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Pittsburgh: Then & Now
Pittsburgh Then and Now matches historic images of the early city with modern photographs that show the city as a compact blend of old and new buildings. Downtown, the office blocks are punctuated by the traces of Pittsburgh's industrial heritage, the so-called "sliver" warehouses . Further out, there are older stone structures such as the Burtner House and the block house at Fort Pitt.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 24, 2024
A series of matched historic and contemporary photos of the city and its immediate environs with an emphasis on architectural styles.
January 25, 2012
Walter C. Kidney, Pittsburgh Then and Now (Thunder Bay Press, 2004)
In the decade or so since collections of photobooks that are solidly grounded in place became all the rage (think Arcadia Press' Images of America books, or the myriad photobook offerings from The History Press), I've often thought that bookstores, which tend to focus on stocking local fare, are missing some great opportunities where these things are concerned; they've always struck me as being more for the armchair traveler than the local historian (who's probably seen it all anyway). I have lived for the past eighteen years in and around Cleveland, and while the Cleveland books by both presses have interested me, the best of the bunch I've found have been William Burg's excellent works on San Francisco (a city I've never visited) and Lisa Heidinger's thoughful Arcadia book on Sedona, AZ.
While I have lived in Cleveland all these years, I grew up all over the mid-Atlantic, spending eleven of my formative years in greater Pittsburgh. Walter Kidney's Pittsburgh Then and Now is the first book of this type that's made me understand that there is more to these books than armchair travel; it's the first one that's really dug up that sense of nostalgia in me. Though, I grant you—I last lived in western Pennsylvania in 1990, so there's still an armchair-traveller aspect to my enjoyment of this book, I think.
Be that as it may, the “then and now” aspect of the book is an interesting twist on the usual “here's a batch of old photographs” standard: in this case, the photographs were assembled, and then a recent photograph, taken from as close to the same place and with the same angle as possible, is added for the purposes of comparison. It's a likable conceit, and it gives a much starker indication of how things have changed over the years. Again, I'm pulled back to the armchair-traveler thing, since my own last view of most of these landmarks happened over a decade before the recent pictures were taken, so I have a kind of timeline thing going on here, as well; it makes me think that, while that would be extremely difficult to put together after the fact, a book of photographs by decade of the same spot would be a truly wondrous thing. This one is a good step on the way, though I admit my own mental pictures may have influenced my enjoyment here. Others either more or less familiar with the territory may, probably will, see it differently. *** ½
In the decade or so since collections of photobooks that are solidly grounded in place became all the rage (think Arcadia Press' Images of America books, or the myriad photobook offerings from The History Press), I've often thought that bookstores, which tend to focus on stocking local fare, are missing some great opportunities where these things are concerned; they've always struck me as being more for the armchair traveler than the local historian (who's probably seen it all anyway). I have lived for the past eighteen years in and around Cleveland, and while the Cleveland books by both presses have interested me, the best of the bunch I've found have been William Burg's excellent works on San Francisco (a city I've never visited) and Lisa Heidinger's thoughful Arcadia book on Sedona, AZ.
While I have lived in Cleveland all these years, I grew up all over the mid-Atlantic, spending eleven of my formative years in greater Pittsburgh. Walter Kidney's Pittsburgh Then and Now is the first book of this type that's made me understand that there is more to these books than armchair travel; it's the first one that's really dug up that sense of nostalgia in me. Though, I grant you—I last lived in western Pennsylvania in 1990, so there's still an armchair-traveller aspect to my enjoyment of this book, I think.
Be that as it may, the “then and now” aspect of the book is an interesting twist on the usual “here's a batch of old photographs” standard: in this case, the photographs were assembled, and then a recent photograph, taken from as close to the same place and with the same angle as possible, is added for the purposes of comparison. It's a likable conceit, and it gives a much starker indication of how things have changed over the years. Again, I'm pulled back to the armchair-traveler thing, since my own last view of most of these landmarks happened over a decade before the recent pictures were taken, so I have a kind of timeline thing going on here, as well; it makes me think that, while that would be extremely difficult to put together after the fact, a book of photographs by decade of the same spot would be a truly wondrous thing. This one is a good step on the way, though I admit my own mental pictures may have influenced my enjoyment here. Others either more or less familiar with the territory may, probably will, see it differently. *** ½
October 13, 2015
Another lovely PHLF book featuring old photographs of the Pittsburgh area, along with a more modern counterpart. I especially appreciated the pictures where not too much has changed.
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May 1, 2009History,Pittsburgh,Architecture
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews