Hollywood Place is a plan of narrow little rowhouses built in 1892–1893 in California-Kirkbride, or Calbride as it’s usually called in the neighborhood. There were originally 137 houses, but many have vanished over the years. Today the plan is part of the Old Allegheny Rows Historic District.
The 1890 plat map shows the tract, before the houses were built, as the property of D. Herbert Hostetter, the patent-medicine king. The houses, “built in rows after the Philadelphia plan” (as one newspaper put it), were built for Herbert DuPuy, whose wife, Amy Hostetter, had inherited the property. In 1903, they were swapped for other properties to Frank McCann.
Most of what old Pa Pitt knows about this plan comes from the National Register nomination for the Old Allegheny Rows Historic District (PDF), and we quote the relevant paragraph:
In the early 1890’s the housing market in Pittsburgh boomed due to a tremendous industrial expansion. According to one newspaper report, the type of housing most in demand was small, modestly priced, rental houses. In order to meet this demand, Herbert DuPuy, a noted Pittsburgh industrialist, made plans for a large speculative housing development. The development was to be constructed on six blocks of undeveloped land north of California Avenue that his wife. Amy Hostetter, had inherited. The construction of the DuPuy development began in 1892 and was referred to as “Hollywood place”. When completed, Hollywood place was to consist of 300 to 400, four-to-six-room, row houses. According to contemporary newspapers, the development was based on the “Philadelphia Plan”, apparently a term used to describe planned communities of row houses. DuPuy’s project included architecturally-resplendent houses on the larger streets and modest residences on the alleys. The houses were done in a Victorian vernacular style with sheet metal architectural detailing, and porches on the larger buildings made from standard pieces of millwork. The completion of the project was hindered by the Panic of 1893 and the Homestead Riots near Pittsburgh. Only 137 of the proposed 300-400 row houses were constructed. The scale and style of the “Hollywood place” row housing is unique in Pittsburgh. The development features a number of interesting and varying architectural elements, but at the same time has a mass-produced appearance that is different from the more random developments along Brighton Place.
Here is an epitome of the neighborhood: two houses neatly restored and beautifully kept, one house condemned.
It looks as though some effort was made to restore this house, too, but the effort ran out of steam.
Some of the houses have been put back together on a low budget, with stock parts like the home-center front door on this house.
In spite of the gaps, this view of the sidewalk of Sedgwick Street shows us something of how these streets must have looked when all the houses were standing.
The decorations on these houses were more elaborate than usual for small houses, and the architect must have enjoyed himself planning them.
Note also the carved wood of the window frames in this house, where the decorations have been emphasized in mint green and gold.
The gaps where houses have disappeared can be taken as opportunities for delightful little gardens.
These houses on Morrison Street have been restored to a very high standard.
The long gap on Morrison Street gives us a chance to look at the side of one of the houses, and we can see that it is generously deep. There is more room in these little houses than you would think.
The houses in the eastern section of the plan were built to a simpler design; they may have come later in the development.
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