Father Pitt

Tag: Municipal Buildings

  • Old Rankin Municipal Building

    Rankin Municipal Building

    What was once a rather flamboyant exercise in provincial Rundbogenstil has been tamed by multiple alterations, but we can still see some of the characteristic ornaments—such as the varied crenellations along the cornice and the heavily emphasized eyebrows over the originally arched windows.

    Rankin Apartment inscription

    The building has a new life as apartments, which at least keeps it standing, even if the conversion did dilute much of its original character.

    Old Rankin municipal Building
    Sony Alpha 3000; Kodak EasyShare Max Z990.

    Update: Thanks to our alert correspondent David Schwing, we have this old postcard that shows the building when it was young and Romanesquer. It was put up in 1908; the architect was E. W. Milligan of Swissvale.1

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  • Overbrook Municipal Building

    Overbrook Municipal Building

    Overbrook was one of the last boroughs to be annexed by the city of Pittsburgh. In 1929, when it was still independent, it built this fine all-in-one municipal building from a design by architect Louis Stevens, who is best remembered for houses for the rich and the upper middle class but also designed most of the public buildings for the borough of Overbrook. As far as old Pa Pitt knows, the building still belongs to the city of Pittsburgh, which has used it for various purposes over the years. It has been sensitively renovated and seems to have a secure future.

    Overbrook Municipal Building
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

    In seventeen and a half years of articles, this is the first time old Pa Pitt has published one about Overbrook. It just goes to show how much more there is to do. Even another seventeen and a half years will not come near to finishing the job, so Father Pitt will just have to keep working.

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