Father Pitt

Tag: Museums

  • Buhl Planetarium

    Buhl Planetarium at Twilight

    The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science was the big science museum on the North Side before it merged with the Carnegie and moved into the Science Center.

    Buhl Planetarium entrance

    For a while the Art Deco classical building, designed by Ingham & Boyd (or Ingham, Boyd & Pratt; Father Pitt is not sure when Pratt came into the partnership) was sparsely used for classes and other activities, but after the Carnegie moved everything into the Science Center, the Children’s Museum took over the building for a huge expansion.

    Buhl Planetarium
    Sony Alpha 3000.
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  • Hall of Sculpture

    Hall of Sculpture

    The Hall of Sculpture in the Carnegie (as seen by the ultra-wide auxiliary camera on old Pa Pitt’s phone, so don’t expect too much if you enlarge the picture), designed in imitation of the interior of the Parthenon.

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  • Vestibule of the Carnegie Institute

    Vestibule of the Carnegie Institute Building

    The vestibule at the original entrance to the Carnegie Institute building, seldom used now because visitors come in through the modernist Scaife Galleries addition. This picture was taken hand-held in dim light with the ultra-wide auxiliary camera on old Pa Pitt’s phone, so please forgive its obvious flaws.

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  • A Rainy Day? Let’s Visit the Museum

    Entrance to the Carnegie Museum

    A rainy November afternoon is the perfect time to spend an hour or two in the art museum. Here are a few of the things you might see if you visited the Carnegie right now.

    Aurora Leigh

    Aurora Leigh, by John White Alexander, 1904: an imaginative portrait of the heroine of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s verse novel. Alexander’s last and greatest work was the decoration of the Grand Staircase in the Carnegie, so you’ll have a chance to see those murals, too.

    Sunrise Synchromy in Violet

    Sunrise Synchromy in Violet, by Stanton Macdonald-Wright, 1918.

    Rue de L’Abreuvoir, by Maurice Utrillo, 1911

    Rue de L’Abreuvoir, by Maurice Utrillo, 1911.

    Harbor Mole, by Lionel Feininger, 1923

    Harbor Mole, by Lionel Feininger, 1923.

    Rue de Beaujour, Pontoise, by Camille Possarro, 1872

    Rue de Beaujour, Pontoise, by Camille Pissarro, 1872.

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  • Grand Staircase at the Carnegie

    Grand staircase from the ground floor

    The building was designed by Longfellow, Alden & Harlow; the murals were painted by John White Alexander.

    Decorated newel post
    Grand staircase from the second floor
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS; Samsung Galaxy A15 5G.
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  • Carnegie Institute

    Music Hall entrance

    The titanic Carnegie Institute building was designed by Longfellow, Alden & Harlow, Andrew Carnegie’s favorite architects. Above: the Music Hall entrance. Below: the main building seen from the west, across Forbes Avenue.

    Carnegie Institute

  • Carnegie Science Center

    The Carnegie Science Center was designed by Tasso Katselas, and in Father Pitt’s opinion the design worked very well for its intended purposes. It had to be flexible enough to house many different kinds of exhibitions. It had to look sciencey. Most important, it had to enthrall children. It does all those things. Old Pa Pitt would never pick this as the most beautiful building on the North Side, but it has been a favorite destination for a generation of Pittsburgh children, many of whom have actually walked out better educated than they were when they walked in.

  • Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, Oakland

    Soldiers and Sailors Memorial

    In 2000, a planting of deep burgundy celosia gave old Pa Pitt the opportunity to take this picture with his beloved Kodak Retinette.

  • Stephen Foster Memorial

    Stephen Foster Memorial

    One of the cluster of Gothic buildings by Charles Z. Klauder at the heart of the University of Pittsburgh, this looks like the baptistery for the Cathedral of Learning. It houses a museum of Stephen Foster, two theaters, and the Ethelbert Nevin Collection. There was a time when Ethelbert Nevin might have got a museum of his own, but he missed his chance, and now he is an appendix to Stephen Foster.

  • Elevator in the Grand Staircase, Carnegie Institute

    Elevator doors

    One of the exceptionally elegant elevators in the Grand Staircase of the Carnegie Museums in Oakland.

    Elevator interior