Penn-Liberty Historic District

Penn-Liberty is a cluster of four- to ten-story loft and commercial buildings in downtown Pittsburgh, most dating from the late 1800s and early 1900s, arranged between Penn and Liberty avenues from Seventh to Tenth streets. Its buildings range from Italianate cast iron fronts of the 1870s and Queen Anne brick and stone blocks of 1884 and 1886 to Richardsonian Romanesque work by Charles Bickel from 1891 and 1892 and classical designs such as the Bingham Building of 1905. Rear alleys such as Exchange Way and Garrison Place gave service access to nearly every building. The district reflects Pittsburgh's rise as a distribution center served by rivers and railroads after the Civil War, when the city handled a large share of national freight. Most of the buildings survive with a high degree of integrity despite altered street-level shopfronts, and the district marks the downtown's shift toward specialized retail zones at the end of the century.