Shadyside seems to have a larger concentration of modernistic mid-twentieth-century apartment buildings than any other Pittsburgh neighborhood. Without any other information, old Pa Pitt would guess this one dates from about 1940.
Glass block from Pittsburgh Corning became a badge of modernity. If that were not enough, the metal awning over the entrance should do it.
Albert Kahn, “the architect of Detroit,” designed this showroom and garage, which was built in 1934. Its streamlined modernity would have been a good match for the Airflow models Chrysler introduced that year. In its current incarnation, it looks comfortable with the streamlined Aldi logo.
The glass front with a semicircular end was very popular in the era of streamlined midcentury modernity. This storefront, which has been vacant since Anthon’s moved out, preserves its moderne look almost perfectly, and we hope the next tenants will appreciate it.
This would be a very ordinary double house if it were not for the way the front entrances are placed in a sort of modernistic tower, turning a simple brick box into a fantasy of the Home of the Future.
This snappy-looking modernistic school was designed by Button & McLean (Lamont H. Button and Paul F. McLean), who were taking bids in November of 1938.1 It was later bought by the Steel Valley Council of Governments, an association of boroughs and cities in the Mon Valley, which has turned it into a shop where you can take your humans to have them serviced.
When old Pa Pitt took these pictures, there was a band rehearsing somewhere in the building that included a pretty good vibraphone player.
Pittsburgh’s own Harry H. Lefkowitz was the architect of this futuristic tower of furniture, which was built in 1941. The building is one of the chief landmarks of the moderne style in the Pittsburgh area, and by sheer luck it has not been too much damaged over its eighty-five years of existence. It is an astonishing thing to come across while walking or driving through the almost deserted business district of Braddock. Now, at last, it is appreciated: it has been restored, complete with its spectacular sign, as artist residences, and as much of the original modernistic appeal as possible has been kept intact.
Old Pa Pitt has been wandering in Braddock, and we’ll see many pictures in the next few weeks. Some of what we’ll see is sad, so we begin with good news to show that there are people who love Braddock and have hope for its future.
Now the Dickson Preparatory STEAM Academy, which sounds like a prep school for future boilermakers, this handsome modernistic school was designed by Rober McCartney and built in 1929. Updates have been done with a real appreciation of what makes the building work.
Probably built in about 1940, this was the science-fiction apartment building of the future. Except for newer windows, it has not changed much.
Streamlined modernity invades Point Breeze! Although this building has been muddled a little, enough of its distinctive details are intact that it still creates a striking impression as we walk down Thomas Boulevard. Father Pitt loves the rounded corners from the outside, though he might curse them if he lived in those corner apartments.
