Father Pitt

Tag: Vrydaugh & Shepherd

  • Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, Allegheny West

    Calvary Methodist Church

    This church was finished in 1893; the architects were the Kansas City firm of Vrydagh & Shepard. Thomas B. Wolfe, a native of Sewickley Heights, was working in Kansas City for Vrydagh & Shepard, so it was natural that he should be the one sent to Pittsburgh to supervise the church. While it was under construction or shortly afterward, Martin Vrydagh decided to move to Pittsburgh and join Wolfe, founding the prolific partnership of Vrydaugh (in about 1899 he changed the spelling of his name) & Wolfe.

    Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church

    It took old Pa Pitt a while to figure all that out, because every Pittsburgh reference—including Father Pitt’s own sites and the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation plaque on the church—gave the name of the firm as Vrydaugh & Shepherd. Father Pitt began to get suspicious when he found that Web searches for “Vrydaugh & Shepherd” turned up this church and nothing else, so it was time to explore alternate spellings.

    Spire
    Tower with spire
    Smaller spire
    Detail of Gothic arches
    Calvary Methodist Church
    Kodak EasyShare Max Z990; Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.

    We also have pictures of Calvary Church at night and in the snow.

    Comments

  • Calvary Methodist Church at Night

    Calvary United Methodist Church at night

    Calvary Methodist Church in Allegheny West is floodlit at night, and old Pa Pitt stopped the other night to get a few pictures. The church was designed by the Kansas City firm of Vrydagh & Shepard, with their representative Thomas B. Wolfe supervising in Pittsburgh. Vrydagh soon followed Wolfe to Pittsburgh and changed his spelling to Vrydaugh, and Vrydaugh & Wolfe became a partnership designing a number of fine churches and millionaires’ mansions.1

    West front
    West front
    Entrance
    Calvary United Methodist Church

    These pictures were all taken hand-held with very slow shutter speeds. Photographers will tell you that you cannot take a sharp hand-held picture at 1/10 of a second. What they mean is that you cannot reliably take a sharp picture. With digital photography, where individual pictures cost nothing, what you can do is take a dozen or two pictures and hope that one of them will be sharp.

    1. This is a revision of the original article. The firm is spelled “Vrydaugh and Shepherd” on the PHLF plaque and in all Pittsburgh references; but “Shepherd” was actually Charles E. Shepard, and Vrydaugh was spelling his name Vrydagh in Kansas City, so it was a long time before old Pa Pitt sorted out the truth. Here is what he wrote originally: “The design of this church is credited to Vrydaugh & Shepherd with T. B. Wolfe. Vrydaugh & Wolfe would soon become a partnership designing a number of fine churches and millionaires’ mansions. Old Pa Pitt does not know what happened to Shepherd.” ↩︎

  • Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, Allegheny West

    Calvary Methodist Church

    Now Calvary United Methodist Church, this church is known for its stained glass by the Tiffany Studios. It was built in 1892–1895; the architects were Vrydagh & Shepard and T. B. Wolfe.1 The exterior is a feast of elaborate and often playful Gothic detail.

    Entrance
    Gargoyle
    Gargoyle
    Detail of a tower
    Mask
    Carved face
    Another face
    Face and foliage
    Turret
    Foliage
    Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church
    1. Vrydagh and Shepard were the Kansas City firm of Martin U. Vrydagh and Charles E. Shepard. Martin Vrydagh would soon move to Pittsburgh and change his spelling to Vrydaugh; Shepard’s name is misspelled “Shepherd” in most Pittsburgh references, including the PHLF plaque on the church. ↩︎