Schenley Farms Historic District (Boundary Increase)
The National Park Service has not published a boundary polygon for this district; the map shows the listed properties inside it and the district's reference point.
Why it's listed
Bellefield Dwellings is a ten-story apartment building on Centre Avenue in Pittsburgh's North Oakland neighborhood, completed in 1904 to a design by New York architect Carlton Strong. Its red brick facades are ornamented with limestone and terra cotta, including belt courses, quoins, rusticated piers, bracketed cornices and projecting balconies. A back-to-back E-shaped plan admitted light into the apartments. Built for the Schenley Farms development led by Franklin F. Nicola, it was the first high-rise apartment house in the city and was intended for professionals and upper-income residents who worked at nearby institutions. The building is significant for its planning role in Nicola's City Beautiful neighborhood and for its Italian Renaissance Revival architecture. It has undergone few alterations and retains its original masonry, siting and main entrance.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · catalog entry. Generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29).
| Period of significance | 1898-1940 |
|---|---|
| Styles | Italian Renaissance Revival |
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Community Planning and Development |
| Acreage | 0.6 |
| Boundary source | not published |
| Full listing page | Schenley Farms Historic District (Boundary Increase) (property record) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.