St. Peter & St. Paul Greek Catholic (now Ukrainian Orthodox) Church, Carnegie, Pennsylvania, designed by Titus de Bobula

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Our friend Father Pitt has been very slowly building a reference to Pittsburgh architects and other things called Father Pitt’s Pittsburgh Encyclopedia, whose slow growth probably frustrates more readers than just Dr. Boli. But our patience was amply rewarded by a long article yesterday on Titus de Bobula that revealed a little more about our famous Art Nouveau ecclesiastical architect than most of us had ever known before. It is probable that, among the thousands of architects who have plied their trade in Pittsburgh, several held opinions extreme enough to justify us in calling them Nazis. There seems to have been only one, however, who actually went into partnership with Adolf Hitler. “You seize Bavaria; I’ll take over Hungary.”

The first half of the article deals mostly with de Bobula’s pioneering role in the introduction of reinforced-concrete construction. It is fascinating to students of architectural history, but the rest might want to skim until the demon of weirdness begins to take over the architect’s personal life about halfway through. Look for the words, “In 1904, de Bobula was tried for voluntary manslaughter…” That is where the story begins to pick up. If your jaw does not begin to dangle a little lower as you read, you may return the article for a refund of the five minutes or so you spent with it.

Titus de Bobula, from Father Pitt’s Pittsburgh Encyclopedia.