Father Pitt

Tag: Allegheny Center

  • Stone Maidens, Allegheny Center and Mount Washington

    Stone Maidens

    When the new Post Office and Federal Building was designed in 1889 (it opened in 1892), the sculptor Eugenio Pedon, who had the franchise for decorating federal buildings, contributed two identical groups of allegorical statues to go over the entrances: Navigation, Enlightenment, and Industry. When the building came down in 1966, the groups were rescued and split up. One set of Navigation and Enlightenment ended up here at Allegheny Center, where they’re known as the Stone Maidens.

    Old Post Office

    The old Post Office and Federal Building. If you enlarge the picture, you can see the Pedon statues above the entrance at the fourth-floor level.

    Navigation

    Navigation. If the faces and bodies seem disproportionately elongated, remember that we are meant to be looking up at them from far down in the street; the sculptor adjusted his perspective accordingly.

    Enlightenment

    Enlightenment. The twin statue of Enlightenment ended up at the corner of a Rite Aid parking lot on Mount Washington. Below we see her trying to hold back the clouds of darkness, which goes as well for her as it always does.

    Enlightenment minus an arm
    Enlightenment on Mount Washington
    Kodak EasyShare Z981; Nikon COOLPIX P100.

    One of the statues of Industry ended up at Station Square, and old Pa Pitt will try to remember to get her picture soon and complete the set.

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  • Some Details of the Old Presbyterian Hospital, North Side

    Date stone with date MCMVI

    A few months ago Father Pitt published a view of the front of the old Presbyterian Hospital on the North Side, which is where Presby lived before it moved to Oakland to become the nucleus of the medical-industrial complex there. Since he was walking by the building again the other day, old Pa Pitt thought he would add a few more details.

    Presbyterian Hospital
    Taken in January, 2025, with a Kodak EasyShare Z1285.

    After Presby moved out, this site was used as Divine Providence Hospital for many years. The last we heard, the building was mostly vacant, but was being considered for conversion to “affordable” apartments.

    Entrance
    Entrance

    We can just make out the ghosts of letters spelling out “DIVINE PROVIDENCE HOSPITAL.”

    Window with tree

    If we cannot find a use for a building, Mother Nature will.

    Window
    Nikon COOLPIX P100.
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  • Allegheny High School

    Allegheny High School

    Allegheny High School, now the Allegheny Traditional Academy, has a complicated architectural history involving two notable architects at three very different times.

    Original Allegheny High School from 1893
    From Art work of Pittsburgh, part 3 (Chicago: W. H. Parish, 1893), with thanks to “Camerafiend” for making the picture available.

    The original 1893 Allegheny High School on this site was designed by Frederick Osterling in his most florid Richardsonian Romanesque manner. This building no longer exists, but the photograph above gives us a good notion of the impression it made. The huge entrance arch is particularly striking, and particularly Osterling; compare it with the Third Avenue entrance of the Times Building, also by Osterling.

    Allegheny High School Annex

    In 1904, the school needed a major addition. Again Osterling was called on, but by this time Richardsonian Romanesque had passed out of fashion, and Osterling’s own tastes had changed. The Allegheny High School Annex still stands, and Osterling pulled off a remarkable feat: he made a building in modified Georgian style that matched current classical tastes while still being a good fit with, and echoing the lines of, the original Romanesque school.

    Entrance
    Ornament

    The carved ornaments on the original school were executed by Achille Giammartini, and we would guess that he was brought back for the work on the Annex as well.

    War memorial

    A war memorial on the front of the Annex. Twenty-two names are inscribed. Everyone who went to Allegheny High in those years knew someone who was killed in the Great War.

    Allegheny High School Annex
    Allegheny High School Annex
    Side of the Annex
    1936 Allegheny High School

    By the 1930s, the school was too small again. The original school was torn down, and Marion Steen, house architect for Pittsburgh Public Schools (and son of the Pittsburgh titan James T. Steen) designed a new Art Deco palace nothing like the remaining Annex. The two buildings do not clash, however, because there are very few vantage points from which we can see both at once.

    Allegheny High School
    Inscription: AHS 1936
    Grilles and reliefs
    Wave pattern
    Decorative grilles
    Relief
    Auditorium exit

    The auditorium has three exits, each one with one of the three traditional masks of Greek drama above it: Comedy, Meh, and Tragedy.

    Comedy
    Meh
    Tragedy
    The pictures of the masks were taken in 2014 with a Kodak EasyShare Z1485.
    Auditorium Exit
    Nikon COOLPIX P100.
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  • Presbyterian Hospital, Allegheny Center

    Presbyterian Hospital

    Built in 1906, this was the main building of Presbyterian Hospital until it moved to vastly larger facilities in Oakland in the 1930s. The building was later part of Providence Hospital, and now is used for offices.

    Presbyterian Hospital
    Kodak EasyShare Z1285.
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  • Sunset Reflected in Allegheny Center