[UC] A Victorian campus neighborhood that rejected HD

[Anthony West]

Architecturally, demographically and economically the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Shadyside West is one of University City's closest matches in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Shadyside West is a middle-class Victorian community that lies beside the large inner-city campuses of Carnegie-Mellon and Pitt.   In 1990 a civic association proposed a Historic District for Shadyside West whose lines closely modeled the recent Spruce Hill plan. As in Spruce Hill, strong resistance to HD status then arose in the community. An ad hoc group, the Steering Committee to Preserve Property Rights, canvassed the area and showed that residents were against it by 70% to 30%. That HD proposal was abandoned and has never been touched again.   What fate awaits a community like ours that spurns an HD? Wil tin men swarm in to slap aluminum siding over its elegant gables? Will real estate values slide as crude property owners deface their architectural heritage? For answers I contacted Bill Aiken, senior VP of Howard Hanna, a leading Pittsburgh real estate firm that specializes in traditional prestige communities. Aiken now heads the firm's Shadyside office and his 30 years of experience encompass posh Allegheny Co. communities like Sewickley and Fox Chapel.   Even without an HD the last 12 years have been kind to Shadyside West, Aiken said. He estimated that houses go for at least twice what they did in 1990. Architectural degradation seldom appears in his market, he said: "People who buy around here seem to have a sense of style." Historical designation hasn't been popular in Pittsburgh's upmarket communities, Aiken noted. "It has been strenuously opposed as people realize how much their hands are tied by the regulations."   -- Tony West