I found most of these on the Historic Pittsburgh Images Collection site.
Historic Pittsburgh Images (http://images.library.pitt.edu/)

What a fantastic site. I pity you if your city doesn't have something like this.


A fantastic shot taken on Wood Street, Downtown.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516274.jpg


Old aerial shots
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516275.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516276.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516277.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516278.jpg



Then and now in Lawrenceville.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516279.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516280.jpg


This shot of Downtown, taken before the widening of Second Avenue into the Boulevard of the Allies, shows that the transformation of the triangle from a residential area to one strictly dedicated to commerce, was not yet complete. The rowhouses along Second would fall when the street was widened in the 1920's.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516281.jpg


Is this enough streetlife for you? Fifth Avenue and Smithfield just after the turn of the century.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516282.jpg


Dense enough for you. The rectangular building to the left, near the bottom is Duquesne University's Canevin Hall. It is pretty much the only thing in the photo still standing. The rows of houses in the foreground were lost to the university's expansion during the 50's and 60's. The buildings in the background were lost when the Lower Hill was razed in 1956.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516283.jpg


Forbes Avenue in Oakland. Most of this still stands, though the building with the porch has been greatly altered. (see this building later in the thread)
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516284.jpg


The North Side, south of East Ohio, and between Cedar, and I-279. Note the cleared area along the right edge of the photo. I-279 was built here.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516285.jpg



The large building in the upper left hand corner was the Loews Penn Theatre. This was transformed into Heinz Hall in 1971.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516287.jpg


Super density. The Lower Hill before it was razed.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516288.jpg


The large Jones & Laughlin Steel complex used to dominate the Monongahela inside the city. Gone now.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516289.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516291.jpg


The Mexican War Streets area. Our shortsighted leaders wanted to take the wrecking ball to this area. Thank goodness they failed.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516292.jpg


High end housing in Manchester. Gone. :shrug:
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516294.jpg


Central North Side before it's obliteration. Save the area to the left of the park, and a few major structures, everything in this photo, up to the river is gone.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516295.jpg


The Iroquois Apartments. Brand new, (1901).
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516296.jpg



The Iroquois now. If you look just to the left of the Iroquois, you can see the porchfronted house shown in the earlier Oakland pic. It has an awful looking front pasted to it.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516297.jpg


Soho. Pretty much everything but the bridge still stands. During the demolition of this bridge in 1978, a worker let his legs dangle in holes that had been cut in the superstructure to allow placement of explosives that would bring the bridge down. The weakened steel shifted, trapping the guy's legs. It was determined that trying to cut him out might bring the thing down right there, so they had to amputate both legs to free him. No anesthetic either.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516298.jpg


Soho/Uptown. There are a lot of holes in the fabric, but most of this still stands.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516299.jpg


South Side. Showing the Knoxville and Mt Oliver inclines.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516300.jpg


South Side, S. 26th St. Nearly everything here still stands.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516301.jpg


The once super dense Strip District was already shedding it's early 19th Century housing, and it's population by the time this photo was taken.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516302.jpg


This section of Penn Avenue in the Strip, now contains wholesalers, and nightclubs.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516303.jpg


Only scattered remnants of these Penn Avenue buildings remain.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516304.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516305.jpg


Fifth Avenue, Downtown. Most of these buildings still stand. Pittsburgh's notorious air pollution has turned the Mellon Bank Building (far right) coal black. It's a very light (almost white) shade of grey today.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516306.jpg


Rowhouses Downtown. Left over from a time when Downtown was virtually the whole city, these of course, are loooooooooong gone.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516307.jpg


More neighborhood type structures that disappeared from Downtown during the early years of the 20th Century. (A few fragments of the mid 1800's Downtown still survive though)
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516308.jpg


Walgreens just entered the Pittsburgh market last year. Judging by this photo though, the had a presence here long ago. Wonder why they abandoned the market?
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516309.jpg


The last two shots give you a street level view of the Lower Hill when it was still intact.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516312.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516313.jpg


Hope you enjoyed!!!

^^ Yeah, that's definately old school. Great pics, :cheers1: I especially like the first one.

it's fortunate that so much of pittsburgh's architectural past is still around. i really enjoyed this presentation. thank you so much.

The best Pittsburgh thread i have ever seen, hands down!

Hamilton, ON or Pittsburgh, PA??

Wow .. strikingly similar

Pitts..

http://www.pbase.com/image/64516289.jpg

Hamilton

http://i.pbase.com/g3/67/580567/2/58769690.Dofasco.jpg

Hamilton, ON or Pittsburgh, PA??

Wow .. strikingly similar

Pitts..

http://www.pbase.com/image/64516289.jpg


Hamilton

http://i.pbase.com/g3/67/580567/2/58769690.Dofasco.jpg


One big difference. Hamilton still has it's mills. Pittsburgh's mills are gone. Hamilton is what Pittsburgh used to be.

wonderful thread...Pittsburgh is a great city and thanks for sharing all these photos.

VERY COOL SHOTS

Things looked so much simpler back then. Awesome pics though , reminds me of the old Buffalo pics

It is disgusting what we have done to our cities.

Thank a lot. I love this kind of threads. it would be great if everyone posted a similar thread about their city.

It is disgusting what we have done to our cities.

My thoughts exactly, but we have to remember that historic preservation is a relatively new concept. Up until the last thirty or so years people didn't see any need to try to save old structures from demolition, that's just how cities developed, people would demolish buildings when they got too old and worn out and put something newer and more modern in their place. Think of the places that had to be wrecked in order for the buildings in these pictures to go up. Nowadays big developers have too much money/ power and a poor set of priorities which considers cost efficiency above all else, even if it means stripping a unique area of its character.

Thanks for posting. I think that I have stumbled on some of these Pitt archives before.

One big difference. Hamilton still has it's mills. Pittsburgh's mills are gone. Hamilton is what Pittsburgh used to be.

Correct, you would have to go to one of the few communities in the region that still has some industry like steel... there is nothing in the city. As a result, the city looks all the better for it. While the loss was significant at the time and the effects are still felt today in some regards, the city has moved on and the riverfront areas are now being reclaimed and the city has diversified.

I don't want to give anyone the idea that Pittsburgh is nothing at all today like any of the pics above. There are still many areas of great density left.

The area seen here is shown today in the second and third pics.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64516299.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/64565691.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/64565692.jpg


This is a current pic of Lawrenceville. Still as dense as ever.
http://www.pbase.com/image/64565693.jpg

I love old pics of cities; especially Northeastern and Great Lakes ones; They were JUMPIN in a way that most won't be able to replicate back then. It's a shame that all of those old houses and buildings got torn down. Are there any Civil War-era or earlier buildings/houses or neighborhoods left in the city?

I love old pics of cities; especially Northeastern and Great Lakes ones; They were JUMPIN in a way that most won't be able to replicate back then. It's a shame that all of those old houses and buildings got torn down. Are there any Civil War-era or earlier buildings/houses or neighborhoods left in the city?

Sure. While there are no intact neighborhoods of Civil War era housing left, (much of this was Downtown, and was lost 100+ years ago when the CBD developed), there are a few hundred houses still standing from that era. Most of these are in The Strip, Lawrenceville, The Hill/Uptown, and the North and South Sides. That said, most of the housing in Pittsburgh's most historic neighborhoods is Victorian stuff built between 1860, and 1890.

I'm in a stupor....I've just viewed pictures of a city I lived inm but they are of a city so different, and long gone in many ways. To think that they are mostly early 20th century photo's, the years 1910 - 1980 were a period of utter demolishon in order to build the new. Of course, way in the back of your mind, you know that in order to build new, the old must come down. But to actually see photo's of what was torn down over the decades made my jaw drop. I just scrolled down the photo's in almost disbelief that there once was such a city. The housing, the density, the neighborhoods. All gone. Just to focus on one loss: the Lower Hill, had it remained, could've been the Society Hill of Pittsburgh - a dense, old, neighborhood adjacent to the urban core. Now that downtown living is becoming more and more popluar, that neighborhood could've provided the housing, not to mention small shops and restaurants that make a vibrant area. Ah, but no. As one person posted already, the blessed 'leaders' had the 'vision' to 'renew' the city back in the 40's and 50's. I guess what really get's me, is, that I always loved what remains of Pittsburgh, but there was so much more to love that was taken away.