Flooding and decades of decay may close the doors on a century-old Downtown Pittsburgh church. The congregation — perhaps already mourning the closure — was recently forced out of their sanctuary and into a funeral home for worship services.
Smithfield United Church of Christ, designated as a landmark by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, is a Gothic-style blocky structure with a steel frame wrapped in stone. The church sanctuary is lined with large stained-glass windows that depict the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, as well as the history of Pittsburgh. As Rev. Shannon Garrett-Doege puts it, the building is beautiful. But it’s also very old.
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Rev. Shannon Garrett-Doege sits in the Smithfield church sanctuary. Recent flooding left the space unsafe for services. Her congregation was the fifth the congregation to worship in the space which was originally dedicated 100 years ago this December.
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The Evangelical Protestant Church was founded in 1782 and is the oldest German congregation in Pittsburgh. The original congregation received a land grant from the Penn family in 1787.
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The Gothic-style church was designed by renowned American architect Henry Hornbostel, known for other landmark Pittsburgh structures like the City-County Building and Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall.
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“A lot of people love this building,” she said. “It’s beautiful and it’s historic, but it’s also falling apart.” During a recent storm, Garrett-Doege got a call from a church administrator urging her to come and assess the damage.
“I come down and it’s literally raining in his office,” she said.
Since September, Smithfield United has been holding services at Perman Funeral Home, in Shaler Township since September. It’s a far cry from the stained-glass windows and soaring ceiling of their spiritual home, but roughly three dozen worshippers still dutifully attend Sunday sermons in rows of chairs arranged around a pedestal in the home’s main room.
But Smithfield United isn’t the only congregation worshipping there.
Trinity United Church of Christ in Dorseyville Rev. Dave Mears.
A fire destroyed Trinity United Church of Christ in Dorseyville in May. Rev. Dave Mears has been preaching in the funeral home since July.
“This is our home away from home, and has been probably every Sunday since the first of July,” Mears said.
Now, the two congregations are holding worship services together.
It’s a recent development, but talks between Garrett-Doege and Mears about a permanent merger between their congregations go back about two years. After the respective disasters to their churches, the conversation was reinvigorated.
“We were worshiping here, trying to figure out where we were going to go, what we’re going to do,” Mears said. “And then [Smithfield] got the flood, and so it’s almost like somebody’s going, ‘I told you, people, you can do this.’”
Still, without having to worry about the crumbling structure or peeling paint during service, Garrett-Doege says her sermons are reinvigorated.
“We can just be church, and not be sitting in the pews worrying about the floor, the ceiling, the building, the peeling paint,” Garrett-Doege said. “[It’s] a chance to really worship again, and I think that’s been really rewarding for me as a pastor.”
Although Trinity is set to begin rebuilding next year, the future for Smithfield is less certain.
Smithfield’s stained glass windows were designed by Von Gerichten Studios. The Gothic surface treatment is built around a steel structural frame.
In 2025, repair costs for the downtown building were estimated at $12 million. While church leadership has been looking for an organization to come in and take over the building, the steep expenses and damage has made it hard for Smithfield to find anyone willing to foot the bill.
The process to find Smithfield’s next occupant is ongoing.
No one wants to see the building empty,” Garrett-Doege said. “I do think people are sympathetic.”
If the congregations do permanently merge, their new home would be in the rebuilt Trinity church. Although the joint worship services at the funeral home have been happening for several weeks now, Mears says the congregations aren’t quite ready to combine.
“Shannon and I are in uncharted territory,” Mears said. “And it’s not something that happens a lot. When churches merge, usually, one is absorbed. We’re dreaming of a church with a new name.”
Since Smithfield and Trinity are both part of the United Church of Christ, the churches already share many values, including justice, joy, and liberation. Garrett-Doege says that, as a Black queer minister, it’s one of the few places she can serve.
“If this doesn’t exist, I mean, I have very limited choices for myself,” she said. “But also for the people who come to church because they look like me, or love like me.”
In the coming months, the Reverends expect to keep holding services together at the funeral home. Garrett-Doege’s announcement to Smithfield worshippers after the flooding projected that the temporary relocation would last till the end of October. Now, with the extent of the damage, it will likely continue until at least the end of November.
Even separated from the historic building, the congregation keeps worshipping. The October fourth service had a full house, the largest attendance since Smithfield moved in.
“There’s a lot of grandeur and just mystique in a sense around this land,” Garrett-Doege said. “But I kind of wanted to shed a light and say, guys, it’s okay. Just because this was the first building doesn’t mean it’s the forever building.”