Carson Street is the commercial spine of the South Side, but occasionally we run across a house left over from the time before Carson was almost exclusively commercial. Most of them have small offices on the ground floors now, but they retain their domestic external appearance. This house strikes Father Pitt as a halfway point between Second Empire and Italianate styles in local rowhouses; it’s notable for its prickly decorative ironwork on the roof.
Built in 1884, this was originally a mansion designed by the prolific and always tasteful firm of Longfellow, Alden & Harlow. It was a gift from his wife to the pastor of the Bellefield Presbyterian Church across the street. It pays to marry a millionaire’s daughter.
Sarah Street is the most splendid residential street in the New Birmingham section of the South Side—the part from 17th Street eastward that was developed after the Civil War. “Splendid” is relative, of course: even the richest parts of the South Side were not millionaires’ neighborhoods. But there are many fine and substantial Victorian rowhouses on Sarah.
Although Carson Street is the commercial spine of the South Side, commercial buildings also sprouted on the back streets, and Sarah Street has some good Victorian commercial architecture. Some of the buildings are still backstreet bars or stores; others have had their ground floors turned into apartments.
Often in Pittsburgh rowhouse neighborhoods there are narrow, tunnel-like passages between the houses that run from the street into the back yards. This one struck old Pa Pitt as especially picturesque and a bit mysterious.
Camera: Canon PowerShot A590 IS.
The South Side Slopes are a vertiginous neighborhood of narrow streets crowded with little frame houses. Traditionally the neighborhood was mostly German Catholic, whereas the flats below were mostly East European. Above, we see the Slopes from the intersection of Sidney Street and 27th; below, a view from 24th Street that includes the back of the old St. Josaphat’s church.
This row of attractive houses is on the west side of 24th Street at the corner of Sidney. Note the arched windows: Richardsonian Romanesque was popular, and filtered down even to this level of domestic architecture.
Camera: Samsung Digimax V4
A particularly fine cluster of Victorian rowhouses on Sidney Street, South Side, near the intersection with 23rd Street.
