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East Allegheny is an old urban neighborhood on the Northside of Pittsburgh, immediately to the east of Allegheny Commons - actually one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, with a few homes remaining from the 1830s, and many from the 1840s and 1850s. It is informally known as Deutschtown, due to the large German settlement of the neighborhood between roughly 1850 and 1900. Although other nearby neighborhoods, like Troy Hill and Spring Hill, also became known for German settlement, East Allegheny remained the social heart of Pittsburgh's German community, anchored by its business district on East Ohio Street.
The neighborhood suffered tremendous losses due to the construction of I-279 N, which was completed in the mid to late 1980s. The project wiped out a city block's width of the neighborhood - more in the southern portions, where the tangle of ramps caused the elimination of much of the neighborhood's old borderlands with the now-defunct neighborhood of Schweitzer Lock, with nothing but the Sarah Heinz House remaining. Further to the north, the adjacent neighborhood of the East Street Valley also met the wrecking ball in its entirety. Many further losses were felt in the decades prior, as construction of the highway was a known factor for some time and property owners presumed they would be bought out by eminent domain - thus ceasing to maintain their properties.
The trajectories of the various portions of the neighborhood began to diverge, with a stark difference between West Deutschtown (which began to improve and gentrify over the past 20+ years) and East Deutschtown (which continued to decline, until very recently, when it began to show some signs of life. I will thus discuss the two areas separately below.
West Deutschtown can be divided into several portions.
The furthest south - found along Avery Street, Lockhart Street, and Pressley Street - has a very distinct vibe. Back in the late 19th century, this was a wealthy area, where well-to-do ethnic Germans in Allegheny City built their houses. As a result, the streets became almost totally dominated by brick rowhouses, often of grander proportions. Due to this quality level of housing stock this area became part of the Deutschtown historic district, and was the first portion of the neighborhood to experience significant gentrification. In the 1990s a major infill project filled in a third of the block between Lockhart and Avery with new-construction townhouses. More recent infill has been so historically minded it's difficult to even notice it's modern construction - a common theme in the neighborhood. While there still are older houses and multi-units being fixed up and flipped in this area, nearly everything which could be infilled has been already, meaning the urban fabric is now pretty much intact.
Next is the East Ohio Street business district itself. Only 2-4 blocks long (depending upon whether you count the north or south cross streets) it is regardless the largest remaining commercial area in the North Side of Pittsburgh. Though in recent years a handful of structures have been lost to demolition, it still remained remarkably intact through the "bad years" of the neighborhood. Up until the last five years or so while most of the businesses were occupied the district catered mostly to lower-income people who came in by foot or on bus from throughout the northside, giving the district a unique vibe for modern Pittsburgh, as a working-class (and often black) business district which was bustling during the day. While few if any shootings actually took place there, it was well known as also being a center for drug dealing in Pittsburgh, which caused many people to avoid the area. In recent years it as begun to change, with more destination businesses locating on the street. This list now includes the Priory pastries shop, Arnold's Tea, Subba Asian (around the corner on Cedar Avenue), Bistro to Go, Park House, and Photo Antiquities, among other businesses.
To the north of East Ohio Street there is an area which was historically a mixture of more modest wood-framed rowhouses and commercial properties. Many homes in this area were lost due to expansion of small manufacturers (particularly along Foreland Street) and simple neglect/demolition. This area has undergone a remarkable transition over the last 10 years which has nearly completely turned it around however. Many existing houses have been rehabbed in largely historically accurate manners, even though they largely are not within the Deutschtown historic district. And many of the vacant lots have now been replaced with infill new construction, which largely keeps to historic styles despite there being no requirement to do so. Much of this has been the work of one development group, October Development, without whom the neighborhood would look very different today. Although this area is technically "back streets" there are many notable commercial destinations in this portion of the neighborhood, including Max's Allegheny Tavern, James Street Gastropub, Artist's Imige Resource, and the new Allegheny City Brewery, making this area one of the most "mixed use" in the city. My hope is eventually that giant city-owned parking lot on Foreland Street will be redeveloped, as it's one of the last remaining pieces in the puzzle.
On the other side of 279 East Deutschtown has not been so lucky. While it never experienced extensive white flight (demographically it's not different at all from the other side of the neighborhood) up until recently it appeared to be on a path of slow decay into urban prairie. Many streets are over half vacant lots, with a fair portion of the remaining houses abandoned and slowly falling apart. There were neighborhood destinations - Penn Brewery, Teutonia Mannerchor, and the aforementioned Sarah Heinz House. There were also several nicer streets remaining, like Wettach and Vinial (which had some amazing rehabs done) but the neighborhood as a whole seemed to be heading straight down.
This appears to have changed, with the neighborhood trajectory now picking up. One of the first signs were the rehab and sale of three historic houses on the 800 block of Tripoli Street. Then, a group bought a historic church on Madison Avenue, turning it into the Neu Kirtche Contemporary Art Center (which unfortunately just announced it is closing). October Development is working on a large new development at the corner of East Ohio and Madison (involving a new hotel, ballroom in the old ARC house, and eventually apartments). And several new businesses (including a coffeeshop) are in the works for Chestnut Street. I have also heard there are infill townhouses being built on Spring Garden Avenue in the neighborhood. This is a big change for a neighborhood that only a few years ago was extatic that a DaVita Dialysis branch was opening up (which had been the first new commercial development in several decades).
Regadless, apologies for the length of this post. Due to the strong divisions between the two portions of Deutschtown I almost felt I had to write twice as much - effectively writing about two neighborhoods - to do it some measure of justice.
I think the house I bought is in one of the worst sections of East Deutschtown, but even there, it is hard to not be really excited. Mr. Renovation has done (or is working on) quite a few houses in East Deutschtown. Within the last year and a half, I know of 2 houses that were quite nicely re-done on Suismon. There is a row of brick houses on Tripoli - two have been re-done and have people living in them, and I think two are being finished right now.
Spring Garden Ave. has a row of three in-fill townhouses, with three more supposedly going in behind them. They're calling this "The Tannery." I think there will be a lot more of this going on... I was told by the community president (or whatever the title is) in passing that, the same developer who did much of the in-fill in Lawrenceville was buying a dozen or so lots in the neighborhood. Alas, I've forgotten the name of the developer.
I walk over to West Deutschtown often, and have my fingers crossed that the development continues to spill over. I really think it is a lovely part of the city. Also, if you have never stayed at the Priory, it is worth it just for the experience. It's awfully cheap too... the handful of times I've been there, the rooms were $109.
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Originally Posted by mbw5100
I think the house I bought is in one of the worst sections of East Deutschtown, but even there, it is hard to not be really excited. Mr. Renovation has done (or is working on) quite a few houses in East Deutschtown. Within the last year and a half, I know of 2 houses that were quite nicely re-done on Suismon. There is a row of brick houses on Tripoli - two have been re-done and have people living in them, and I think two are being finished right now.
Spring Garden Ave. has a row of three in-fill townhouses, with three more supposedly going in behind them. They're calling this "The Tannery." I think there will be a lot more of this going on... I was told by the community president (or whatever the title is) in passing that, the same developer who did much of the in-fill in Lawrenceville was buying a dozen or so lots in the neighborhood. Alas, I've forgotten the name of the developer.
I walk over to West Deutschtown often, and have my fingers crossed that the development continues to spill over. I really think it is a lovely part of the city. Also, if you have never stayed at the Priory, it is worth it just for the experience. It's awfully cheap too... the handful of times I've been there, the rooms were $109.
I think the neighborhood is making positive gains, stay positive. On the naming of The Tannery. Spring Garden was an animal processing area. My office building was part of a complex of animal rendering facilities, then later Old Honesty Soap.
This is one neighborhood I'm very familiar with. I lived in a restored rowhouse on Avery Street from 1988 to 1999. At that time, the neighborhood had had a flurry of rehabs after there was certainty that no more homes would be taken for the highway. The destruction of the middle portions of Avery, Lockhart and Pressley for the I-279 construction was a tragedy for the neighborhood and for years people were not sure what was going to happen because the expressway had been stalled for so long. It's sad that 279 is really just a big moat that cuts through the heart of Deutcshtown and the East Street Valley, but what's done is done.
The house I owned was built in the late 19th century and was pretty grand. Three stories with thick brick walls. No air conditioning was needed because the ceilings were high and transoms helped circulate the air.
The neighborhood is greatly improved since I lived there. As you mentioned, historically accurate infill has restored the street wall and new businesses have opened on E. Ohio Street.
The area has an active neighborhood group and crime is down. Avery Street, when I lived there, had many long-time residents who watched activity out of their windows and everybody knew everybody else.
This is one neighborhood I'm very familiar with. I lived in a restored rowhouse on Avery Street from 1988 to 1999. At that time, the neighborhood had had a flurry of rehabs after there was certainty that no more homes would be taken for the highway. The destruction of the middle portions of Avery, Lockhart and Pressley for the I-279 construction was a tragedy for the neighborhood and for years people were not sure what was going to happen because the expressway had been stalled for so long. It's sad that 279 is really just a big moat that cuts through the heart of Deutcshtown and the East Street Valley, but what's done is done.
I have heard that originally the ramps were going to be configured in such a way that virtually the entire area south of East Ohio and east of Middle Street was to be lost as well (including what became the Priory). It was only community opposition which altered the course enough to preserve more of this area.
Yes, the Priory was originally scheduled to be torn down for a more elaborate series of ramps and overpasses, if you can believe that. The community rallied and some of the ramps were dropped from the plan.
It actually shocks me that they are putting in the hotel (and apparently, 20-something "luxury" apartments) near the arc house. I can see it being lovely in 10 years, but when the hotel is built, the rooms will be overlooking dilapidated buildings. Here's to forward thinkers, I guess!
I remember in high school, a teacher of mine used to tell stories of 279 opposition. He was part of an opposition group at that time named C.A.U.S.E. which stood for "citizens against useless and senseless expressways". You could tell that even a decade + since the project was complete, he still hated that highway with every ounce of his being.
I remember in high school, a teacher of mine used to tell stories of 279 opposition. He was part of an opposition group at that time named C.A.U.S.E. which stood for "citizens against useless and senseless expressways". You could tell that even a decade + since the project was complete, he still hated that highway with every ounce of his being.
As a city resident, what's not to hate? The destruction of many extremely vibrant neighborhoods at the hands of these urban planners was jokishly bad and the mayor's that let it happen should have history corrected to show the truth of their impact on the city.
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