I've been doing a little shooting on the North Side lately. Until 1907, the North Side was the separate city of Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Allegheny was home to many of the regions elite, and the remaining housing from that era reflects that. This first thread will take a look at three adjacent neighborhoods; Manchester, Allegheny West, and California-Kirkbride.
Manchester, the largest of the three, was founded in 1832, and was named after the city in England, where some of it's founders had come from. The western section of Manchester, along the Ohio River, was given over to various industrial pursuits, while the eastern two thirds became residential. The streets nearest to the factories, and those near the railroad tracks to the north were built up with row housing. The southeatern section of Manchester, was filled with high end attatched housing, semi detatched houses, and small mansions. These attracted people in the professional classes. The heyday of Manchester, was from about 1870 to 1920. After 1920, many of the families relocated to the growing suburbs, or to the more trendy East End. Manchester remained intact, but slowly declined during the 20's, 30's and 40's. Urban renewal in the 1950's had a devastating effect on Manchester. 8,000 very poor people were displaced by the clearing of the Lower Hill District, and many ended up in Manchester. The decline of Manchester accelerated, and by 1960, it was a very bad slum. A highway sliced through the western third of the neighborhood, separating the industrial area away from the residential. The housing that remained in the western third was razed, and the land given over to industry. The southernmost part of the neighborhood fared very poorly indeed. Despite having some of the most impressive housing in the city, the deterioration had become so severe, that nearly everyting south of Western Avenue was razed.
Today, there has been some renovation of the remaining housing. Much of the southern half of the neighborhood is very nice, but the northern section is in poor shape. Crime is a problem, though it has declined from 20 years ago.
Manchester
The houses along North Avenue are fine.
Crazy stuff like this is common in Pittsburgh. This was likely here before the good stuff was built.
A pair of diamonds in the rough.
The roof of the third house has collapsed, threatening the entire row. I can't understand why nothing is being done.
Two houses are missing from what was once a long row.
Think the other two owners might get the hint and do some painting?
These blocks have improved greatly since a nasty Housing Authority apartment building was removed.
Some nice buildings in the not so nice part of the neighborhood.
This building is too nice to let rot.
This is nice stuff here.
A fire has damaged the second house in this fantastic group. City "planners" had this block scheduled for a date with the wrecking ball back in the 60's. Other great blocks weren't so fortunate.
Appropriate infill.
I saw this row somewhere in Philly.
Allegheny West, lies to the southeast of Manchester. The super rich lived in huge townhouse style mansions along Ridge Avenue. Most of these were razed during the late 60's, but a few remain. This is a small area that still needs some work, but there are some very very nice blocks here. There is also a commercial district that is not bad, but could get quite a bit better.
Allegheny West
I shot a wedding here a few months back. The owner has invested 1 million dollars in the building. there are also outbuildings in the rear.
An H. H. Richardson original.
The red one has Cincy style window hoods. Semi circular hoods are common in Cincy, but rare here.
The yellow house was just rehabbed!
This ugly monstrosity, part of the Community College of Allegheny County, replaced several nice robber baron mansions.
California-Kirkbride is a small area north of Manchester. This was once part of Manchester, but was cut off when the Pennsylvania Railroad ran it's main line through the area in the 1850's. This is one of the truly devastated areas of Pittsburgh. This neighborhood was all rowhouses, some of which were very nice. A Philadelphian builder might have been involved in it's development, because many of the rows had a very strong Philly look to them, moreso than any other rows I've seen in Pittsburgh. This area declined along with Manchester, but the destruction is nearly complete here. There are still some nice houses left, but I don't hold out much hope here.
California-Kirkbride
These look very Phillyish to my eyes.
Imagine how good the block filled with these on both sides must have looked when they were new.
California Avenue was once lined with impressive houses like this. A fire a few years back, took out the most impressive group.
How long will the occupants of the house on the left remain living there. No one wants to live next to an open shell.
These underwent an extensive rehab in the early 70's. Now they are wrecked again.
It's just gotta make you sick. Some newer cities would kill for some of these. Here, we throw them away.
Brightridge Pl. was the grandest street in this neighborhood. I bet the original owners were bursting with pride when they moved in. How stunned they would be to see their once lovely street today.
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