Charles F. Bartberger
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[](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/St._Paul_of_the_Cross_Monastery_Church%2C_South_Side_Slopes%2C_Pittsburgh%2C_west_front%2C_2015-04-19%2C_01.jpg)
##### St. Paul of the Cross Monastery Church
Not to be confused with [Charles M. Bartberger](architects-charles-m-bartberger.html), his son. The two Charles Bartbergers are confused all over the Internet, but most Bartberger buildings are the work of the son; only a few of the father’s works have survived, though some of the vanished ones were considerable and important buildings.
We take a short biography from a [*Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased)*](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015016627583&seq=44&view=2up) by Henry F. Withey & Elsie Rathburn Withey (Los Angeles: New Age Publishing Co., 1956; copyright not renewed). It spells the architect’s name wrong throughout, and it makes several other blunders (St. Philomena is “St. Philomon”; Bartberger’s partner Dietrich is spelled two different ways in two lines); but it is the best we have so far.
> BARTHBERGER, CHARLES. (1823–8/19/1896) Pittsburgh, Pa. (A.I.A.) He was born and educated at Baden, Germany, and at the age of twenty graduated at the Polytechnic Institute in Carlsruhe. Migrating to the U. S. in 1845, the youth settled at Pittsburgh, and after beginning professional practice there, became one of the leading architects in the city, the first to have had the benefit of foreign training.
>
> In his early work Mr. Barthberger designed a number of buildings which were erected in cities of western Pennsylvania and the eastern part of Ohio. Later, after 1885 he was associated in partnership with Ernest C. Diedrich (see), and under the firm name of Barthberger & Dietrich specialized in ecclesiastical work. Among the noted churches in Pittsburgh built from the firm's plans were: St. Paul's Cathedral; the 18th Street Presbyterian Church; St. Philomon's, and the Episcopal Church of St. Matthew. Mr. Barthberger also was architect of a bank building on Fifth Street and the I. O. O. F. Hall, afterward occupied by the Opera House. In later years his son, C. M. Barthberger, was associated with his father in practice.
>
> —*References:* Obit., The Inland Architect, Oct., 1896; Architecture & Building News, Sept., 1896.
A little more information comes from a later biography of Charles M. Bartberger, the son:
> Mr. [Charles M.] Bartberger is a son of Charles and Agatha Bartberger, of Pittsburgh. Charles Bartberger was prominent in the fifties, sixties and seventies in Pittsburgh; his son is only following in his footsteps in making a life-work of the art of architecture, for Charles Bartberger was an architect of unusual talent, one of the finest examples of his work being the old St. Paul's Cathedral, which was located on the corner of Grant and Fifth streets, and is well remembered by most older residents of the city to-day. He was also the architect of the old First Presbyterian Church, which stood at the corner of Sixth avenue and Wood street, being built in the early fifties. Charles Bartberger had the unique distinction, not altogether a pleasant one, of having been injured in the first wreck on the Pennsylvania railroad, and was on that occasion attended by Dr. McClellan, father of General George B. McClellan. He died in August, 1896.
###### —[History of Pittsburgh and Environs](https://archive.org/details/historyofpittsbu05inflem/page/4/mode/2up), American Historical Society, Inc., 1922.
Father Pitt knows of two major buildings by Charles F. Bartberger remaining in Pittsburgh, both churches:
[St. Paul of the Cross Monastery Church](https://fatherpitt.com/2015/04/19/st-paul-of-the-cross-monastery-church-south-side-slopes/), 148 Monastery Street, South Side Slopes (1854)
[St. Michael’s Church](https://fatherpitt.com/2022/08/30/st-michaels-church-and-rectory-south-side-slopes/), 1 Pius Street, South Side Slopes (1861)
In addition, Father Pitt thinks the [First Methodist Episcopal Church](https://fatherpitt.com/2021/07/19/polish-falcons/) of East Birmingham on South 18th Street, later the Polish Falcons and now Falcon Court, is probably the “18th Street Presbyterian Church” mentioned in the bio above. It requires assuming that “Presbyterian” is an error for “Methodist,” but considering the other errors in the text, that is not an outlandish assumption. There is another 18th Street in Pittsburgh, in the Strip, but old maps show that it never had a church on it, and this church, which appears to have been built before 1872, is the right age to be a Charles F. Bartberger design.
Some architectural historians also suggest that Bartberger may have been the main architect of [St. Mary’s in Dutchtown](https://fatherpitt.com/2024/06/04/st-marys-church-dutchtown/), which is usually attributed to its pastor, Father John Stibiel.
[](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Uxor_Way%2C_South_Side%2C_Pittsburgh%2C_2023-06-12.jpg)
##### St. Michael’s Church