We’re living in a Golden Age of Nebbiness, the kind of which Grandma could have only dreamed. Once upon a time, to see inside other people’s houses, you used to have to be invited inside.
No longer. In fact, you can peek into people’s houses all day long online and do everything but look in their fridge (seems like that can’t be far off, though).
It’s not clear why we like to peek inside other people’s homes, but we clearly do. Of course, it’s fun to see inside the palatial homes where, say, a lesser Mellon or a Steeler may have lived (and would still be living, if he could pick up the blitz half as well as Grandma).
But we also like to see houses that people can afford to live in. Pittsburgh has a lot of those! Yes, prices in many places are certainly higher than they were when Pittsburgh was still trying to figure out where its steel industry went. But look at the Bostons or Austins of the world, and you’ll find great houses here for the cost of a parking space there.
Pittsburgh didn’t build much when the economy was bad — which lasted from the ‘70s until maybe five years ago. That means most of our houses are pretty old. It also means you can probably afford to live here, if you’re willing to look around and make some compromises.
Even though the algorithm tells us we want to see “Rustic Ridge Hideaway, ONLY $995,000,” in reality, we mostly want to look at charming, weird little Pittsburgh houses like this:
NORTH SIDE
For sale: 3711 Baytree Street. $199,900. Perry North/North Side
This Perry North house — up in the wooded ravines of the North Side, yet just under $200,000 — brings back memories, and I’ve never seen it before. My grandpa built a house just like this a few miles away (not for sale), because he was a blacksmith and could just build things, a skill I did not inherit. The scent of pierogies and onions along with the Polish security system — a photo of Pope John Paul II gazing benevolently from the wall — don’t come standard, but maybe they should.
The sturdy 1955 brickwork and arched doorway stand out, but it’s the little porch to the left that’s truly outstanding. You can do so much on a front porch; it provides a kind of liminal space between outdoors and inside, letting you take in the neighborhood comings and goings at a polite remove: get some fresh air, fire up the grill, listen to songbirds, keep an eye on the kids, or conspicuously do nothing.
For rent: 523 Suismon Street, Unit #2. $1,100 rent.
Pittsburghers can hold a grudge for centuries. And North Siders can hold a grudge against Pittsburgh for even longer … and they’ve got a point. The North Side feels like its own city (or planet) and for a time, it once was, Allegheny City. And as a thank you gift for accepting annexation without taking up arms, it got its heart ripped out and replaced with a giant concrete blob surrounded by a racetrack, Allegheny Center. Thanks, Pittsburgh!
You, too, can inherit this grudge and wear it like a badge of honor if you rent here in Deutschtown. Sure, you’ll probably visit other parts of the North Side as much as you’d typically visit the Moon (or, well, Moon Township), but you’d probably want the heights around Observatory Hill on your side if push comes to shove with the bigger city again. Deutschtown does have Pittsburgh’s best emerging restaurant row (Siempre Algo, Subba, Fig & Ash, EYV), some lovable old-school ethnic enclaves (Max’s Allegheny Tavern, Huszar), and the kind of fine-grained 19th-century rowhouse vernacular (like this place) that makes walking everywhere easy.
For sale: 5619 Kentucky Ave. $200,000.
Really, a condo in Shadyside for $200,000? The last time Shadyside was a cheap place to live was probably when this place was built, around 1970. “Gentrified” wasn’t even a word; the neighborhood was just regular-old-“fried” because that’s where all the hippies hung out.
It wasn’t a great time for Pittsburgh (unless you were literally a football), or for modern architecture, but a local architect of some renown, Tasso Katselas, designed this building, Kentley House. Katselas’ housing exhibits undeniable creativity and formal rigor. (His terminal at the airport, however, looks exactly like the time of its creation — 1992, sort of like a dented Super Nintendo).
This place has got most of the things you need (central air, two bedrooms, two bathrooms), a thing or two that you don’t (stiff HOA fees, ugh), and walkable proximity to an absurd amount of parks, restaurants, job centers, and world-class universities.
For rent: 5925 Fifth Ave. $1,199-1,849/month
Once, if you made it to the big leagues on Pittsburgh’s Fifth Avenue — ensconced among the big machers and captains of industry — that said something about you. There are even a few of those giant mansions left — the one with the big red bow on it tends to stick out. But most of the housing in this part of the neighborhood is now mid-priced, mid-century apartments for grad students instead of a few robber barons and their servants. And that’s okay; college kids are less likely to send in army of Pinkerton goons to bust up your soiree.
For sale: 312 Anthony Street. $175,000
Pittsburgh isn’t the kind of place where neighborhoods suddenly pop into popularity. The best we can manage is a long, laborious process of gradual improvement, and Mt. Oliver seems like a pretty good candidate. There’s a quiet dignity to homes built for workers a century or more ago, when kept up or rehabbed sufficiently, and this yellow-brick four-square is a perfect example. Inside, it’s a mix of 1926 and today (white walls, steel-grey appliances). Clearly, the tactile pleasure of ripping out smoke-stained ‘70s shag carpet (no, this actually sucks) is just about lost to the ages.
For rent: 527 Ottillia Street. $1,395/month
A big three-bedroom home for rent, deep in the Hilltop’s Mt. Oliver — like many such examples, it’s a steelworker special on the outside, HGTV-lite on the inside. The neighborhood itself is the attraction here, if you’re sufficiently optimistic. Reasons for optimism include a main business district that survived the decades of doom after the steel industry collapsed, with some unique shops and places to eat and room for more. There’s also the example of Allentown’s nascent revival nearby. But Mt. Oliver is definitely its own thing. In fact, it’s not actually part of the City of Pittsburgh that surrounds it — it’s a separate borough. Don’t try to make it make sense.
