Father Pitt

Tag: Raisig (L. A.)

  • Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wilkinsburg

    Front elevation, Calvary Lutheran

    This church, kept in good shape as the Pittsburgh Urban Christian School, has a complicated architectural history, and old Pa Pitt will not attempt to sort it all out. The cornerstone bears a date of 1915:

    Cornerstone with date 1915

    We have seen the name O. M. Topp associated with the church, but a 1931 biography of Arthur N. Steinmark lists this church among his accomplishments.1 In 1915 Steinmark was working for MacClure & Spahr, which makes it seem unlikely that he designed the 1915 portion. But the church is a complex of attached buildings, and Steinmark might have been responsible for some of it.

    Update: Our correspondent David Schwing points to the page on Calvary Lutheran at Wilkinsburg Sacred Spaces, which tells us (quoting an anniversary book),

    On December 15, 1929, “Calvary had a rededication service at the completion of a $35,000 building expansion and improvement program which added the tower, the Rose Window, the balcony and included the renovation of the Chancel.”

    That $35,000 project is probably Steinmark’s work. Father Pitt believes, however, that only the top of the tower was part of the Steinmark project, because an old picture on that same page shows the rest of the tower as Pittsburgh black stone like the rest of the church, but the top as pristine white.

    Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church
    Entrance
    Tower

    The top of the tower is probably a replacement for a doomed spire. (Update: See the update above. It is possible that a spire was planned and never built, as often happened with church towers.)

    Calvary Lutheran, Wilkinsburg
    Transept window
    Calvary education wing

    This smaller section appears to be the older sanctuary; old maps suggest that it is probably the 1900 church designed by Wilkinsburg’s own L. A. Raisig,2 given a new stone front to match the main building.

    Front of the education wing
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
    1. Pittsburgh of Today: Its Resources and People, By Frank C. Harper. New York: American Historical Society, 1931. (Page 309.) ↩︎
    2. Record & Guide, August 8, 1900, p. 511. “At Wilkinsburg, Station D, Pittsburg, a $25,000 brick church will be erected by the Calvary Lutheran Society. L. A. Riasig, Penn and Wood streets, architects. Rev. J. Bradley Markward, pastor.” ↩︎
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  • Row of Houses by L. A. Raisig, Wilkinsburg

    1100 block of Center Street

    If Wilkinsburg were a trendier neighborhood, it would be profitable to restore this row of fine houses. They are not only distinguished works individually, but as a unit they also form a unique streetscape that was carefully thought out. They were all built at once, all designed by Louis A. Raisig,1 the Wilkinsburg architect who is now most famous for briefly taking on the young Frederick Scheibler as a partner before Raisig suddenly died in 1901. Raisig’s taste was much more traditional than Scheibler’s, but within the conventions of the time he was an artist.

    Looking down the street from the top of the block

    The whole row is capped off by a corner turret at the upper end. That corner house is still in good shape, though the turret has been wrapped in fake siding.

    1116 Center Street

    The houses all fit together, but each one is different. We are sorry to say it is not likely that the row will remain intact for many more years; houses will probably start disappearing one by one.

    1114
    1112
    1110
    1108
    1106
    1104

    The second floor of this house burned out; it will probably be the first of the row to go.

    1102
    Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.
    1. Philadelphia Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide, July 20, 1898, p. 466. “L. A. Raisig, First National Bank Building, has prepared plans for eight brick dwellings, to be erected for A. T. Stoner, on Centre street, Wilkinsburg. They will each contain ten rooms, will be well finished throughout, cabinet mantels, hot air heating, fine bathroom fixtures, and all modern conveniences The owner is A. T. Stoner.” A Hopkins plat map for 1903 shows the eight houses on the east side of Center between Wallace and North owned by “Stoner.” ↩︎
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  • First National Bank Building, Wilkinsburg

    First National Bank Building

    A banking palace from the 1890s, with the ground floor still in use as a bank. The style is classical on the ground floor but Romanesque above; we suspect the ground floor may be a later alteration. Father Pitt does not know the architect yet. L. A. Raisig, a successful architect and builder who designed many buildings in Wilkinsburg, kept his office here, so it is possible that he designed the building.

    Front elevation
    First National Bank Building
    Fujifilm FinePix HS20 EXR.
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  • Ruskin Villa Apartments, Wilkinsburg

    Ruskin Villa

    L. A. Raisig was listed as the architect of this well-preserved apartment building, which was built in 1900.1 And that sets old Pa Pitt’s mind speculating, because in the history of architecture, L. A. Raisig is famous, if you could call it that, for exactly one thing: for a brief period, just after Frederick Scheibler finished his apprenticeship with Alden & Harlow, he and Raisig were partners in the firm of Raisig & Scheibler.

    According to Martin Aurand’s biography of Scheibler, “In fact, Raisig was a builder, not an architect, and it is hard to figure what he brought to the short-lived partnership other than an initial sense of security for a young architect.”2

    However, Mr. Aurand may have been mistaken about Raisig. He was writing in the days before instant searches of the Philadelphia Real Estate Record and Builders’ Guide were possible, and quite a few listings turn up in which Raisig appears to be acting as architect.

    But when did Scheibler join Raisig? Mr. Aurand found exactly two projects by them, one an unbuilt competition entry, and both from 1901. This apartment building was announced in August of 1900. And when Father Pitt looks at the front of it—

    Front of the building

    —he notices a very distinctive arrangement: two-storey classical columns holding up a broad third-floor balcony, with a smaller second-floor balcony over the entrance. It is not a common arrangement—in fact, old Pa Pitt can think of only one other instance of it at the moment, and it is this building in Park Place:

    This apartment building was put up six years later, in 1906, and it was designed by Frederick Scheibler in his early classical phase.

    What are we to make of this observation? Nothing definite yet; Father Pitt intends to find out more about L. A. Raisig, who disappears from the Record & Guide after the end of his partnership with Scheibler. (Addendum: Mr. Raisig died quite suddenly in 1901.) But we may consider at least the possibility that the Ruskin Villa is a very early work of Frederick Scheibler in partnership with, or working for, L. A. Raisig. So old Pa Pitt leaves this article for now, but he will update it with better information when he knows more about Mr. Raisig and his partnership with young Frederick Scheibler.

    Colonnade
    Sony Alpha 3000.
    1. Source: Record & Guide, August 29, 1900, p. 561. “McDowell Brothers, owners, will erect a three-story brick apartment house at the corner of Wallace avenue and Mulberry street, Wilkinsburg P. O., Station D. The plans are being prepared by Architect L. A. Raisig, of Wilkinsburg. Owner will let contracts.” A 1903 Hopkins map shows the building on the northeast corner owned by “McDowell.” A 1915 Hopkins map shows the name as “Ruskin Villa Apts.” ↩︎
    2. The Progressive Architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler, Jr., p. 10 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1994). ↩︎