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Old 11-29-2013, 05:15 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Morningside)
14,353 posts, read 17,030,476 times
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The only way that landlords in Pittsburgh will make the outside of a building look nice is if they're compelled due to a historic district. Which is why in large part the biggest organized opponent to the expansion of the Mexican War Streets historic district was a slumlord who owned many properties in the area.
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Old 11-29-2013, 05:33 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
32,936 posts, read 36,359,395 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Q-tip motha View Post
If only all the rental properties could meet your expectations of elegance.


Friend of mine owns a large 3 unit apt building on the north side. Did a pretty nice job with keeping the place up over the years. Tenants in one apt left their teenager to watch their other younger kids while they were running an errand. The teen turns the oven on to heat up leftover pizza, not realizing that one of the adults had left the pizza in a box in the oven. The box bursts into flames of course. Instead of leaving it in the oven the teen tries to take it out and throw it out onto the deck. Doesn't make it that far because as we all know fire = hot. End result is my friend now has a large section of hardwood floor in one of his rentals with scorch marks on it that he'll have to replace, and plenty of smoke damage on the walls and ceiling. Even good tenants are going to cause some significant wear and tear on an apt, just the nature of the beast. Shooting for stunning when renovating a rental is a waste of money.
Still, it's not absolutely stunning - unless you like plastic.
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Old 11-29-2013, 05:43 PM
gg
 
Location: Pittsburgh
26,137 posts, read 25,977,619 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerania View Post
Still, it's not absolutely stunning - unless you like plastic.
It is "stunning" in Lawrenceville. Most places are really run down to be honest. It all depends on where the place is. If it was in Aspinwall, they wouldn't say, "stunning".
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Old 11-29-2013, 06:32 PM
 
2,269 posts, read 3,801,277 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PghYinzer View Post
My grandparents remuddled many a houses in their day, albeit not in Pittsburgh, but in Western PA. I asked my father about this not long ago, why they woudld so such a thing, and it was a pretty simple answer.

In the 1950s and 60s no one looked at a house from 1915 as a historic structure, but rather as their old house. Growing up in these houses, they didnt have carpeting, large windows, and all the "upgrades" we do now. As these became more affordable to the masses, my grandparents were more than happy to cover thier hardwood floors with carpet, put in bigger windows, and drop the ceilings. Now 50+ years later these houses are historic, and some people have money to try to return them to what they once were. At the time however, people wanted to modernize them because they were drafty, outdated, and oftentimes a symbol of being working class. Imagine having the one frame house on your block in South Side with new siding, and fancy new wall to wall carpet. You were the talk of the block. The little old lady who couldn't afford to "upgrade" was considered poor not a forward thinking preservationist.

Keep in mind that Victorian architecture was long in the crosshairs of the modernist movement. The modernists hated what they considered the excesses of the Victorian era. Frivolous ornament and such. "Form follows function", was their motto. At the end of WW2, the cores of the older cities were full of Victorian structures, ranging from 50, to 100 years old, and with the Depression, and the war causing much maintenance to have been put off, many of these buildings were in bad shape. Keep in mind that few of the people in power, would have been around to see these buildings when they were new and beautiful. Thus, the public perception of Victorian architecture was very very negative. This is the mindset that allowed for some of America's best urban neighborhoods to be swept off of the map, as well as for many of the buildings that survived to suffer ugly "modernizations". As with many things from the past, we don't become nostalgic about them, until they begin to disappear. The 1957 Chevy that's a classic now, would have been an embarrassment to have parked in front of your house in 1967.
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Old 11-30-2013, 01:51 PM
 
Location: Due North of Potemkin City Limits
1,237 posts, read 1,949,223 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Herodotus View Post
Keep in mind that Victorian architecture was long in the crosshairs of the modernist movement. The modernists hated what they considered the excesses of the Victorian era. Frivolous ornament and such. "Form follows function", was their motto.
Makes perfect sense.
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Old 11-30-2013, 02:47 PM
 
Location: Awkward Manor
2,576 posts, read 3,093,437 times
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I kind of doubt that the folks in the Lawrenceville of the 1950s cared about either form or function.
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Old 11-30-2013, 04:42 PM
 
Location: Awkward Manor
2,576 posts, read 3,093,437 times
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Of course, it wasn't only back in the day that exteriors were "updated", on N. Neville, just this year, this house:
http://goo.gl/maps/5opVZ

at 314 N Neville, I think, was updated and now looks like this:
http://photos.county.allegheny.pa.us...1&size=350x263

The house was not torn down, it is still underneath all that contemporary stuff.
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Old 11-30-2013, 11:27 PM
 
2,269 posts, read 3,801,277 times
Reputation: 2133
Quote:
Originally Posted by doo dah View Post
I kind of doubt that the folks in the Lawrenceville of the 1950s cared about either form or function.
Probably not, but the modernists set the tone for what was in style during that era. They may not have cared about form or function, but they believed that Victorian styles were dated, and ugly, and thus were more than happy to remove that style from their homes.
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Old 12-01-2013, 05:04 AM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
12,526 posts, read 17,546,779 times
Reputation: 10634
Quote:
Originally Posted by doo dah View Post
I kind of doubt that the folks in the Lawrenceville of the 1950s cared about either form or function.

It was all about putting a roof over your head.
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Old 12-02-2013, 07:06 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
6,782 posts, read 9,595,436 times
Reputation: 10246
Quote:
Originally Posted by Copanut View Post
It was all about putting a roof over your head.
That would seem to fall under "function".
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