Father Pitt

Tag: Arrott Building

  • A Fourth Avenue Safari

    Lion in front of the Dollar Bank

    The other day old Pa Pitt went lion-hunting on Fourth Avenue. It’s a good game to play with children or out-of-town visitors: walk down Fourth Avenue and see how many lions you can count. They’ll have fun noticing the wide variety of carved lions, but they’ll also be noticing details of the architecture around them, which can start interesting conversations. We begin with the famous Dollar Bank lions—actually painstakingly accurate hand-carved duplicates of the originals, which were the work of Max Kohler. The originals were moved inside the bank, where they will be protected from weather and accidents.

    Lion in front of the Dollar Bank
    Lion in front of the Dollar Bank
    Lion on the Colonial Trust Company building

    These lions decorate the Fourth Avenue front of the Colonial Trust Company building, now part of Point Park University.

    Lion on the Colonial Trust Company building
    A lion on the front of the Keystone Bank Building

    A lion on the front of the Keystone Bank Building.

    Lion on the Peoples Savings Bank Building

    Very Romanesque lions on the Peoples Savings Bank Building.

    Lion on the Peoples Savings Bank Building
    Lion on the Peoples Savings Bank Building

    Now, when we come to the Arrott Building, we have to suspend the game, because…

    Lion on the Arrott Building
    Lions on the Arrott Building
    Lions on the Arrott Building

    …there are, by Father Pitt’s estimate, more than 200 lions on the Arrott Building.

    Lions on the Arrott Building
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS; Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.
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  • The Arrott Building Reflected

    Reflection of the Arrott Building

    The wonderfully elaborate top of the Arrott Building reflected in the Patterson Building.

  • The Arrott Building Reborn

    Arrott Building

    After much expensive restoration and renovation, the Arrott Building (designed by Frederick Osterling) has reopened as a hotel called “The Industrialist.” The exquisite lobby has been carefully preserved. The picture above is huge, stitched together from several photographs to make what may be the only complete head-on picture of the Wood Street façade of the building on the internet.

    Entrance to the Arrott Building

  • Lobby of the Arrott Building

    The small but richly gorgeous lobby of the Arrott Building as it appeared in 2013, before the current renovations.

  • Arrott Building from Wood Street

    The Arrott Building, still under renovation, looms over the shops of Wood Street on a grey but busy December morning.