Father Pitt

Tag: Modernist Architecture

  • Rowhouses by Frederick Scheibler, Homewood

    One of the houses

    These houses were built in 1910, and nothing like their brisk modernity had been seen in Pittsburgh. Frederick Scheibler was our most adventurous modernist in those days, and these would have been approved by the Bauhaus ten or twenty years later.

    Two houses in near-original condition

    The two houses on the upper end of the upper row have been kept in near-original condition, though they are in less than perfect shape.

    The same two houses
    Row of houses

    In the rest of the row, different ownerships have sent the houses careening off in various directions.

    Looking up the hill
    7908 and 7906 Hamilton Avenue
    7908–7902
    Four houses
    Four houses
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    Like many architects of terraces like these, Scheibler repeated this design in multiple locations. Apparently both Scheibler and his clients considered the design a success. We’ll be seeing more of these little houses.

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  • Saint Joseph School, Manchester

    St. Joseph School

    Edward J. Hergenroeder, who prospered in the years after the Second World War as a designer of Catholic schools and churches, was the architect of this handsome little modernist school for the German parish of St. Joseph.1 It is in use as coworking space now, so it will remain when St. Joseph’s Church is demolished.

    Cornerstone with date 1947
    St. Joseph School
    Entrance
    St. Joseph School
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    The long side of the building faced North Franklin Street, which has since been pedestrianized.

    1. “Tremendous Building Program Looms in Pittsburgh Diocese,” Pittsburgh Catholic, March 28, 1946, p. 1. “St. Joseph’s, Rev. Alvin W. Forney, pastor: New school; E. J. Hergenroeder, architect; $90,000.” ↩︎

  • Homestead Senior High School

    Entrance to the Homestead Senior High School

    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.

    Homestead Senior High School

    When old Pa Pitt took these pictures, there was a band rehearsing somewhere in the building that included a pretty good vibraphone player.

    Homestead Senior High School
    Fukifilm FinePix HS20EXR.
    1. Proposals, Pittsburgh Press, November 30, 1938, p. 32. “Copies of plans, specifications and other contract documents will be on file and open to public inspection at the offices of the Architects, 119 East Montgomery Avenue, North Side, Pittsburgh, Pa.…” From many other listings we know that 119 East Montgomery Avenue—a street that no longer exists—was the office of Button & McLean. ↩︎
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  • IBM Building, Allegheny Center

    IBM Building

    This very Miesian building was designed in Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s firm after Mr. Mies had died, which, as old Pa Pitt has said before, explains how the architect, Bruno P. Conterato, got away with making it a white box on stilts instead of a black box on stilts. Since IBM left, it has been known as Four Allegheny Center.

    At twilight
    At twilight
    Four Allegheny Center
    Sony Alpha 3000; Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
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  • St. Colman Church, Turtle Creek

    St. Colman Church

    This was the last of the five (out of seven) churches old Pa Pitt managed to visit during the open house for St. Joseph the Worker Parish, seven of whose eight churches are closing this month. Because he got there just as the open house was winding up, Father Pitt didn’t get as many pictures as of the other churches, but the ones he did get give a good impression of what the church is like. They also show that it needs some maintenance work, which would probably be expensive.

    Belfry

    Addendum: The architect was Pittsburgh-born, Philadelphia-based Harold Wagoner, with Angel Chorne as associate.

    Nave
    Nave
    Interior
    Stained glass
    Sony Alpha 3000; Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    It’s always sad to see a church close. However, there is very good news for St. Colman’s School, a 1920s masterpiece by Link, Weber & Bowers. It is undergoing a thorough and expensive restoration for a second life. We took a few pictures of the school on the same visit.

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  • Madonna del Castello Church, Swissvale

    Statue and inscription: Madonna del Castello
    Madonna del Castello

    The first reaction of most visitors to Madonna del Castello is astonishment that such a thing even exists. The sanctuary hovers over the parking lot on spindly legs like some giant beetle ready to march out into the streets of Swissvale. It is beautiful, impressive, and a little terrifying.

    Many more pictures…

  • Regent Square East Apartments, Wilkinsburg

    305 Hay Street, originally Regent Square East

    Robert J. Worsing was both the developer and the architect of this good-looking six-unit building, put up as condominium apartments in 1977. Among the amenities was “a 36-inch wide log-burning fireplace” in each unit, which explains the prominent chimneys with their modernistic chimney pots. A Press article showed the architect’s model, which includes the fabric awnings that—surprisingly—are still maintained over the front windows.1

    Regent Square East
    Sony Alpha 3000.
    1. “6-Unit Condo Okayed for Wilkinsburg Site,” Pittsburgh Press, May 29, 1977. ↩︎
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  • Twilight at Allegheny Center

    View of Allegheny Center with downtown Pittsburgh behind it
    ALlegheny Center at twilight
    Two Allegheny Center
    Nova Tower One
    Sony Alpha 3000.
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  • Castletone Apartments, Mount Lebanon

    Entrance to the Castletone Apartments

    A modernist building typical of the postwar apartment boom, including the tall stairwell light made of glass blocks—a Pittsburgh product much employed in the middle twentieth century. To old Pa Pitt’s ears, “Castletone” sounds like the name of a third-string record company, but the apartments are in a very convenient location, just down the street from the Mount Lebanon subway station on the Red Line.

    Castletone Apartments
    Castletone Apartments
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
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  • Entrance to the Mellon Client Service Center

    Entrance to the BNY Client Service Center
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

    Now the BNY Client Service Center, after some intermediate years as the BNY Mellon Client Service Center. The picture is made from three photographs at different exposures, so that we can see a bit of the interior through the windows.

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