Pittsburgh Arts & Entertainment Winter 2013 | Page 19
Street views
Museums
Saved by the foundations
Robinson later became the mayor of Allegheny, and
Allegheny was annexed by Pittsburgh.
What does the area look like?
Residents living in the Mexican War Streets had
almost everything they needed in walking distance.
There were grocery stores, a dairy, pharmacies, a
doctor, firehouse and police station.
W Jefferson St
E Jefferson St
Monterey St
When cars became available, many of the residents
started to migrate to the suburbs. The neighborhood
started to fall apart.
Jacksonia St
Mattress Factory
Arch St
N Taylor Ave
Sherman Ave
Palo Alto St
Buena Vista St
Although the style of architecture is called “Victorian,” it is instead build to the era of Queen Victoria’s
reign and the styles include the Greek Revival,
Queen Anne, Italianate, the French Second Empire
and Richardsonian Romanesque. However, many of
the houses incorporate more than one of these
styles as well as traces of façade remodeling.
Brighton Rd
Finally, in the late 1960s, organizations, such as
Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation and
the Mexican War Streets Society, had to intervene to
prevent the neighborhood from being demolished.
Alpine Ave
Eloise St
Today, the general boundaries of the almost
exclusively residential neighborhood are Brighton
Road and Federal Street on the east and west and
North Avenue and Jefferson Street on the south and
north. The Society also conducts an annual House
Tour to show off the neighborhood’s intimacy and
unity of scale.
Where did these streets come from?
A banner hangs in the streets honoring the street’s strong
historical ties to the region.
1846 to 1848 Mexican American War
1848 to 1855 Gen. William Robinson returns
from the war and lays out the
“Buena Vista Tract”
1872 Neighborhood is well-settled
1907 City of Allegheny annexed by
Pittsburgh
1920 Many residents migrate to the
suburbs
1960 Urban planners slate area for
demolition; historical societies
step in
1975 Mexican War Streets Historic
District listed in the National
Register of Historic Places
2008 District added an additional 288
building
W North Ave
203