, and we can see the results.
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St. Stanislaus Kostka Church and Rectory, Strip District
Utility cables? What utility cables? This beautiful Romanesque church was built ad majorem Dei gloriam (“to the greater glory of God”) in 1891. The architect was Frederick Sauer, who gave us many distinguished churches, as well as comfortable houses, practical commercial buildings, and the whimsical Sauer Buildings built with his own hands in his back yard. This is the mother church for Polish Catholics in Pittsburgh, and it has one of the most spectacular sites for a church in the city, sitting at the end of the long broad plaza of Smallman Street along the Pennsylvania Railroad produce terminal.
The rectory is also a remarkable building, and still manages to convey much of its original impression in spite of the unfortunate glass-block infestation.
Fujifilm FinePix HS10. -
A Last Look at the Condemned Row on Market Street
Appeals having been exhausted, this row of buildings on Market Street at First Avenue is scheduled to be demolished soon. They are not works of extraordinary architectural merit, but it will be a small urban tragedy to lose them. This block of Market Street was one of the few streets left downtown with human-sized old buildings on both sides of the street. This was the Pittsburgh of the Civil War era, not only before skyscrapers but also before the grand six-storey commercial palaces that came before skyscrapers.
The old Lowman-Shields Rubber Building is also condemned, having sat derelict for two decades or more. This Rundbogenstil warehouse is in very close to its original state externally, including the ghosts of old painted signs on the ground floor, probably dating from before the Lowman-Shields Rubber Company owned the building.
Canon PowerShot SX150 IS. “Folding Paper Boxes,” “Paper,” “Cordage,” “Laundry Supplies.”
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A Stroll on Parkway Drive in Mission Hills
As Father Pitt has remarked more than once, the variety and quality of designs in the Mount Lebanon plans like Mission Hills are constantly delightful. Here is a short stroll down Parkway Drive in Mission Hills.
This one, unusually for the neighborhood, has had paste-on shutters applied to add sophistication to the home. Our friend Dr. Boli wrote an essay about those that generated some interesting responses from his correspondents.
Here is one that has real shutters, with hinges and everything.
Old Pa Pitt is always pleased when an architect understands that a house is a three-dimensional object, not just a façade with a box behind it, and gives it rewardingly different appearances from different angles.
And, finally, here is a bit of good news for the neighborhood and the metropolis:
This new house is replacing a house that vanished a few years ago (for reasons unknown to Father Pitt, who does not always keep up with the news, and perhaps a neighbor can inform us). It has reached the stage where we can judge the design, and it is a good one. Individually it may never be Father Pitt’s favorite house, but as a citizen of the neighborhood it gets everything right. It is of similar height and size to its neighbors, and it honors the historic styles around it—look at those three-over-one Craftsman-style windows—while still being distinctly its own 21st-century self, just as all the other houses in Mission Hills are distinct and original. This is a demonstration of how new buildings can be added to historic neighborhoods.
Cameras: Nikon COOLPIX P100; Sony Alpha 3000 with a 7Artisans 35mm f/1.4 lens.
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Standard Life Building
Built in 1903, this early skyscraper was designed by Alden & Harlow, who festooned it with terra cotta.
Canon PowerShot SX150 IS. -
Klee Row, Allegheny West
A row of identical houses put up in 1884 for Joseph Klee, a successful manufacturer of shoes and one of the founders of the Rodef Shalom congregation. The word “Klee” means “clover” in German, so, of course…
…all the dormers have clover ornaments.
Note the basement-level breezeway between houses, which is very unusual in Pittsburgh.
Fujifilm FinePix HS10. -
First Avenue Station
The distinctive sweeping roofline and steel columns of the First Avenue subway station, with the Try Street Terminal in the background. Below, an inbound rush-hour train of two 4200-series Siemens cars stops at the station.
Canon PowerShot SX150 IS. -
Vertical Lines
A slice of the skyline, featuring (left to right) the U. S. Steel Tower, One Mellon Center, the Allegheny County Courthouse, and the City-County Building.
