Penn-Liberty Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Along Penn and Liberty avenues in downtown Pittsburgh stands a dense group of loft and commercial buildings, most four to ten stories tall, built between the 1870s and about 1930. Their cast iron fronts, Queen Anne brick and stone ornament, rock-faced Richardsonian Romanesque facades and classical terra cotta work show how local commercial architecture changed over six decades. Architects Charles Bickel and James Steen designed several of the buildings, including the Ewart and Maginn buildings of 1891 and 1892 on Liberty Avenue. Narrow lots extend from the street to rear alleys such as Exchange Way and Garrison Place, which gave service access. The district records Pittsburgh's postwar role as a regional distribution center, served by rail lines and the rivers, and its specialization in housewares and furnishing businesses at the end of the nineteenth century. Most buildings retain their upper-floor integrity, although many street-level shopfronts have been modified.