Father Pitt

Tag: Apartment Buildings

  • Walnut Apartments, Shadyside

    Walnut Apartments
    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.

  • Two Commercial Buildings in McKees Rocks

    908–914 Island Avenue

    In its prime, this Renaissance palace on Island Avenue had four storefronts on the ground floor and three floors of apartments above. The storefronts have also been turned into apartments, but in a cheap way that could probably be reversed when McKees Rocks is prosperous again. The building is still in pretty good shape, and the details are worth appreciating, for which reason we give you a very large picture above. Old Pa Pitt especially likes the round and oval windows in the stairwells.

    Perspective view
    907 Island Avenue

    Across the street is a smaller building whose storefronts have also been turned into apartments, but with even less alteration. The big display windows are still there. It’s easy to imagine the ground floor becoming trendy little shops again in that rosy future when Island Avenue is a busy commercial street once more.

  • Gateway Towers

    Gateway Towers

    Gateway Towers was designed by Emery Roth & Sons. It was built in 1964, which tells us that it was the & Sons who were responsible for it, since Emery Roth died in 1948.

    From a distance, this has never been one of old Pa Pitt’s favorite buildings to look at, although he is going to give it a fair chance by presenting multiple angles. Up close, however, it has a sharp classicism in its spare details that makes it much more attractive.

    Entrance

    Good landscaping helps a lot, and all of Gateway Center has very good landscaping. The modernist ideal of towers in a park was never better implemented, and it is because the park part of the scheme was not neglected.

    Gateway Towers
    Gateway Towers
    End of Gateway Towers
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS; Kodak EasyShare Z1285.

  • 900 South Negley Avenue, Shadyside

    900 South Negley Avenue

    Old Pa Pitt knows nothing about this apartment building, and it is probably not one of the masterpieces of modernism. But it was different enough from the ordinary brick boxes to be worth a couple of quick pictures with the phone camera. It was probably not worth the effort Father Pitt later put into adjusting the perspective of the picture above by slicing it down the corner and adjusting it on two planes, but the “violent perspective” (as photography critics used to call it) of the wide-angle lens on the phone offended him.

    Enlarge the picture and you can see that one of the corner apartments is infested with plastic coyotes.

    Negley Avenue side

    An abstract pattern of shaped glass blocks over the entrance creates interesting patterns of light inside.

  • Kentley House, Shadyside

    Kentley House

    Built in 1970, this apartment building was designed by Tasso Katselas, and to old Pa Pitt’s eye it is one of his most pleasing designs. The landscaping has matured to make the setting picturesque, and the materials of the building blend well with its setting. On a block of Kentucky Avenue that includes every kind of architecture, this building fits with every kind of architecture.

    Kentley House
    Kentley House
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

  • Berwyn, Delwood, Elmont Apartments, Shadyside

    Three apartment buildings in Shadyside

    Three apartment buildings on Holden Street at the corner of Summerlea Street. The Delwood has lost its cornice, but otherwise they look much the way they were drawn by Perry & Thomas, the prolific Chicago architects who gave us many apartment buildings in Shadyside and Squirrel Hill.

  • The President Apartments, Shadyside

    The President Apartments at night

    This phone-camera picture is soupy with noise reduction if you enlarge it, but it gives us a good idea of how the Flash Gordon glass-block window in the stairwell looks at night.

  • The Negley, Shadyside

    The Negley

    The Negley was probably built in about 1909; the architects were the firm of Janssen & Abbott. Some of the original details have vanished over the years, but Benno Janssen’s spare version of Georgian style still leaves an impression of dignity and elegance.

    The Negley
    Entrance
    Lunette
    Doorway frame

    An unusual choice: the doorway frames are cast iron.

    The Negley
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10; Samsung Galaxy A15 5G.

  • Two Apartment Building on Potomac Avenue, Dormont

    1697 Potomac Avenue
    1697 Potomac Avenue

    One of these two apartment buildings was almost certainly designed by architect Charles Geisler for the developer Oscar Larson, and old Pa Pitt is inclined to think that both of them are Geisler’s work. Charles Geisler lived nearby in Beechview, and Dormont and Mount Lebanon are peppered with buildings he designed. These fit his style—patterned brickwork and bracketed overhangs being two of his favorite tricks.

    The Statesman
    Entrance to the Statesman
    Samsung Galaxy A15 5G. These were the first pictures Father Pitt took to test the 50-megapixel phone camera, so they’re a little unsophisticated. But they’re big.

  • Washington Square, Mount Lebanon

    Washington Square

    Since we saw the Washington Square apartments from the Florida Avenue side a few days ago, it would almost be neglectful to leave out the Washington Road face of the complex. It makes an attempt to fit into an urban streetscape by setting the high-rise apartment tower back from the street, with a low row of shops or offices in front along the sidewalk.

    Bank in front of Washington Square

    In Father Pitt’s opinion, the attempt is not entirely successful. The modernist style of the shops is uninviting in the most unfortunate sense: it is hard to tell how one is supposed to get into them. Is the entrance in front, or do we drive into a parking lot between them and enter from the lot? But wait—the drive between the shops is an exit only. Can we find the entrance? Should we find the entrance?

    Washington Square apartments
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

    Because of the precipitous lot, the Washington Avenue side of the main building is shorter than the Florida Avenue side by several floors.