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I don’t really follow trends in housing, mostly because they don’t apply to the weird little old houses that comprise the dwindling supply of “affordable” Pittsburgh houses these days.
However, there’s one trend that may need to die in 2025, and that’s ripping out everything that smacks of personality and distinctiveness in favor of a bland, minimalist white/gray (or “greige,” ugh) tedium.
Look, it makes sense to give a house a somewhat neutral palette so others can imagine their own personal touches. But looking at another year of empty, blank white boxes fills me with dread, so I’m going to wish for the opposite.
It’s not a hospital room, it’s a house — fill it with stuff! I want to see mismatched furniture, overflowing bookshelves, embarrassing LPs, medieval suits of armor, unsettling artwork and/or scruffy basements full of incomplete projects and disreputable couches. It’s not crap; it’s the delightful detritus of daily life.
All I’m saying is — if the house you aim to sell has a painting of Pokemon smoking weed, or storyboards for a Mortal Kombat-like fighting game featuring ‘90s Buccos infielders, leave those up for the Zillow pics, please.
For rent: 112 W. North Ave., Apt. 3, Mexican War Streets, $1,395/month.
This beautiful Victorian row house offers all of the advantages of city living (walkability to jobs, stadia, and uh, an aviary) and plenty of disadvantages, like a giant hospital almost next door, with all its attendant sirens and helicopters. West North Ave. is also a contender for the most attractive street of houses in Pittsburgh (though I’d give it to Beech Ave. nearby), so maybe it’s worth enduring some sirens.
For sale: 833 Spring Garden Ave., East Allegheny/North Side, $82,500.
The North Side is really the Wild West when it comes to housing prices. You’ve got a $949,000 house and an $82,000 one on the same block … or, well, they should be on the same block, except somebody ran a gigantic superhighway (279) between them, cutting the cheaper one off from almost all of the North Side’s attractions and amenities (shout-out to Penn Brewery; not them, though). This house was built in 1880, which is comparatively ancient, but clearly didn’t make it out of the 1980s unscathed. If you have a sentimental attachment to wood paneled basements and drop ceilings with big chunks missing, well, this is the place for you. That price leaves some room for improvements, which should probably be done without delay.
For rent: 608 Lockhart St., Deutschtown, $1,250/month.
Deutschtown is such a great urban neighborhood that I wish there was more of it (there was; see above). They just aren’t building them like this anymore, however. Even though we’ve mostly unlearned the mistakes of the recent past (post-1950s; like surrounding everything with a parking lot), the craftsmanship is mostly gone. So we get buildings that adhere to good urbanism principles, with all the appeal of a metal garden shed. Still, Pittsburgh remains a place where good neighborhoods like this haven’t priced out everyone but hedge fund embezzlers … yet.
For sale: 1745 Kleber St., Brighton Heights, $270,000.
This kind of classic Pittsburgh brick four-square is objectively great, but my favorite thing about this place is the snow. Like, they didn’t use a summer photo, and the tracks indicate either little kids having a blast or adults skipping the stairs in favor of a snowy slide down the hill. Yeah, the house could use some new shingles and a coat of paint, but that just means you get to choose the color (even black and gold).
For sale: 3344 Brighton Rd., Brighton Heights, $264,000.
I’m always fascinated by the preponderance of oddly shaped and spaced windows in Pittsburgh homes. We’ve had technologies like, oh, the tape measure for quite a while now, so it must be a choice. Like, people aren’t just furiously building houses and throwing in windows on the fly – are they? I’ve never seen an adequate explanation for this. This house has a lot of deck/porch space, so we’ll overlook that weird little slit window on the second floor.
For rent: 1824 University Ave., Perry South, $1,450/month.
There’s probably a sensible explanation for the oddly-placed, symmetrical blobs of concrete that ring the second floor of this otherwise attractive brick home. Like, maybe there was a Ravens fan who was just a little too vocal and had to be walled in a second-floor dungeon like some hapless Edgar Allan Poe protagonist. Unfair, yes, but understandable — also yes.
This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2025.
