Churches of Pittburgh, Part III

Here it goes, the third batch of Pittsburgh churches. Again, 29. It's now taking a while to catch those.

Earlier parts:

• Part I
• Part II

59. An unknown Orthodox Chapel on Vine St

Sadly, I have no idea what this one is called. It holds an attractive position on an elevation.

60. Ebenezer Baptist Church 

These three crosses remind me of the Mt Ararat Church (#44) from Part II. Besides that, it's a cool architecture.

61. Olivet Baptist Church

This cross looks like an anchor. It would be great to have this as a sailor church.

62. First Church of God in Christ

This name confuses my categorization of Christian churches.

63. Christian Tabernacle Church

The uniqueness of this small tower (or whatever you'd call it) contrasts with the boredom of the building itself.

64. Wesley Center, Ame Zion Church

Looks just like a campus building to me. Need more crosses and red doors.

65. Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church

Apparently Mount Zion has some special significance for Baptists if the number of such churches went up to six.

66. Immaculate Heart of Mary Church

This one is in Polish Hill, which is difficult to access by running. On the other hand, it's very visible from Liberty Ave, thus teasing me to got up and get it. Glad it finally happened.

67. Radian Life Alliance Church

Sometimes it's enough to just put a cross on a house and a billboard in front of it to declare it a church. Reductionism at its best.

68. King of Kings Baptist Ministry

Although I understand the origin of the phrase, it's still not too humble.

69. Shiloh Community Baptist Church

Alright, white doors with cross windows! This is innovative, good job Baptists!

70. Homewood Church of God

Despite its use of conventional visual elements, this church looks cheerful.

71. Homewood AME Zion Church

Take the previous one, give it a pointed cap. Done.

72. Bethesda Presbyterian Church

This bastion is a boss of all Pittsburgh churches. I prefer to think that it could withstand a direct tactical nuke impact.

73. Sixth Presbyterian Church

This one stands of a prominent spot of Forbes and Murray intersection, where plenty of students wait for a bus.

74. Temple Sinai

This large Jewish temple looks like an awesome place to have big civilized dinner parties.

75. Kostol Sv Michala

This impressive church starts a series of Homestead, which is just across a river from Pittsburgh.

76. First Hungarian Reformed Church

Homestead's churches are representative of its Eastern European immigrant population.

77. Carpatho-Rusyn Cultural Center

Although not exactly a church by itself, it's quite a prominent building visible from far away.

78. St. Matthew's Episcopal Church

This is a special camouflage design: only those destined to get in would be able to discern this church from regular city grayness.

79. New Covenant Community Church

When I came to this one, for reasons unknown I imagined that they drink a lot of wine in there. I don't really have a logical explanation for this.

80. Lamb of God Church

Another fine specimen of the urban camouflage color scheme. SWAT uniform designers have much to learn in this vein.

81. St. John Lutheran Church 

I liked the big windows. 

82. Unknown at 10th Ave and Ann St. 

I'm not sure if this is a church or just a stylized dining hall.

83. St. Nicholas Orthodox Church

This is quite a fancy one with cool cupolas. Very visible from across the river.

84. Unknown at 9th Ave and McClure St

This is a mysterious building with absolutely no indication of what it is. Still it looks like a church hence it's posted here.

85. Steadfast Outreach

This building belongs to non-denominational Christians. I like how Western culture allows for experiments with religious fundamentals.

86. St. Mary Magdalene's Church 

I totally felt like I came back to #75 when I saw this one. How can two buildings be so similarly looking and leave the same impression?

87. The Open Door Church

This used to be a church, but now it's apparently occupied by the Union Project who offer inspirational art classes.

Extra: Alien Temples

In the early 1950s suspicious blue structures -- totally unlike any other human-made building -- started being seen on top of the hills around Pittsburgh.

These structures would stay there for a couple of weeks and move to a new location. They had varying shapes, which (as some people claimed) had perfect aerodynamics.

The most popular version about these structures is that they are worship places set up by an alien civilization. Native Pittsburghers still debate whether the aliens (which nobody actually saw) should take the role of gods or worshippers in these temples.

Notice the symbols of unearthly origin.
This is the closest I could get to this thing without being afraid for my life.

In any case, the alien cult flourishes in Pittsburgh. Every once in a while crowds of worshippers head to those blue shrines and celebrate the start of a new Jupiter month.

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On this intriguing note, let me wrap up. I hope to pump out another batch of churches later this summer, but the map is getting more and more covered, and returns are diminishing.

Also see older posts with churches:

• Part I
• Part II