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Gateway Station
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Exchange Way
Exchange Way is an ancient alley that has served the backs of buildings on Liberty Avenue and Penn Avenue for two centuries or more. It has never been completely continuous, and a two-block interruption caused the name of the stub of the alley that branched off Cecil Way to be forgotten, so that it was renamed Charette Way when the Pittsburgh Architectural Club opened a clubhouse with its entrance on the alley. But originally that alley was part of Exchange Way, too.
A good alley is a symphony of textures, and some of Father Pitt’s favorite pictures are black-and-white photographs of alleys.
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Eberhardt & Ober Brewery, Dutchtown
These pictures were taken in 1999 with a Lubitel twin-lens-reflex camera, and old Pa Pitt just happened to run across them a while ago. Very little has changed, and we could probably pass these off as current pictures without remark. The main building is one of the relatively few remaining substantial works of Joseph Stillburg, who for a while was one of the major architectural forces in Pittsburgh. His buildings occupied prominent locations, and most of them were therefore replaced later by even bigger buildings.
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United Steelworkers Building
It occurred to old Pa Pitt this afternoon that he had never seen a complete picture of the front of this building. It took several photographs and some technical fussing to get the composite picture above, but here you are.
Canon PowerShot SX150 IS. We also have pictures of the building from Mount Washington and from Gateway Center Park, as well as pictures of the base of the building.
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A Monochromatic Stroll on Firwood Drive in Cedarhurst Manor, Mount Lebanon
Cedarhurst Manor began to fill up in about 1930, though much of it was empty until after the Second World War. The block of Firwood Avenue just off Bower Hill Road has a representative mixture of houses from the 1930s and early 1940s. Since it was a dim day anyway, we present these pictures in black and white, which makes it easy to compare the forms and masses of the houses without being distracted by details of color.
This house seems to have been a builder’s standard design; it is almost identical except in material to the house next to it.
Nikon COOLPIX P100.
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Bookstore After Dark
The White Whale bookstore in Bloomfield. This is Father Pitt’s attempt at applying the principles of De Stijl to photography.
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Ohio Valley Trust Company, Coraopolis
As seen by a Kodak Pony 135 camera with Efke KB 25 film. The film expired years ago—or rather the printed expiration date was years ago, but the film lives on. Once this roll (which started at 30.5 meters) is gone, however, there is no more. The creaky old Efke factory in Croatia closed down in 2012 on account of “a fatal breakdown in machinery.” The current incarnation of ADOX picked up the formula for Efke’s ISO 100 film, but not this slower film. It’s a pity, because this film produced negatives with fine grain and a wide range of tones, and it was also cheap.
We also have pictures of the Ohio Valley Trust Company building in color.
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Some Details of the Church of the Ascension, Shadyside
Construction of the new addition was still finishing up when old Pa Pitt last visited. Here is a pile of stones.
Canon PowerShot SX150 IS; Kodak Retinette with Kentmere Pan 100 film. More pictures of the Church of the Ascension, and some pictures of the church in 2013, when it still wore a coat of black.
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Abstract Forms in Gateway Station
Is this the oddest subway station in North America? It’s in the race, at least.
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Weber Apartments, Dormont
Kodak Retinette with Kentmere Pan 100 film. The striking patterned brickwork of an apartment building in Dormont captured in glorious monochrome.
We also have color pictures of this building and its neighbors.
