Pittsburgh suburbs: Etna, Sharpsburg & Aspinwall

[Evergrey]

Time for some suburban Pittsburgh tours... though I'm sure these suburbs are pretty far from what most envision as "suburbia"...

Etna, Sharpsburg and Aspinwall are all dense communities that occupy the north bank of the Allegheny River opposite the northeastern neighborhoods of the City of Pittsburgh. Etna and Sharpsburg developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s as gritty industrial towns full of steel mills, foundries, lumber yards and other enterprises. These two towns feature tight streets crowded with working-class rowhouses. Aspinwall, by contrast, was developed around the same era as an upscale residential community, and features large detached victorian-era homes... though it's still a somewhat dense community.

from left to right along the river: Etna, Sharpsburg, Aspinwall


While along the river, Etna (pop. 3,924) has no riverfront because it is walled off by a major highway.

a web of highways... Sharpsburg is on the other side




an inspiring streetscape... there's a number of industrial properties in downtown Etna










Etna's business district seemed ok
























how could mankind erect such a hideous house?


now these... I dig






somebody was producing an obscene amount of smoke










...

Sharpsburg (pop. 3,594) is adjacent to the east of Etna... and one merely has to take the one-minute walk under the previously viewed web of highways to get from Downtown Etna to Downtown Sharpsburg. A long, slender community... Sharpsburg is hemmed in between the Allegheny River and PA-28. It has a similar urban fabric to Etna, but seems more vibrant and healthy. An extremely gritty, dense community... the whole town feels like it could use a fresh coat of paint. However, it doesn't come across as a depressed community... and has a rather successful business district... and several major restaurants enjoyed by diners across the region.

View of Sharpsburg from a hilltop cemetary in Etna... St. Juan Diego (one of my favorite churches) dominates the skyline


the Highland Park Lock & Dam, Highland Park Bridge and the Brilliant Branch RR Bridge in the background


















I love the name... Family Restaurant










huh? how does a building become this?


as structurally dense as any city neighborhood










backyards




this street is awesome


alley housing!




Pittsburgh has to be the insulbrick capital of the world... ughhhhh


more of these would be nice


ooohhh... brown insulbrick...






yeah... that Esteban


source: whyguitar.com

the renovated firehouse looks nice... but those houses... oy






Pittsburgh also witnessed the tiny window craze






...

one can then walk from Sharpsburg to Aspinwall (pop. 2,960)... we love our tiny municipalities here in Metro Pittsburgh... Aspinwall is 0.3 sq. miles, Sharpsburg 0.5 sq. miles and Etna 0.8 sq. miles... metropolitan hyper-fragmentation!

Aspinwall was incorporated in 1892 as an upper-middle class residential community... it's kinda like Sewickley with less cachet. It's a beautiful town with tree-lined streets.

small upscale business district




you know a restaurant's gonna be chic if it has a multisyllabic name under 5 letters (Aspinwall also has trendy eatery Luma)... I salivated over the thought of pan seared monkfish


"towne" with an e... that's upscale!








Aspinwall is dense too!














small church converted into a home








lush backyards












a mysterious alleyway

[mrskyline]

Great thread! Those hills really give Pittsburgh a unique atmosphere. It doesn't feel like a city, but instead a collection of little towns. I wonder if the topography strengthens the Golden Triangle's position as the vital core of the region? When you look at these maps and pictures you realize how impossible it is for Pittsburgh to have the typical beltway highway that generates massive sprawl. There simply does not seem to be room for large office park or retail development with all those hills. I know that there are major highways that go around Pittsburgh, but they still don't function as your typical beltway. Thoughts?

[PhillyRising]

I could almost hear the polka music playing in these pictures!

[Wiz Khalifa]

Originally Posted by mrskyline

Great thread! Those hills really give Pittsburgh a unique atmosphere. It doesn't feel like a city, but instead a collection of little towns. I wonder if the topography strengthens the Golden Triangle's position as the vital core of the region? When you look at these maps and pictures you realize how impossible it is for Pittsburgh to have the typical beltway highway that generates massive sprawl. There simply does not seem to be room for large office park or retail development with all those hills. I know that there are major highways that go around Pittsburgh, but they still don't function as your typical beltway. Thoughts?

Oh trust me, we have more than our share of office parks, they just put them on the top of hills or on flat areas near the rivers.

But you are right about the topography affecting major road construction. If you look at any satellite images of the city, you will notice that the road layout is completely at the mercy of the topography. Which leads to some interesting, albeit confusing sections. Interstates pretty much follow the valleys or the rivers to and from downtown.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by mrskyline

Great thread! Those hills really give Pittsburgh a unique atmosphere. It doesn't feel like a city, but instead a collection of little towns. I wonder if the topography strengthens the Golden Triangle's position as the vital core of the region? When you look at these maps and pictures you realize how impossible it is for Pittsburgh to have the typical beltway highway that generates massive sprawl. There simply does not seem to be room for large office park or retail development with all those hills. I know that there are major highways that go around Pittsburgh, but they still don't function as your typical beltway. Thoughts?

Good point.. in order to understand the Pittsburgh Region... one must understand how the rugged topography has influenced urban and economic development in the region. There are few areas to focus large nodes of sprawl... generally the regional hierarchy is made up of the core city and inner ring suburbs... dense river towns stretching for many miles along the rivers (many industrial, some upscale residential)... small satellite cities and county seats.... and a lot of semi-rural sprawl. We tend to lack the "edge city" phenomenon... and there aren't a lot of your large post-war suburbs with their endless cul-de-sacs... sprawl here tends to be very low density... random roads clinging to hillsides and disappearing into nooks and crannies. Regional economic activity is heavily centralized in Downtown and the Oakland neighborhood... the core city has one of the greatest regional job densities in the U.S.

[Austinlee]

Awesome. So much character packed into such little towns! We really saw the good the bad and the ugly. Had no idea aspinwall was so nice. I guess being located in the Fox Chapel school district really helps.

This house is obviously where Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde lives:

[bpg88]

Aspinwall: A stone's throw from the Twilight Zone.

[bpg88]

Thanks, these were enjoyable. I was in Pittsburgh a couple weeks ago and didn't have a chance to make it everywhere I wanted.

Aspinwall: A stone's throw from the Twilight Zone.

[ColDayMan]

Thanks!

[Thundertubs]

Knockout tour, Eg. I'd say this is my favorite thing about Pittsburgh: that the 'city' extends beyond the city limits. One of the marks of a true city, in my opinion. Few mid-sized cities could stand up to the amount of scrutiny Pittsburgh gets on this site and still bear good fruit like this. New Jersey also has similar micro-municipalities (boroughitis, we call it.) I see places like this on the map and wonder what they are like, so it's a treat to get a good tour.

House o' Hockey for the win!

[dugdogmaster]

Yay, my favorite Pittsburgh suburbs!

Sharpsburg, the other Sharpsville.... and vice versa. Did you know, that both boroughs were originally named Sharpsburg? We had to change our name though, to Da'ville, as Da'burg was founded first(shakes fist!). And knowing is half the battle.

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures. Aspinwall looks like the kind of place that I would like: nice houses in a quiet town right near a big city.

[flar]

Originally Posted by Thundertubs

Knockout tour, Eg. I'd say this is my favorite thing about Pittsburgh: that the 'city' extends beyond the city limits. One of the marks of a true city, in my opinion. Few mid-sized cities could stand up to the amount of scrutiny Pittsburgh gets on this site and still bear good fruit like this. New Jersey also has similar micro-municipalities (boroughitis, we call it.) I see places like this on the map and wonder what they are like, so it's a treat to get a good tour.

House o' Hockey for the win!

Pittsburgh's nooks and crannies will provide us with photo threads indefinitely

[Dr Nevergold]

Glad you made note of the fact that its not typical suburbia, which is what helps make Pittsburgh unique.

The one thing about Sharpsburg is that its kind of Euro with the church in the middle, but its such a Northern Appalachian village with its pastoral feeling. Having both the urban suburb and the pastoral landscape combination is a uniquely Pittsburgh accent.

[yerfdog]

Originally Posted by Brandon412

The one thing about Sharpsburg is that its kind of Euro with the church in the middle, but its such a Northern Appalachian village with its pastoral feeling. Having both the urban suburb and the pastoral landscape combination is a uniquely Pittsburgh accent.

I noticed this too.

I was surprised how nice and well-maintained Aspinwall is. An interesting contrast there in such dense, small areas.

[stepper77]

Excellent job, beautiful photography!

[Sekkle]

Suburbs with some character. Very nice. Great photos!

[Scottolini]

This house looks out of place.

[llamaorama]

I really like Pittsburgh, such an underrated place.

How much do the nicer homes in these pictures cost?

[TinChelseaNYC]

That was a GREAT tour!

Were efforts ever made to incorporate those tiny towns into the larger city?