Father Pitt

Tag: Hospitals

  • Pittsburgh Charity Hospital, Larimer

    Pittsburgh Hospital

    Originally a Catholic hospital, later known as just Pittsburgh Hospital. Now it is the Champion City Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The main building was put up in about 1902; the architects were Schickel & Ditmars of New York,1 who were most famous for Catholic churches, including the immense Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, but also designed a number of hospitals.

    Frankstown Avenue front
    Frankstown Avenue end

    The addition on the Frankstown Avenue end has not weathered well.

    Pittsburgh Hospital
    Pittsburgh Hospital
    Pittsburgh Hospital
    Row of dormers
    Pittsburgh hospital with postwar additions
    Sony Alpha 3000.

    Postwar additions might have been designed by Press C. Dowler, who we know designed the School of Nursing behind the hospital in 1946 (which we’ll see soon).

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  • UPMC Mercy Pavilion

    UPMC Mercy Pavilion
    Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.

    HOK, the international architecture factory formerly known as Hellmuth Obata + Kassbaum, designed Mercy Hospital’s big expansion, which makes a striking sight on the Bluff from across the river.

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  • Allegheny General Hospital, North Side

    Allegheny General Hospital

    The main tower of Allegheny General is one of the few classic skyscrapers outside downtown, and a landmark of Art Deco in Pittsburgh, as well as a landmark of the style Father Pitt calls Mausoleum-on-a-Stick, where the top of the tower is modeled after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. It was designed by York & Sawyer, who made a specialty of hospitals, and built in 1930. Today we’re going to pay particular attention to the grand entrance on North Avenue, which is covered with extravagant terra-cotta decorations, so we have more than thirty pictures to show you.

    Allegheny General Hospital
    Allegheny General Hospital from North Avenue
    Many more pictures…

  • Elizabeth Steel Magee Hospital

    Interior courtyard of Magee Hospital

    Correction: In an earlier version of the article, old Pa Pitt had a lapse of memory and attributed the design to Edward Stotz instead of T. E. Billquist. His apologies are offered to Mr. Billquist.

    Much of the original Magee Hospital, designed by Thorsten E. Billquist,1 is still standing, but so many additions have grown up around the buildings that we can only catch occasional glimpses of them. While old Pa Pitt was paying a visit to someone in the hospital, he noticed this view in an interior courtyard. Magee Hospital merged with Pittsburgh Woman’s Hospital to form Magee-Womens Hospital, now UPMC Magee-Womens. Eventually, if UPMC expands its empire enough, it will be able to afford an apostrophe.

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  • Building More Hospital

    New UPMC Presbyterian building with cranes
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

    The new UPMC Presbyterian building nears completion in Oakland.

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  • Presby Reflects Presby

    Old Presbyterian Hospital reflected in curved surface of new
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    The older Presbyterian Hospital (designed by E. P. Mellon) reflected and distorted in the curved surface of the new UPMC Presbyterian building now being finished up in Oakland.

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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.

    Addendum: The architect was C. C. Badgley of Fairmont, West Virginia, whose plans were chosen from among several submitted by local architects.1

    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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  • Tuberculosis League Hospital, Hill District

    Tuberculosis League Hospital

    Back when tuberculosis was incurable, the best medical wisdom held that plenty of fresh air was essential for tuberculosis patients. Thus this hospital for tuberculosis was given a parklike setting with plenty of pleasant areas for sitting around in the healthful outdoors. Now that it is a retirement home called Milliones Manor, the beautifully landscaped grounds are just as welcome.

    Milliones Manor in a lunette
    Tuberculosis League Hospital

    The main building was designed by E. P. Mellon, nephew of Andrew Mellon. Other buildings—Father Pitt has not sorted out which is which—were designed by other local stars, including Benno Janssen and Ingham, Boyd & Pratt.

    Decorative brickwork
    Another building
    Perspective view
    Entrance
    Outbuilding
    Front building

  • Garrison Place

    Garrison Place

    Garrison Place, formerly Garrison Alley, was part of the original Woods plan of downtown Pittsburgh. It was named for the adjacent Fort Fayette. Today it is a typical Pittsburgh alley—which is to say it is a very narrow passage but not called an alley, because Pittsburgh officially has no alleys. Above, looking southward across Penn Avenue toward Liberty Avenue. Below, looking northward, with Allegheny General Hospital in the distance.

    Garrison Place with Allegheny General Hospital in the distance
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.
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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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