The East Liberty Presbyterian Church tower (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Another one of Pittsburgh’s best kept secrets. I happened to be at East Liberty Presbyterian Church one Sunday morning and I always read the bulletin because each Sunday they put in fun trivia facts about the music and things that happened on this day in history. I noticed they were offering a tour of the building after the service. It was one of those gray summer Sunday’s where I didn’t have anything else planned, so I stuck around and joined a handful of folks for a tour of the building from top to bottom, well it was actually from bottom to top. The tour ended with a hike, well really a climb, up a stunning stair case to the top of the steeple, with an incredible view of East Liberty and surrounding neighborhoods.
You will have to excuse the quality of the photo in this tweet, since it is from 2012, that was several years before I had an iphone and it was likely posted from my little Blackberry pearl phone.
Guess where I took this photo of East Liberty from? pic.twitter.com/KqKPmRwz
— I heart PGH (@iheartpgh) June 24, 2012
I have posted about past tours at East Liberty Presbyterian Church here before and received many thanks for the tip. The next steeple tour is Sunday, June 11, 2017, details here. Wear pants and closed toe shoes.
English: Ralph Adams Cram, American architect (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
East Liberty Presbyterian Church is an architectural gem, designed by famed architect Ralph Adams Cram. The tour gives you a chance to go “behind the scenes” actually, over the ceiling, to see some the interesting structural features. You can read more about Ralph Adams Cram and his work on East Liberty Presbyterian Church in this 2008 City Paper article here.