Restore Fairhaven UMC's Good Shepherd Window

The building that Fairhaven United Methodist Church calls home was built in 1907. It was designated as a Pittsburgh Historic Landmark in 2013 by Pittsburgh’s City Council and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

 

Fairhaven United Methodist Church is located at the intersection of Routes 88 and 51, also known as Saw Mill Run Boulevard, in the Overbrook section of Pittsburgh. It is the last building that remains from the village of Fairhaven, a coal mining town through which  bituminous coal from the South Hills was transported to the Monongahela River.

Fairhaven Church is known as "the Country Church in the City" because it is a simple wooden structure, now surrounded by concrete and interstate highways. Everyone who travels on Route 51 during their morning and evening commutes to and from Pittsburgh will recognize the church by its large front window and the bulletin board that sits in the front yard and displays different pithy and memorable phrases every week.

The building’s most outstanding feature is its stained-glass windows. The windows were designed by the Rudy Brothers Studio in East Liberty and are among the most unique in Pittsburgh. The Rudy Brothers designed stained-glass windows for many churches in Pittsburgh. The fact that a premier glass studio designed this humble country church’s windows is a testament to the vision and fundraising abilities of Fairhaven Church’s founders.

In order to maintain this landmark in a condition for future generations to appreciate, money needs to be raised for the restoration of the church’s stained-glass windows.

Eight years ago, the church began a fundraising effort called Save The Windows. Since then, over $100,000 has been raised through private contributions and the Historic Landmark Foundation’s Religious Grant Program. To date, nine of the church’s windows have been restored.

The window that serves as the church’s centerpiece, and faces Route 51, is the Good Shepherd Window. Its deterioration is approaching a critical level and it is in need of restoration within the next year. We are grateful for your commitment to preserving this historic--and living--building!