Old Allegheny Rows Historic District

Old Allegheny Rows is a residential neighborhood of about 353 buildings in the California/Kirkbride area, across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh. Nearly all of it was built between 1870 and 1900, laid out on a street grid with a gentle rise toward the north. Most buildings are two- to three-story brick row houses, often with Mansard roofs, dormers, bracketed or corbelled cornices and stone or wood lintels. Styles include Richardson Romanesque, Italianate and Victorian vernacular. About a quarter of the buildings form a rental rowhouse development put up in 1892-93 by Pittsburgh industrialist Herbert DuPuy, with polychromed brick, stamped metal cornices and millwork porches. Three groups stand out: a row of four Richardson Romanesque houses, a row of fourteen Victorian vernacular houses, and the Art Deco New Brighton Theater of 1928. The district sits between the smaller, earlier Mexican War Streets and the grander Manchester houses, and its speculative character distinguishes it. Only five structures are intrusions.