Everyone has a stupid/funny/disturbing Pittsburgh stairs story. I swear that once, in the early days of GPS-aided mapping tools, I was driving somewhere on the South Side Slopes and was instructed to turn right at the next street, only that street was a steep staircase down a cliff, and we all would have died if I listened. Luckily, I never listen.
Some Pittsburgh stairs once appeared on maps as streets, which is sort of accurate if you think walking is a viable mode of transportation (it is!). Personally, I like staircases and think they add character, even if I look askance at a particularly daunting set and remember that three-quarters of what I own is books and records, and I’m not schlepping that stuff up there, no way.
For sale: 5015 Ampere St., Hazelwood, $175,000.
OK, OK, I see you, Hazelwood. That’s a nice staircase, wrapped demurely around the side instead of unfurling straight down the hill like a drawbridge daring lowland-dwelling invaders to get some. I knew this neighborhood would come through; it’s the place in Pittsburgh where you’re most likely to turn down a street and it suddenly disappears into a forest, and you’re left wondering, “Do people still live here? Did they ever?” While some Pittsburgh neighborhoods look like the world ended a while ago and they’re just now finding out, some hilly parts of Hazelwood look like they have comfortably moved on to a more bucolic, less human-centric existence.
For sale: 1209 Termon Ave., Brighton Heights, $255,000.
Full disclosure: a homeowner (not a real estate agent) asked if I’d feature their house for sale. I’m not going to make a habit of this, but I took the tip. Why not? This 1910 home is nice, it’s affordable, and it’s in one of my favorite lesser-known pockets of Olde Pittsburgh. Plus, it’s got a giant back porch overlooking a decent-sized backyard with a little stone path headed back to the shed. Oh, there are the stairs, leading up to the back deck.
For rent: 12 Joseph St., Millvale, $2,000/month.
OK, so that’s a little bit beyond the usual unofficial “affordable” range, but it’s a full four-bedroom house and check out those stairs! Another odd, yet effective adaptation to a topography most cities would never consider devoting to housing.
For sale: 2516 Mission St., South Side Slopes, $249,000.
Front-facing garages are an unsightly reminder of how we tend to prioritize cars over people. And yet, it’s nice to have your car safe and snug inside, without having to hack off icy chunks of Pittsburgh weather it in the morning. Here’s a place that stacks two big porches on top of each other and still manages to sneak in a garage underneath. Not bad! Sure, the streetscape is a little less attractive than the house next door, and that staircase is probably a nightmare to carry up anything bigger than a bag of groceries, but that’s a lot of house in a pretty small footprint.
For sale: 5437 Rosetta St., Garfield, $235,000.
Now this is commitment to the weird-little Pittsburgh-house bit. This cyclopean abode looks down from its cement perch with disdain; clearly, there’s nothing worth seeing down below, or we would have put in windows. Inside, the bright-white walls and laminate floors seem scraped clean of character, but the exterior has more than enough of that. Next door is a truly stellar example of a crumbling, scary city staircase, and off to the other side is an equally ominous “No Outlet” sign.
For sale: 976 Agnew St., Baldwin, $195,000.
Calling myself out — this one doesn’t have stairs, but it’s too interesting not to include. It’s fun when the inside and outside of a house seem like they come from different houses entirely — like this 1942 wood-frame home in Baldwin. It has very rustic look to it, but inside, it’s so contemporary that I feel like I’m looking at one of those shipping-container-looking abominations in Lawrenceville. However, the patina on that real hardwood floor (not the faux-laminate stuff) ties it together. There’s also a giant deck with a fire pit, and a wet bar in the basement. What Yinzer doesn’t dream of slinging Iron Cities on a Sunday night while your buddies second-guess Tomlin?
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2025.
