The Newtown Pentacle

Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

As has been mentioned previously, one of my little ‘Pitt Projects’ is devoted to getting to intimately know the place, and this has seen me walking along the ‘long’ streets and avenues found on the central peninsula/spine of Pittsburgh – streets which all ultimately terminate nearby the downtown area at the ‘point’ of the golden triangle.

For this scuttle, I had used a rideshare to drop my sorry ass off over in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and along Fifth Avenue.

Cool architecture, there. Residential, though, which I don’t normally photograph – as it freaks people out when some strange old guy in an orange baseball cap and wearing a Cuban shirt walks up with a camera and starts to take pictures of their houses.

I really prefer the industrial stuff, anyway. Also, liminal spaces like bridges, and railway stations and tracks… tugboats, too… that’s me. I have to keep moving, or I’ll stop moving, so I’m always looking for something to look at while I’m scuttling about. This time around, it’s a section of the Fifth of Pittsburgh’s many Avenues.

During the gilded age, this section was where the millionaires of Pittsburgh lived. In the 19th century, being a Millionaire was quite similar to being a Billionaire in the 21st century.

Whereas I do appreciate a good palace (but prefer castles), it should be mentioned that it’s impossible for me not to be filled with vestigial ‘class rage’ when observing the mansions where these robber barons lived. Maybe it was ‘great’ then, America, but the ‘divvy up’ of the ‘ole cashiola’ sure wasn’t fair.

There’s a reason that workers fought and died for collective bargaining and unionization rights in the Chicago Stock Yards, on the docks of NYC, and in the steel mills of Pittsburgh. A lot of modern corporate America actually still operates under union rules – paid days off, various insurance policies, the 40 hour week, all that HR stuff you need to oblige about health and safety… we collectively owe that generation a debt.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I know that I’ve likely reignited a conversation about ‘Robber Barons’ vs. ‘Captains of Industry’ in the comments section again… sorry, not meaning to be provocative there, but I’ve read a lot more 19th century newspapers, magazines, and technical/scientific journals (in pursuit of Newtown Creek History, n’atch) than most people have and I’ll report to you that America’s post civil war to WW1 period was a freaking political powder keg of inequality and political corruption that was just waiting to blow. FDR and the New Deal staved off a revolution.

Anarchists were blowing stuff up, assassins going after the Capitalists in their offices and on the streets, boom and bust economic chaos, bank failures… there were socialists of different philosophical schools fighting with each other in the streets, the temperance leagues, the rise of organized crime, the decaying power of Tammany in NYC… it was… not a great time. There was a real scent of revolution and class war in the air back then.

The ‘millionaires row’ section here in Pittsburgh, though, that’s what this post is about. All else above is context for a forgotten time.

A lot of these buildings have been carved up into apartments, hotels, or condos and many provide student housing for the kids at Carnegie Mellon and Pitt. Saying that, and despite my working class contempt for this sort of situation, there are some fine looking buildings on display in this stretch. Here’s a link in Google Maps that’s centered in on one of these structures, which is pictured below, that has been converted over to a luxury short stay hotel. Why not use street view and have a quick ‘look around’ the area for yourself?

I often/almost always use street view to ‘scout’ a bit before I commit to a walking path. Gives me an idea of what to look for, and which lenses and or gear to bring with me.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It was a warm and summery day in Pittsburgh, and it was late in the afternoon during this scuttle.

Speaking of gear; I was carrying a fairly minimal ‘kit’ with me. A zoom lens on the camera, and a few ‘fast’ primes in a sling – bag just in case I found myself wandering into a church or something. In the end, I only used the zoom and stayed out of doors, but it’s better to not need something that you’ve got with you than to need something which you left at home.

I kept on thinking about my pal Kevin Walsh from Forgotten-NY, who would have likely loved this particular walk. Right up his alley, as it were.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

As mentioned, a lot of student housing was on display. It was an interesting potpourri of styles and eras, as you could see various architectural epochs playing out in wood and stone. Brutalist, gothic, mid century modern, you name it.

All of this is set against Pittsburgh’s crazy terrain. This area is somewhat level and flat, as a note. Shadyside and Oakland seems to have been built on a bit of a plateau, up in the hillocks.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The McCook family estate, that’s what that is. A landmark, it was built as a private home for the family of one of Henry Clay Frick’s lawyers. It’s a landmark property, built between 1906 and 1907.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This structure is a real beauty, as far as vampire mansions go. The Negley–Gwinner–Harter House is located at 5061 Fifth Avenue, and apparently this area is still in the neighborhood of Shadyside. Another landmark, this building is owned privately.

On, your humble narrator scuttled.

Forward, ever forward – now – more than ever.

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