Mexican War Streets Historic District,

Pittsburgh's North Side holds a 100-acre district of brick and frame houses built mostly between 1846 and the 1860s, when a building boom followed the first construction of 1846-1847. The streets were named for battles of the Mexican War, and the houses range from Greek Revival and Italianate townhouses to a row of three-story Romanesque masonry houses on Buena Vista Street and early 20th century brick houses with corbelled cornices and stone belt courses. Most are two or three bays wide and two to four stories high, and many retain brick sidewalks. The neighborhood declined from the 1920s through the 1940s, and in 1966 the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation began buying the most deteriorated houses and restoring them. Its work included mixed-income housing, a method the nomination describes as new to preservation groups. Restored interiors kept original marble fireplaces, oak mantels and high ceilings, and the district is cited as an example of restoration combined with urban renewal.