Dan Antion

Still Driving Around Pittsburgh

Welcome to Thursday Doors! This is a weekly challenge for people who love doors and architecture to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos, drawings, or other images or stories from around the world. If you’d like to join us, simply create your own Thursday Doors post each (or any) week and then share a link to your post in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time). If you like, you can add our badge to your post.

I take full responsibility for the chopped photos and the glare. My brother is a doors aficionado enabler. He would gladly have backed up or turned around for better shots. At some point in the coming weeks, I will share some buildings that we searched for and where he parked and let me walk around. I was able to find a little bit about two buildings in today’s gallery. Below is what I found.

Slovene National Benefit Society’s

Founded on April 6, 1904, SNPJ was initially incorporated as Slovenska Narodna Podporna Jednota, which translates to Slovene National Benefit Society—The Slovene National Benefit Society enjoys a history that stretches back more than a century. Founded on April 6, 1904, SNPJ was initially incorporated as Slovenska Narodna Podporna Jednota, which translates to Slovene National Benefit Society in English. In honor of the founders we have retained our Slovenian initials, and our society is now best known by its original Slovenian acronym, “SNPJ.”

Initially organized to offer affordable life insurance and disability coverage to early Slovenian immigrants, the SNPJ founders established a unique, centralized financial fund that allowed the Society to develop and grow rapidly. Of the thousand or so life insurance companies and fraternal benefit societies operating in America, fewer than a hundred have been in business as long as we have.

SNPJ.org Website

Roxian Theatre – McKees Rocks, PA

1929 – Opened as a 1,500-seat vaudeville playhouse called “The Roxian.” 1931 – 1979 – Three years after opening, movies were incorporated into the business model and continued through the remainder of the Chartiers Avenue theater’s 80-year history.

McKees Rocks Historical Society

I hope you enjoy these and the other photos in the gallery. I want to thank all the participants, and I encourage everyone to check out the doors assembled here from around the world.

Slovene National Benefit Society
The sign is hard to read, but I can make out “Cold Beer” – I’m good
Next to SNPJ – I like how the building follows the terrain
Not a corner door (I think they should move it) but a nice shape for the building
This church is near the top of a very steep hill. That’s not unusual in western Pennsylvania
I am guessing that this was a church at one point. It seems to be home to numerous businesses today.
That would have been the front entrance to what I think was a church
The walls need some help, but the roof line is pretty cool
Sorry I chopped the top off the Baptist church.
Neville Island Volunteer Fire Department
There are two of these units joined into one large apartment complex
This building has too many nice features to ignore. It’s empty, but I hope it finds new life.
We need a little TLC here.
I don’t know what this building is, but I like it.
The Princess Ann apartments
It looks like the unit windows have been upgraded, but I like that they kept these two stained glass windows.
Roxian Theatre – McKees Rocks, PA

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122 comments

  2. Great driving around Pittsburgh again, Dan.
    I just remembered a book character from Pittsburgh, Aunt Sarah Jane “Pittypat” and one of the leaders of Atlanta society – from “Gone With the Wind”! :) So born at the very beginning of the 19th century, she would have “seen” some of these buildings!

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      • It happens to me too, Dan. I write a comment on a blog post and it doesn’t show right away. But it’s up now. Thank you for returning to comment.
        I noticed that if I log into my WordPress account first, then open anther tab and go to a blog to post a comment (and not in Reader), then the comment shows (unless it has to be moderated first).

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    • Thanks. I couldn’t get back far enough to show the whole property in the photo. but I like that they just built into the little ravine. I love it when theaters are saved.

      Your post was most enjoyable.

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  18. That fire station is huge for a volunteer one. (I’m a fireman’s daughter.)

    How big are those apartments in that 1st apartment building in your lineup? It looks as though they could be a decent size.

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    • I think most of those apartments would be nice sized two-bedroom units. My parents had friends who lived in a building like that, and their apartment was large. Of course, I was a kid, so I’m not sure if what seemed large really was.

      Neville Island has a lot of heavy industry, including several chemical plants. And one of the bridges onto the island crosses at one of the plants, so responding to a fire could be challenging. This firehouse is near the beginning of the industrial district.

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  19. The building that you liked (before the Princess Anne Apt. bldg.), that appeared to have had a fire at one time or another appears to be the style that Masons usually built for their members. I’ve seen this style before in small mid-western towns.

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  20. So your brother is an enabler. I think I have an idea of how Doors People drive — or back-seat drive, as the case may be. But what a record you make. There is a real ruggedness in these buildings. I agree it was great that they saved the stained-glass windows; they give a bit of reason for the name. As for the hard-to-read sign, it’s good to be able to pick out the important words.

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    • I was trying not to make him stop too often, but he’s very patient. Driving “Door People” can be a challenge ;-) The Princess Ann is a nice little apartment building, but those windows make the entrance. They did get the important part of that sign right.

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  22. Great tour of Pittsburgh! How many times did your brother say, “C’mon, don’t you have enough pictures yet? I’m hungry.”

    Love the stained glass windows on the Princess Ann building. Glad they weren’t removed. The Roxanne is a good looking building with so many welcoming doors.

    I like the church on the hill, and I hope the Baptist’s are a forgiving group! 🤗

    The home we used to live in was built into the terrain too. At the back of the house, the wall was under ground and the second floor was at normal ground level. When you exited the kitchen on the side of the house, you had to walk up a full flight of stairs to get to the back yard! Imagine the fun I had lugging the lawnmower up those stairs all season. 😡
    Ginger

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    • Western PA and West Virginia offered difficult terrain to build on. If you didn’t like living on a hill, you were hard pressed to find a home. My apartment when I was in college in WV had a grade-level entrance to our living room, but our kitchen was on the third floor. There was an apartment below ours, and a basement under that.

      My brother was most accommodating, Ginger. We went on one actual doorscurrsion, and he stopped, drove around the block and turned around many times. He even points out doors I seem to miss.

      I think the Baptists will settle for that photo. At least I had the doors. I hope you have a nice end of the week.

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    • I think that eye shop is where I got my first pair of glasses (in the 60s).

      They may have built the church high in case the island floods. I remember back in the 90s, I was doing some repair work in the church we were attending. I was replacing drawer tracks in a cabinet for the altar linens. It was so uncomfortable (like working under a sink). When I was done, I crawled out, thinking how much my back hurt. I looked up at a giant Crucifix. So much for my pain.

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  30. Oh wow! I had to do a double take, as you might have when you gathered the info. Or did you know about the link to Slovenia already when taking photos? Indeed, you have found something Slovenian over there! Cold beer goes well with it. I don’t remember ever seeing this building in a photo, even though I used to work for the magazine for Slovenians living abroad and have come across the SNPJ often. I like the building, especially the shape and the sign which still says PROSVETA, which is an old word for education. Extremely well done! I also like the red church, Princess Ann’s and the theatre.

    My post is the last in the Maribor series and contains dad’s high school, a castle, Donkey’s Corner, a church that may seem familiar, and grandma’s. https://manjameximexcessive6.wordpress.com/2022/10/20/thursday-doors-20-10-22-maribor-5/#Maribor#Slovenia#castle

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    • I did know it was a Slovenian social club. When I was in college, I worked for the Post Office in my old home town. We serviced the Post Office in that town (Lawernce). I would deliver the town’s mail in the morning and pickup the outgoing mail in the afternoon, so I was familiar with the building. Pittsburgh has many ethnic enclaves scattered around the city (or it did when I lived there) and ethnic social clubs, as well as organizations that funded their operations by providing insurance.

      I thought you would like it, so I played with the gallery to give it a prominent view.

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  32. I was so surprised to see that Second Baptist Church. We have so many churches in town and every one of them is a first: First Baptist, First United Methodist, etc.
    The inside of the house built into the terrain must be wonderful. At least I picture it being wonderful. Part underground? Way cool.

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    • A lot of churches in that area work with others in other towns. So while one town might only have one Baptist church, it might be Second or Third. Around here, we just created a new town ;) I don’t know if the building in the ravine is a home or part of the Slovenian Social organization.

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  33. I enjoyed the doors, Dan. Your title reminded me of a humorous song that came out as a parody of Ten Days on the Road (and I’m going to make it home tonight.) It was, Ten Days on the Road (and I ain’t out of Pittsburgh yet)

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  37. In the doors you show is the first one – I like the shape of the front – the top and the more squarish shape, and the house on the corner because the attractive colors. Today I have only one image of many doors:) Have a great weekend Dan and thanks for hosting!

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    • Hi Natalie. I just came from your place. I cleaned up my inbox from yesterday and started at the top for today. I love the homes you featured on Ward’s Island.

      I always love seeing a theater being restored as an entertainment venue. There is something special about theaters and churches. I am so glad I decided to add a close shot of those windows. People seem to like them as much as I do.

      I hope you have a great weekend.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  51. […] Welcome to Thursday Doors, a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time). You can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2022/10/20/still-driving-around-pittsburgh/ […]

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  55. Hi Dan – interesting buildings you’ve shown with some informative backstories … your rectangular building could be lovely – not sure about its location though – noisy … cheers Hilary

    Liked by 1 person

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  61. Interesting history of the Slovene Society- forgive my abbreviation. I’ve often wondered how far back helping the disabled in our country went. They were ahead of their time it seems. Nice one!

    Liked by 1 person

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