Father Pitt

Tag: Towers

  • Beth-Eden Baptist Church, Manchester

    Beth-Eden Baptist Church

    On the end of Juniata Street, where it meets Chateau Street, is a cluster of three Baptist churches all huddled together. Two of them originally belonged to other denominations, but this one has been Baptist all its life. Originally the Beth-Eden Baptist Church, it is now called Pilgrim Baptist Church. The building was put up in 1903, when weighty Romanesque was still a popular style in Allegheny and Pittsburgh. The massive tower and the rounded end make a strong impression.

    Tower
    Tower again
    From Juniata Street

    Addendum: The architect was James N. Campbell. Source: “Pretty New Church to Go Up in Allegheny,” Pittsburg Post, April 17, 1901, p. 2. “The structure is to be erected at Chartiers and Juniata streets… The new church will be a handsome buff brick structure, with stone trimmings… The church will be of simple classic style, with colonial effects. A high tower will grace one of the corners of the structure. The church auditorium will have a seating capacity of 450, while the Sunday school room adjoining the auditorium will accommodate 600. A feature of the Sunday school room will be the arrangement of class rooms and its large gallery. The basement of the church will contain ladies’ parlors, kitchen and dining rooms… The plans were prepared by Architect James N. Campbell.” The drawing accompanying the article shows a plan somewhat different from the final building, but in a similar style.

  • Top of the Frick Building, Tower of the Courthouse

    A little slice of skyline seen from the South Side Slopes.

  • St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Arlington

    Now a residential duplex, this is a tiny Romanesque church made to seem much more substantial by its weighty tower and its steeply pitched roof.

  • Mount Oliver Public School

    The old Mount Oliver Public School and its annex have been beautifully restored for non-academic uses. Mount Oliver residents now get their schooling from Pittsburgh.

    The Annex is almost a duplicate of the original school, except for the tower section.

    Addendum: The Annex is the work of the local Mount Oliver architect Albert C. Storch.1 Since it is a near-duplicate of the original building, we provisionally credit that one to Storch as well.

    1. The Construction Record, September 20, 1913: “Contractors Davidson & Klein, Mt. Oliver, have started foundations for a two-story brick grade school annex, to be erected on Carmon street, Mt . Oliver, for the Board of Education. Plans by Architect Albert Storch, Bausman street, Mt. Oliver. Cost $30,000.” “Carmon street” is a misprint for “Carbon Street,” the former name of Hays Avenue. This was a very sloppily edited magazine. ↩︎

  • Rooftops of Brookline

    Father Pitt was trying out a very long lens after making an expedition to Pitaland. In the center of the picture is the tower of Engine House Fifty-Seven. It was about half a mile away.

  • Beltzhoover Sub-District School

    Beltzhoover Sub-District School
    This picture was made from 15 separate photographs, so be aware that it will be about 18 megabytes of data if you enlarge it.

    Built in 1909, this is a grand classical schoolhouse with a distinctive tower; except for the tower, we can imagine it as an English earl’s house from the 1600s. The architects were William J. Shaw and Thomas Lloyd. The school has been abandoned for years, but there is hope now of turning it into apartments. In the huge picture above, note the way the building defies the typically Pittsburghish slope of the street. In fact it sits on a mound in the middle of the block, and you need some legs to get up to it from any direction.

    Beltzhoover Elementary School
    Tower
    Entrance
    Beltzhoover Sub-District School

  • Knoxville Christian Church

    Knoxville Christian Church

    Unlike its neighbor, the Knoxville Presbyterian Church, this little Gothic church has no one to cut down the weeds and the Pittsburgh palms. It is already half-swallowed by jungle, and it may soon be nothing more than a roughly cube-shaped lump of vegetation. Wouldn’t it make a fine studio for some ambitious artist?

    Addendum: The architect was E. V. Denick, who also designed the Hill-Top YMCA nearby; the church was built in 1904. Source: Pittsburg Press, May 26, 1904, p. 2. “Foundations have been started on the buff brick stone and terra cotta church being built on Charles and Knox avenues, Knoxville, for the Knoxville Christian congregation from plans drawn by Architect E. V. Denick.”

  • Knoxville Presbyterian Church

    Knoxville Presbyterian Church

    The outstanding feature of this church is its outsized corner tower; the architect has cleverly emphasized its height with strong vertical lines. Corner towers are common in churches on corner lots, but seldom do they reach these proportions.

    Tower

    There are also smaller towers at three of the other four corners of the building, and a matching Sunday-school wing is attached.

    Rear of the church

    This is one of several abandoned churches in Knoxville, but at least somebody mows the lawn and sweeps away the trash. Note the steep slope that makes two floors’ difference between the front of the lot and the back of the lot.

    Knoxville Presbyterian Church

  • Belfry, South Side Presbyterian Church

    Belfry

    Note the fine ironwork decorations.

  • Transept Tower, St. Paul’s Cathedral

    Transept tower

    A large Gothic church can be prickly with towers. In addition to the great front towers whose spires can be seen for miles, St. Paul’s has a pair of smaller towers on each transept front.