Father Pitt

Tag: Walnut Street

  • Walnut Apartments, Shadyside

    Walnut Apartments
    Samsung Galaxy A15 5G.

    A complex grouping of windows and a variety of textures make this building more interesting than many. It has probably changed over time. The overhangs would originally have had tile rather than asphalt shingles. The sunrooms under them were probably balconies. The central stairwell windows probably had art glass in them.

    Instead of one central entrance, the building has three entrances, and it appears to have been divided that way for a long time if not originally. It is possible that the ground floor was originally storefronts, which could have created a complex arrangement of entrances when the storefronts were adapted as apartments.

  • Two Shadyside Tudors

    5816 Walnut Street

    Two houses on Walnut Street in the Tudor Revival style, as we would say today, or the English style, as they were probably called when they were built. They share some notable similarities, which would make it not surprising if they were drawn by the same architect. The sunset light makes the already cozy Tudor style look even warmer and cozier.

    Addendum: A city architectural survey attributes the one above to the architect Thomas Scott; we are probably justified in attributing its neighbor to Scott as well.

    5814 Walnut Street
    Dormer
    Front of the house

  • Art Deco Apartment Building in Shadyside

    Apartment building on Walnut Street

    Ornament is minimal but effective on this moderne apartment building on Walnut Street. The front has a classical symmetry emphasized by strong black verticals, with cornice bands tied together in little deco knots. The inset balconies at first hardly register as balconies, but give the apartments behind them a private outdoor space.

  • Minnetonka Building, Shadyside

    Most pedestrians on Walnut Street pass this building without noticing it; at best they may glance at the rounded corners, but otherwise it strikes them as just another modernist building. It is in fact one of the very earliest outbreaks of modernism in Pittsburgh: it was designed by Frederick Scheibler and opened in 1908. It must have been startlingly modern indeed surrounded by Edwardian Shadyside.