Category Archives: Uncategorized

Almost all architecture, from Ancient times until seventy-five years ago, rewarded the observer who looked up. Interesting, often delightful details await there.  Our earliest skyscrapers often had decoration of a scale that could only be clearly observed with magnification from … Continue reading →

Sandstone. It doesn’t sound very durable.  Certainly, stone made from sand doesn’t seem like a material for a church that is expected to survive centuries.  But, there it is in the 1889 proposal specifications to Shadyside Presbyterian from the architect, … Continue reading →

Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Station, Coraopolis Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge 1895 “I will plan anything a man wants from a cathedral to a chicken coop.” Henry Hobson Richardson revealed to a client what his portfolio confirmed: a broad range … Continue reading →

Ask a first-time visitor to Shadyside about the biggest surprise in our worship space, and the response likely will be our mosaic of the Transfigured Christ.  Many are taken with its sheer beauty.   Some think it unusual for a Presbyterian … Continue reading →