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Originally Posted by Dblcut3
Going back to Schenley Farms in Oakland (Pittsburgh), I really think this is a perfect example of a neighborhood that should be preserved. I have no doubt that if there wasn't a huge movement to keep it how it is that it would be overrun by boring run-of-the-mill apartments and ugly mid-rise office buildings. Frankly, having a mix of historic mansions and mid-rise buildings would feel very strange and would ruin their neighborhood's character. I think it was an endangered neighborhood due to the growing campuses around it, making it a perfect candidate for preservation.
I personally believe that new buildings in old neighborhoods should try their best to fit in with the architecture/characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood. If not, you get a historic neighborhood with really random and often ugly modern buildings mixed in - this in turn ruins the fabric of the historic neighborhood.
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I was sort of playing devil's advocate with Schenley Farms. However,
on this location nearby, there were formerly six historic homes (one is around the corner on the cross street.
They have since been demolished to make way for a new residential high-rise now under construction (329 units). I actually knew a few preservationists who were trying to save them, but it was, IMHO, the wrong idea, because those apartments (which are student-focused) will actually save tons of homes from becoming student slum rentals.
Now, there are differences of course. Although those homes were grand Victorians in their time, most of them had been chopped up inside into apartments. Many had unsympathetic facade changes like porch removal (common in Pittsburgh for rental housing) as well. And that area was mostly converted over from single-family homes to dense multifamily decades ago, so this was just finishing the job. Honestly in general if there's no hope of a remuddled chopped-up single-family home ever being properly restored, I'm A-OK with it being replaced by higher-density multifamily.
I wasn't so much arguing that Schenley Farms should lose historic designation, than I was making the point that if it didn't have protection, it would likely be part of North Oakland's high-density belt and/or Pitt's campus, which would, arguably, be a higher and better use today.