Where exactly is Regent Square? (Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg: apartment, houses, safe area)

[laidbackmdguy]

Hello all,

Another post...thanks for all the useful information so far. One area I was focusing on was Regent Square for my apartment search...I will be a grad student at Pitt and will probably be at the older end of the age spectrum (42). Therefore, somewhat quieter areas are my preference. I have been relying on the city of Pittsburgh's map of Regent Square and did not consider areas that bordered that...but perhaps that is a bit arbitrary. I have noticed over the past few weeks a few properties on Biddle...part of that is in Regent Square but part isn't.

Is that generally a safe area or does it depend how far east one would go? Thanks,

JR

[grimacista]

I would say that the eastern border of Regent Square is generally considered to be the East Busway but I don't know if that is entirely accurate.

[stevo6]

I would say - if you take Forbes and extend it to the east, Regent Square lies south of that , to Edgewood Ave. and a bit beyond, and between Frick park and the railroad tracks in Wilkensburg- or maybe just short of that. It would include parts of Wilkensburg and Edgewood.
I lived there with my family for about a year, 1 block south of Biddle and near the tracks at the east edge. It was on the fringe- I never felt unsafe during the day, but stuff did happen down that way. It seemed safer a couple blocks further west (towards the blvd. and Frick). Things seem to deteriorate a bit north of Biddle.

[jimmyev]

The area across the Parkway from Regent Square in Swissvale - at least the few blocks I'm familiar with on the east side of the busway at Roslyn Station - are fairly quiet, safe and really cheap, albeit a bit dumpy.

[BrianTH]

The closest you will find to an "official" definition is this one from the Regent Square Civic Association:

Regent Square Civic Association - Street Map



The map is schematic and also a bit inaccurate because Forbes doesn't go all the way to Trenton (the RSCA says to use Union over there).

There are historic and geographic reasons for those boundaries (if you use the terrain function on Google Maps, you can see what I mean). The upshot is that Biddle east of Trenton technically isn't in Regent Square. However, that area east of Trenton and west of the Busway, between Biddle and Hutchinson, and sometimes known as Whitney Park, is a pretty nice area (if not quite as nice as Regent Square itself). And it is more convenient to the East Busway.

[BrianTH]

Oh, and when I was a grad student at Pitt, I lived on East End Avenue north of Forbes, in what is sometimes called Park Place (basically Braddock and East End, plus side streets, between Forbes and Penn). That's another reasonable alternative/addition to Regent Square itself.

[laidbackmdguy]

Thanks for the map...that gives me a broader perspective about potential areas to consider. Also, I wondering where exactly Park Place was....now I know. Thanks again for all the useful information...hopefully I can find a place soon.

[jimmyev]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

There are historic and geographic reasons for those boundaries (if you use the terrain function on Google Maps, you can see what I mean). The upshot is that Biddle east of Trenton technically isn't in Regent Square. However, that area east of Trenton and west of the Busway, between Biddle and Hutchinson, and sometimes known as Whitney Park, is a pretty nice area (if not quite as nice as Regent Square itself). And it is more convenient to the East Busway.

What is the history of Regent Square? It's fairly unusual in Pittsburgh for neighborhoods to cross municipal boundaries, and I'd never heard of Regent Square until moving back here last year. Is it a neighborhood that formed cohesiveness after I-376 sliced Swissvale and Edgewood apart?

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by jimmyev

What is the history of Regent Square? It's fairly unusual in Pittsburgh for neighborhoods to cross municipal boundaries

I don't know if it necessarily crosses municipal boundaries, I think for continuous purposes, both/all municipalities decided to call it Regent Square for identity purposes.

[BrianTH]

Here is a little history:

History of Regent Square

Here is the key part for our purposes:

First. In 1863 Judge William Wilkins acquired a 650 acre L-shaped tract of land in the Eastern environs of Pittsburgh. He eventually hired William Clyde Wilkins (no relation), an engineer and architect, to lay out a subdivision to be called the Devon Plan using street names based on the names of his large family and their relations. The plan was recorded in April 1872 and extended from Hutchinson to Forbes Road (Avenue). It was on both sides of what was then called Park Street (now Braddock Avenue) from Richmond Avenue to Trenton Avenue.

The Wilkins family is the family that Wilkinsburg was named after, and I think it is fair to say that Regent Square began as a residential development designed for use by some of the wealthier people associated with the booming commercial center in Wilkinsburg (in this era Wilkinsburg was a significant stop on the Pennsylvania Rail Road running from Downtown Philly to Downtown Pittsburgh), many of whom were part of this extended clan or business associates thereof.

The story continues:

Second. In 1910 the Devon Plan was extended to include Trevanion Street and a new southwestern sector. In 1913 William E. Harmon of Brooklyn, NY acquired a southern portion of the Devon Plan, and in 1919 he purchased the remaining portions of the Devon Plan, but he named it Regent Place. Eventually in his promotion materials he named the neighborhood Regent Square and touted it as a select area including Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg, Swissvale and Edgewood sectors. . . . In the early states of the development of the Devon Plan, George Westinghouse encouraged some of his executives to build on lots in the southwest section of what is now Regent Square. These large and opulent homes can be seen throughout that neighborhood alongside many smaller houses, particularly the famous "Hulley houses" reportedly designed and built for the "working man", and the distinctive "Scheibler" houses.

I'd note that the original route of U.S. 30, the Lincoln Highway, came through Wilkinsburg to run along Penn Avenue to Downtown. U.S. 30 (including the George Westinghouse Bridge) was the main artery leading to the Westinghouse complex, and so Regent Square was basically along the way between the Westinghouse complex and Downtown Pittsburgh.

Finally, it also helps to understand some local geographic history. Regent Square is actually an interfluvial promontory, which means it is a high spot of land above the confluence of two water courses. Specifically, there is a stream and valley on the west side of Regent Square (the part of Frick Park where Tranquil Trail runs), and there was also a stream and valley that ran down the east and south sides of Regent Square (on the east side of Trenton, crossing Hutchinson and then making a curve approximately where Race Street is, then along where Allenby and Greendale are today). These two stream and valley systems joined up southwest of Regent Square to form Nine Mile Run.

So back in 1863-1910, this would have been a sort of obvious, naturally-defined area. But then in the late 1920s, they buried part of the eastern stream in an underground concrete culvert--you can see where the stream emerges from underground in the part of Frick Park that extends almost to Braddock Avenue. They extended streets over the underground stream and built some buildings on top of it, and so the eastern part of this natural boundary basically disappeared from two-dimensional/street maps. All this pre-dated the Parkway--the Parkway is now running through what used to be this stream valley, and Braddock Avenue is crossing over the underground stream as it also crosses under the Parkway.

So anyway, Regent Square as defined by the RSCA is The Devon Plan, as extended in 1910. It is also the land within the boundaries of this stream and valley system. So while the name basically originated as a marketing device, the area itself does have a historic and geographic basis.