Tag Archives: redevelopment

Then & Now 1926-2026: Allentown Religious Buildings

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Walter Street looking southwest from Climax Street

Allentown Neighborhood

Allentown features a tight grid gently folded over undulating terrain. Densely-packed, modest houses line narrow roads. A resident across from one of the religious sites, who was interested in what I was photographing, shared that her house was built in the 1880s. In those pre-automobile days, residents may have commuted downhill to the industries along the river flats by way of the numerous inclines, one of which used to have a terminus not far from where we were standing and talking.

Three of the jobs I’ve held in my decades of working in Pittsburgh included some element of work in this neighborhood. Much of the neighborhood felt the same as I remembered it from my prior encounters. Long-standing neighborhood restaurants mixed in between vacant storefronts and newer ventures lined the commercial district. Vacant lots and vacant houses sit scattered among the residential blocks. However, I was impressed that some long vacant lots had new infill housing designed for those wanting to age-in-place or people with accessibility needs.

The neighborhood was never targeted for any large-scale Urban Renewal efforts, but individual properties that are vacant, abandoned, or tax delinquent have been demolished from time-to-time. This implies patterns of change, including population loss and disinvestment. The 5 religious sites from 1926 reflect that with each one featuring a unique outcome today: one remains religious, one is now a secular use, one sits vacant, one is a vacant lot, and one is a parking lot.

Neighborhood Statistics (Out of the 70 in this series)

  • 50th largest by acreage
  • 38th highest number of sites (multi-way tie)
  • 18th most sites/acre

Locations

The map below shows the locations of the 5 congregations listed in the 1926 directory for Allentown (the dotted line marks the neighborhood boundary).

What are they now?

The table below matches the 5 congregations listed in the 1926 directory with the current use of the site.

1926 Congregation NameBy 2026 the Congregation’s Building is:
Bethlehem Lutheran Evangelical Churchconverted to a community center
First Methodist Episcopal Churchdemolished
Progressive Spiritualists Churchreplaced with a parking lot
St. George (German) Catholic Churchvacant
Trinity Methodist Episcopalchanged to a different religious institution

Photos

  • First Methodist Episcopal Church site (2026)
  • former Bethlehem Lutheran Evangelical Church (2026)
  • former St George Catholic Church (2026)
  • former Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church (2026)
  • Progressive Spiritualists Church site (2026)

For more on this series, visit our introductory post.

Sources:

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory, 1926. Pittsburgh: R. L. Polk & Co. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735056286846/viewer#page/4/mode/1up

Then & Now 1926-2026: Allegheny West Religious Buildings

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View of West North Avenue, Allegheny West

Allegheny West Neighborhood

Allegheny West is a neighborhood that features a blend of stability and destruction in its built environment.

Allegheny City’s Millionaires Row once occupied this part of town. It is a dense neighborhood, with a mix of uses. While the houses are frequently attached, many have front porches that provide a buffer from the street. Architectural ornamentation is common and the sidewalks are often paved in brick.

Parts of the neighborhood were impacted by “urban renewal.” The southern portion, between Ridge Avenue and the railroads, was designated as a “renewal” area on behalf of the community college. In 1970, the project was just getting started. It was projected that 10 families and 25 individuals would need to be relocated to make way for the community college campus. A few other areas of the neighborhood north of Ridge Avenue have also seen block-scale demolition and redevelopment into parking lots, warehouses, and a fast food restaurant.

One of the buildings from the congregations listed in the 1926 Polk Directory was lost through these smaller demolition/redevelopments. The other two buildings remain intact with the same congregations.

Neighborhood Statistics (Out of 70 in this Series)

  • 68th largest by acreage
  • 45th highest number of sites (multi-way tie)
  • 16th most sites/acre

Locations

The map below shows the locations of the 3 congregations listed in the 1926 directory for Allegheny West (the dotted line marks the neighborhood boundary).

What are they now?

The table below matches the 3 congregations listed in the 1926 directory with the current use of the site.

1926 Congregation NameBy 2026 the Congregation’s Building is:
Calvary Methodist Episcopal Churchstill Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church
Emmanuel Episcopal Churchstill Emmanuel Episcopal Church
North Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a parking lot

Photos

  • Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church (2026)
  • Emmanuel Episcopal Church (2026)
  • North Presbyterian Church site (2026)

For more on this series, visit our introductory post.

Sources:

Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. A Development and Renewal Program for Pittsburgh, Summary Documentation, Pittsburgh Community Renewal Program. Pittsburgh, 1970. https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_d1f07da0-9303-4aee-a162-04c83a0eaaa0/

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory, 1926. Pittsburgh: R. L. Polk & Co. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735056286846/viewer#page/4/mode/1up

Then & Now 1926-2026: Allegheny Center Religious Buildings

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View of the pedestrian mall, Allegheny Center

Allegheny Center Neighborhood

Reconstructing a neighborhood that has been almost completely reconfigured is difficult. Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Center neighborhood was once the center of Allegheny City, which was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. In the 1800s and first half on the 1900s, the heart of this bustling city was 36 blocks of dense, walkable, mixed-use activity. Most of the buildings and streets of these blocks were erased in the 1960s and 1970s when the City of Pittsburgh and the Urban Redevelopment Authority led a major, federally-funded, “urban renewal” project in the neighborhood. Four existing streets were converted into a one-way ring road, while most of the other streets were erased or converted to pedestrian plazas. The buildings were mostly demolished and replaced by parking lots and mid- to high-rise buildings within the ring road and parking lots and housing complexes outside the ring road.

To facilitate this “renewal,” 376 families, 1161 individuals, and 598 businesses were relocated outside the neighborhood by 1970. Unsurprisingly, given the scope and extent of this displacement in the name of renewal, only one of the buildings used by the 22 congregations listed in the 1926 directory survives. What is surprising is that a former parish house survives, which helped locate the former locations of several of the church buildings that used to sit nearby.

Neighborhood Statistics (Out of the 70 in this series)

  • 64th largest by acreage
  • 4th highest number of religious sites
  • 2nd most sites/acre

Locations

The map below shows the locations of the 22 congregations listed in the 1926 directory for Allegheny Center (the dotted line marks the neighborhood boundary). Note that there are only 20 pins because three congregations apparently shared the same space.

What are they now?

The table below matches the 22 congregations listed in the 1926 directory with the current use of the site.

1926 Congregation NameBy 2026 the Congregation’s Building is:
Arch Street Methodist Episcopal Churchreplaced with a parking lot
Central Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a community service building
Central Reformed Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a housing complex
Christ Episcopal Churchreplaced with a community service building
Church of the Soulreplaced with a parking lot
First Protestant Methodist Churchreplaced with a housing complex
First United Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a parking lot
First Allegheny Christian Churchreplaced with a small scale hospital
First Presbyterian Church of Alleghenyreplaced with a housing complex
Fourth United Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a park (tennis and basketball courts)
Fourth Spiritualistsreplaced with a parking lot
Gospel Tabernacle replaced with a parking lot
Metropolitan Church Missionreplaced with a parking lot
Ohio Street Episcopal Methodist Churchreplaced with a housing complex
Pentecostal Missionreplaced with a apartment building
Sandusky Street Baptist Churchreplaced with a parking lot
Second United Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a commercial building
Spiritualist Church of Truthreplaced with a housing complex
St. Cyprian Catholic Churchreplaced with a housing complex
St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Churchreplaced with a school baseball diamond
St. Peter Catholic Churchstill St. Peter Catholic Church
Trinity Lutheran Churchreplaced with a commercial building

Photos

  • Arch Street Methodist Episcopal Church site (2026)
  • Central Presbyterian Church site (2026)
  • Central Reformed Presbyterian Church site (2026)
  • Christ Episcopal Church site (2026)
  • Church of the Soul site shared with two other congregations (2026)
  • First Allegheny Christian Church site (2026)
  • First Presbyterian Church of Allegheny site (2026)
  • First Protestant Methodist Church of Northside site, adjacent to a Spiritualist site (2026)
  • First United Presbyterian Church site (2026)
  • Fourth United Presbyterian Church site (2026)
  • Gospel Tabernacle site (2026)
  • Ohio Street Methodist Episcopal Church site (2026)
  • Pentecostal Mission site (2026)
  • Sandusky Street Baptist Church site (2026)
  • Second United Presbyterian Church site (2026)
  • St. Cyprian Catholic Church site (2026)
  • St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church site (2026)
  • St. Peter Catholic Church (2026)
  • Trinity Lutheran Church site (2026)

For more on this series, visit our introductory post.

Sources:

Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. A Development and Renewal Program for Pittsburgh, Summary Documentation, Pittsburgh Community Renewal Program. Pittsburgh, 1970. https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_d1f07da0-9303-4aee-a162-04c83a0eaaa0/

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory, 1926. Pittsburgh: R. L. Polk & Co. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735056286846/viewer#page/4/mode/1up

Then & Now 1926-2026: Pittsburgh’s Religious Buildings

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View of Pittsburgh from West End Overlook

Why Religious Buildings?

In 2010, as I travelled around different neighborhoods in Pittsburgh for work, school, and play, I began to notice a number of former religious buildings that were being used for secular purposes from child care to community centers to homes. Yet, I only heard people talk about one or two that made the news for the controversial way in which they were now used, particularly the brewpub that brewed in the former altar space. This inspired me to try to identify how many former religious buildings in Pittsburgh were being used for secular purposes and what those new uses were. While I have since learned that this is a moving target, I have become more and more fascinated about what these buildings tell us about the history of the city and the people who’ve lived here.

Eventually, I will write a book about Pittsburgh and its communities featuring Pittsburgh’s former religious buildings. In the meantime, I’m broadening the parameters of my research to gather information about former religious buildings that have been demolished or that sit vacant.

Why 1926?

The more I learn about 1926, the more it seems a significant moment in Pittsburgh’s history. It sits in the middle of the city’s final decade of significant population growth, which gets a boost from the numerous boroughs annexed that decade. The city’s boundary in 1926 only encompasses 85% of what will become the city’s full extent after the last annexation in 1955. While the City adopted zoning in 1923 with two types of residential districts (one for single-unit and two-unit dwellings and one for any number of units), in 1926, it added a third type of residential district for only single-unit dwellings.

Granted, given my day job, this last fact may be the reason I’ve become so focused on the year 1926. However, since we are now exactly 100 years later, it seems worth elevating 1926 and 2026 to another “Then & Now” series.

Scope of the Series

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory of 1926 identifies over 500 listings under the category “Churches.” Over the next couple of years, this Then & Now series will visit these sites by neighborhood to identify what they look like in 2026. I expect there will be 71 posts in this series occasionally interrupted by other posts, including the monthly public art posts and annual Bridge Madness series.

In 2026, there are 90 neighborhoods officially recognized by Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning. Only 70 of these will be featured in this series. The others do not have religious sites that are listed in the 1926 city directory. This is because they were were largely undeveloped at that time, not yet annexed to the city, or both (parts of the neighborhood undeveloped and other parts not annexed).

  • Neighborhoods Featured in the Series
    • Allegheny Center
    • Allegheny West
    • Allentown
    • Arlington
    • Bedford Dwellings
    • Beechview
    • Beltzhoover
    • Bloomfield
    • Bluff
    • Brighton Heights
    • Brookline
    • California-Kirkbride
    • Central Business District
    • Central Lawrenceville
    • Central Northside
    • Central Oakland
    • Chateau
    • Crafton Heights
    • Crawford-Roberts
    • Duquesne Heights
    • East Allegheny
    • East Carnegie
    • East Hills
    • East Liberty
    • Elliott
    • Esplen
    • Fineview
    • Friendship
    • Garfield
    • Greenfield
    • Hazelwood
    • Highland Park
    • Homewood North
    • Homewood South
    • Homewood West
    • Larimer
    • Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar
    • Lower Lawrenceville
    • Manchester
    • Marshall-Shadeland
    • Middle Hill
    • Morningside
    • Mt. Oliver
    • Mt. Washington
    • North Oakland
    • North Shore
    • Perry North
    • Perry South
    • Point Breeze
    • Point Breeze North
    • Polish Hill
    • Shadyside
    • Sheraden
    • South Oakland
    • South Shore
    • South Side Flats
    • South Side Slopes
    • Spring Garden
    • Spring Hill-City View
    • Squirrel Hill North
    • Squirrel Hill South
    • Stanton Heights
    • Strip District
    • Swisshelm Park
    • Terrace Village
    • Troy Hill
    • Upper Hill
    • Upper Lawrenceville
    • West End
    • West Oakland
  • Neighborhoods Annexed after 1926
    • Carrick (1927)
    • Hays (1929 & 1951)
    • Knoxville (1927)
    • Lincoln Place (1929)
    • New Homestead (1931)
    • Northview Heights (1931)
    • Overbrook (1927)
  • Neighborhoods Largely Undeveloped in 1926
    • Arlington Heights
    • Bon Air
    • Chartiers City
    • Fairywood
    • Glen Hazel
    • Oakwood
    • Regent Square
    • Saint Clair
    • Windgap
  • Neighborhoods w/Portions Undeveloped in 1926 and Portions Annexed after 1926
    • Ridgemont (a portion annexed 1928)
    • Summer Hill (a portion annexed 1929)
    • Westwood (a portion annexed 1927)

Sources:

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory, 1926. Pittsburgh: R. L. Polk & Co. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735056286846/viewer#page/4/mode/1up

Williamsport Public Art

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I enjoy my layovers in Williamsport, PA, even though I introduced the town on my blog with my least favorite experience there so far – walking its bridges. I am always on the tail end of a trip when I’m visit, which may explain why I have a tendency to not take as many photographs as I otherwise would. For example, the Little League Museum is in Williamsport and at one intersection the public art reflects this with a statue at each corner of little leagues players one each at home plate and the three bases. When I stumbled across that intersection I was too tired to hit all four corners and so I didn’t even take photographs of the statues at the two corners I did pass. However, the crochet-filled penny-farthing bike rack and a couple murals filling in the normally blank walls along parking lots were inspiring enough for me to stop for a minute to take photos, despite being so tired.

Gateway Park, Arlington

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While walking from the Rosslyn Metro Station to the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge over the Potomac, we walked over a surprise bridge. If we had chosen to walk over on the upriver side of the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge, I may have completely missed that we walked a bridge over I-66.

Gateway Park is a “cap” over the freeway and is both a park and a bridge. Unlike Pittsburgh’s CAP or Frankie Pace Park, Gateway Park was built in the 1980s at the same time as the freeway it covers. It also distinguishes itself from Pittsburgh’s park/bridge by appearing to be fully integrated with the surrounding city and having well-utilized programming.

Anacostia River Canals

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The Anacostia Riverwalk Trail crosses over the openings of several canal channels within a short distance from the Frederick Douglass Bridge in Washington, DC. The first canal opening that I walked over, I had no idea that I was walking on a bridge…like when I walked over the Grosvenor Canal in London. It wasn’t until I was checking out the views from the Frederick Douglass Bridge that I saw the opening for the canal underneath the path I had just walked. (First picture in the slide show below.)

The bridge pictured above appears to have been over a canal that fed into or out of (or both?) the old O Street Pumping Station. This bridge was clearly visible as we walked passed it on our way to the Frederick Douglass. I was tempted to cross it (as a bridge walker, it is hard to walk passed a bridge and not over it), but I was tired and trying to conserve energy. However, once on the Frederick Douglass Bridge, I spotted another pedestrian bridge just beyond this one that I could not pass up the opportunity to walk, no matter how tired I was.

The Yard Park Bridge is a highly photogenic bridge, perhaps rivalling London’s Millennium Bridge. It crosses over what I think are the remnants of the Washington City Canal, most of which has been paved over. The paved portion visible from the Yard Park Bridge reminded me of the portions of the Erie Canal in Buffalo paved over for a skating rink and other recreational purposes.

  • Bridge over an unknown canal
  • Old O Street Pump Station
  • New O Street Pump Station
  • Yard Park Bridge exterior 1
  • Yard Park Bridge exterior 2
  • Inside the Yard Park Bridge
  • Yard Park Bridge opening
  • Paved-over vestiges of the Washington City Canal 1
  • Paved-over vestiges of the Washington City Canal 2

London Docks

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There are four docks or canals connecting into the River Thames along the stretch of the river through Central London that I walked in 2012. I walked bridges over three of these, though I was too distracted by other sites to photograph one of them. The one I missed was the Grosvenor Canal between the Chelsea and Grosvenor Bridges. I was busy photographing the former Battersea Power Station, Grosvenor Bridge, and the train yard next to the Grosvenor Bridge to notice that I walked another small bridge over the Grosvenor Canal. Returning to the site through Google Street View, it looks like the kind of bridge that you’d have to know was there to notice it.

I did notice when I was crossing the bridge across Ransome Dock (picture above), between the Battersea and Albert Bridges. Although, I hadn’t yet learned my lesson to always take an establishing shot of the bridge itself, not just the views from the bridge.

I also noticed when I walked across the Rolling Bridge over St. Saviour’s Dock (picture below), which is slightly downriver from the Tower Bridge. The structure of the bridge itself was fascinating enough that I did take a picture of it. It wasn’t until much later that I learned it truly is a unique bridge – the only draw bridge to curl up on itself.

Blackfriars Railway Bridge/Station

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Blackfriars Station is another unique bridge along the Thames. It is a bridge…and it’s a station for the underground. When I was there in May 2012, it was under construction, or rather extensive renovation to extend the platforms along the bridge and add solar panels above. The Guardian heralded it as the “world’s largest solar power bridge” when it opened in 2014. And over a decade later, it seems to retain hold of that title, suggesting an opportunity for more solar bridges to step up to the challenge.

Murray Avenue Bridge 2012-2025

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Ironically, a few days after my catch-up post about the Murray Avenue Bridge in Squirrel Hill went live, I unexpectedly found myself walking that bridge for the first time since 2012. The bridge looks mostly the same, slightly rusted but presumable functional as it hasn’t collapsed or been closed following a regular inspection. The stairs have been replaced though. I didn’t have a reason to go down them in 2012 and didn’t feel comfortable testing them out for the heck of it then. In 2025, the Urban Hike walk I was on came at the bridge from the street below and we climbed up the newish, solid-looking steps; a few of us (me included) pausing “for the view” on our way up.

The before and after photo pairs below don’t exactly line up, given the different angles and orientations of the photos, but it seemed a good opportunity to try out the image compare option. Before: August 2012, After: August 2025.