Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside may get historic label
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Calvary Episcopal Church on Shady Avenue.
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Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside is being considered for the National Register of Historic Places.
The board of the state historic preservation office will consider on Tuesday whether to recommend the late Gothic Revival-style cathedral built in 1907 for the register. Its recommendation then would be considered by the National Park Service, which oversees the register. A final decision could be made as early as spring, said Carol Lee, the state's national historic preservation officer.
Architect David Vater spent the past two years researching, writing, photographing and indexing an extensive bibliography in nominating the site at 315 Shady Ave.
"It was to me an honor to be involved," said Mr. Vater, whose nomination of Chatham Village in Mount Washington earned it national status in 1998.
Calvary Episcopal Church was built from limestone blocks.
"Those stones were brought in on train cars and horses and wagons and were hand-chiseled," Mr. Vater said during a recent tour of the site. Staring up at the 20-story spire, he said the building's architect, Ralph Adams Cram, "is considered one of the great master architects and a leader in late Gothic Revival design."
"Cram was looking back at 13th-century England to recall that architecture but to reinvent it for America, with the English sense of reserve and calm, a gaining of simplicity," he said.
"Cram gave us what you would find in most European cathedrals," said Roger Westman, a member of the church's architecture and history committee.
Additions in 1924, 1951 and 1975 included a parish house, a parish hall and a choir house.
In his nomination, Mr. Vater wrote: "The visitor experiences a calm beauty in the interior of simplicity, fine proportion and quality workmanship that precludes extravagant decoration. Plain materials of tile and stone are used in the nave, but finer materials such as marble flooring and the delicate woodwork progressively increase as one approaches the focal point of the high altar. Here the visitor appreciates the true purpose and spirit of this inspired space."
The immense and sublime beauty of this church has been enjoyed by illustrious historical figures, including barons of industry who had moved east from Allegheny City to escape the pollution, Mr. Westman said.
First Published February 6, 2012 12:00 am
