Tag: Art Deco

  • Church of the Assumption, Bellevue

    Camera: Samsung Digimax V4.

    This splendid church was designed by Bellevue’s own Leo A. McMullen, an architect and organist who is almost forgotten today, but whose works were highly regarded in his time. The American Institute of Architects counted him as one of “six architects who shaped Pittsburgh,” according to his obituary in 1963.

    The four evangelists—Mark, Matthew, John, and Luke, in that order—are lined up on the façade, each holding open a book that displays the first words of his Gospel.

    Church of the Assumption
    Camera: Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3.

    See the whole collection of the Church of the Assumption.

  • Art Deco Outbreak on Carson Street

    This Victorian storefront was given a strange Art Deco makeover at some point in the twentieth century. The makeover extended only halfway up, so the original Victorian style is perfectly preserved on the top two floors. East Carson Street on the South Side is one of the best-preserved Victorian commercial streetscapes in North America, but until very recently it was never preserved in any deliberate fashion—only by extraordinary luck.

  • Art Deco in Knoxville

    This little maintenance building on Bausman Street is an unexpected touch of Art Deco in an otherwise residential neighborhood. Enlarge the picture to appreciate the details.

    Camera: Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3.

    Update: This building has vanished, so let this picture serve as its memorial.

  • Deco Romanesque

    Click on the picture to enlarge it.

    The County Office Building is a curious combination of Romanesque and late Art Deco, with more than a hint of the style Father Pitt likes to call American Fascist. Below, an eagle ornament on the corner holds the Allegheny County arms in its talons. On the arms: a ship, a plough, and three sheaves of grain (though they look like mushrooms in concrete).

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    The County Office Building is a short walk away from the First Avenue subway station.

  • The Gulf Building

    The Gulf Building, an Art Deco tower with a top modeled after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, is rendered here in old-postcard colors through the marvel of modern digital technology.

    downtown-gulf-bldg-2-adj.jpg