Allegheny West is one of Pittsburgh’s most pleasant neighborhoods, and Beech Avenue may be the most delightful residential street in the whole city. The street is only two blocks long, but you would be hard pressed to find a better collection of domestic architecture on any street in the city. Add shady trees, a magnificent Gothic church at one end, and literary associations (Gertrude Stein was born here, and Mary Roberts Rinehart lived here when she wrote her most famous novel), and you can see why old Pa Pitt loves this street.
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Sidewalks of Beech Avenue
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A Stroll Down Sarah Street
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.
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A Passage Between Houses, South Side
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.
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Row of Houses on 24th Street, South Side
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
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Houses on Sidney Street, South Side
A particularly fine cluster of Victorian rowhouses on Sidney Street, South Side, near the intersection with 23rd Street.