
Sixth Street in the theater district, seen from the Penn Avenue intersection.
Camera: Canon PowerShot A590 IS.
Penn Avenue downtown in the theater district. Above, looking west from Seventh Street; Theater Square (designed by Michael Graves), with the Greer Cabaret Theater and the Public Theater, is on the right, and Heinz Hall is on the left at the end of the block. Two Gateway Center looms at the end of the street. Below, from Sixth Street, with the Phipps-McElveen Building and the old Horne’s department store on the right, and Two Gateway Center looming closer.
When the New Urbanist SouthSide Works development was built, the Town Square here on Sidney Street was clearly meant to be its retail heart. But it also lined a previously empty stretch of Carson Street with new storefronts in architecture cleverly echoing, without imitating, the Victorian shops of the old South Side. In effect, it extended the prosperous Carson Street business district a few more blocks. The result has been that the Carson Street side prospers, while the Town Square has had some trouble filling vacant storefronts. Nevertheless, the prosperity of Carson Street, as it continues to grow, should leach into the Town Square.
Camera: Canon PowerShot A540.
In the distance, the Tower at PNC Plaza looms over the next block.