Father Pitt

Tag: Market Street

  • Market Street, Before and After

    Condemned buildings

    Before.

    Rubble from demolished buildings

    After.

    Preservationists fought a losing battle to save these buildings, not because any one of them was an architectural masterpiece, but because the 100 block of Market Street was one of the few remaining blocks downtown lined with mid-Victorian buildings on both sides. They predated not only the skyscraper age but also the age of six-storey commercial palaces that preceded the skyscrapers.

    Rubble

    If there is any silver lining to the demolition, it is that the open space allows a full view of the buildings on the other side of the street, without resorting to too much photographic trickery.

    West side of Market Street
    100 block of Market Street, west side

    Not that old Pa Pitt has ever been above photographic trickery, as he demonstrated a few months ago with a picture of the whole block of condemned buildings before they came down:

    East side of Market Street before demolition

    Cameras: Canon PowerShot SX150 IS; Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

  • First & Market Building

    First & Market Building

    At first glance this looks like a postmodernist building from the 1980s, and your first instinct is half right. It was originally an early ten-storey skyscraper built for the Shields Rubber Company in 1903. In 1989, it got a heavy postmodern makeover, with an extra floor at the top.

    First & Market Building

    These views are made possible by the demolition of the buildings along the east side of Market Street.

    First & Market Building

    Cameras: Kodak EasyShare Z1285; Fujifilm FinePix Hs10.

  • A Last Look at the Condemned Row on Market Street

    100 block of Market Street

    Appeals having been exhausted, this row of buildings on Market Street at First Avenue is scheduled to be demolished soon. They are not works of extraordinary architectural merit, but it will be a small urban tragedy to lose them. This block of Market Street was one of the few streets left downtown with human-sized old buildings on both sides of the street. This was the Pittsburgh of the Civil War era, not only before skyscrapers but also before the grand six-storey commercial palaces that came before skyscrapers.

    Perspective view
    Lowman-Shields Rubber Building

    The old Lowman-Shields Rubber Building is also condemned, having sat derelict for two decades or more. This Rundbogenstil warehouse is in very close to its original state externally, including the ghosts of old painted signs on the ground floor, probably dating from before the Lowman-Shields Rubber Company owned the building.

    Base of the building with painted signs
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

    “Folding Paper Boxes,” “Paper,” “Cordage,” “Laundry Supplies.”

  • Italianate Buildings on Market Street

    Italianate buildings on Market Street

  • 111 Market Street

    111 Market Street

    An unusually simple cast-iron front adorns this five-storey commercial building, which is actually the tallest thing on its block of Market Street. It is possible that the building has lost a cornice, but otherwise it probably looks not much different from the way it looked when it was first put up around 1900 or so.

  • 105 Market Street

    105 Market Street

    Part of one humble block of Market Street between First Avenue and the Boulevard of the Allies that keeps alive the memory of Pittsburgh before the skyscraper age, this matched pair of simple storefronts (with living quarters above, no doubt) has changed very little since it was built. Unfortunately the buildings on the other side of Market Street are scheduled for demolition, probably to be replaced by skyscraper loft apartments—unless preservationists win their quixotic battle to keep the increasingly dilapidated old buildings. But at least this side of Market seems safe for now.

  • PPG Place

    View of PPG Place from the Diamond

    A view looking south on what used to be Market Street before PPG Place took it over. The obelisk (or the Tomb of the Unknown Bowler, as Peter Leo liked to call it) is in the middle distance.

  • Terra Cotta on the Thompson’s Building

    Two ornaments from the terra-cotta façade of the old Thompson’s Restaurant building on Market Street just off the Diamond.

  • Market Street at First Avenue

    Market Street between First Avenue and the Boulevard of the Allies probably looks very similar to the way it looked in the later 1800s. In fact it probably looks very similar to the way most of the streets downtown looked before skyscrapers began to mushroom all over. But the eastern side of Market Street is scheduled for demolition, and although old Pa Pitt has not bothered to research what is replacing those low buildings, he would make an educated guess that it will be a high-rise full of luxury condominium apartments.

    111 Market Street, a tall building in the days before elevators.

    Condemned: a whole block of human-sized buildings on the east side of Market.

    The Lowman Shields Rubber Building on First Avenue seems to be scheduled for demolition at the same time as the buildings on Market Street. This fine Romanesque commercial building deserves to be kept, but the city is prosperous now, and prosperity is the enemy of preservation.

  • Victorian Storefront on Market Street

    This beautifully restored building on Market Street is one of an identical pair. Note the properly inset entrance. It was once de rigeur for stores to have their entrances inset from the sidewalk like that, so that the door would not smack a passing pedestrian in the face. How did we forget what a good idea that was?

    The picture is a composite of three photographs, which was the only way to get the whole façade across a very narrow street.