- Bluff (Pittsburgh)
Infobox Pittsburgh neighborhood
name = Bluff
aka = Uptown
caption = The Bluff (visible on the left side of the image) overlooking theMonongahela River .
locator_
population1990 = 3220
population2000 = 6423
latd = 40.436
longd = 79.989
area_sqmi = 0.327The Bluff or Uptown (also known by its former name Soho) is a
neighborhood in the city of Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania to the southeast of the city's Central Business District. It is bordered in the north by the Hill District and just a short trip across theMonongahela River is the city's Southside, which is home to a flourishing residential community and business district. The predominant areazip code is 15219.This area is home to Mercy Hospital as well as
Duquesne University . It also includes a residential community that was once flourishing during the first half of the 20th century. As the university expands, it is trying to revive the area into a safe place to live and work.History
The area was first developed by James Tustin, an eccentric English emigré who built an estate in the area in the late-18th or early 19th century. His home featured an English taste in architecture and a fruit orchard, and was "acknowledged at the time to have been the most beautiful place in Pittsburgh," according to a 1915 article in the "Pittsburgh Gazette-Times".cite news | last = Potter | first = Chris | title = Pittsburgh has a neighborhood named "Soho"... | work = "You Had to Ask" | publisher = Pittsburgh City Paper | date =
2007 -05-24 | url = http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A30961 | accessdate = 2008-09-01] Tustin named his estate "Soho" after his previous residence in Britain, and the name came to be generally applied to the neighborhood.The neighborhood was originally part of
Pitt Township , but was annexed in 1846. The addition was precipitated by the city's efforts at regrowth following a cataclysmic fire in 1845, which destroyed 56 acres and 1,000 buildings.cite web | title = Bluff | work = Neighborhoods | publisher = Pittsburgh City Council District 6 | url = http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/district6/html/bluff.html | accessdate = 2008-09-01] A 1922 guidebook, "A History of Pittsburgh and Environs", noted that the area's houses were "old and not attractive, and are largely populated by foreign mill workers and their families", and a 1977 guide remarked that it was once "a pleasant residential area for many wealthy Pittsburghers" but " [a] s industry moved in, the wealthy moved out".The neighborhood was adversely affected by Pittsburgh's
urban renewal campaign in the 1960s, and in the estimation of some, "has never been reassembled."cite news | last = Ackerman | first = Jan | title = Group taking steps to improve Uptown | publisher = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | date =2003 -06-12 | url = http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_city/20030612uptownc5.asp | accessdate = 2008-09-01] Construction projects in the area include expansion by Duquesne University, and a new arena for thePittsburgh Penguins .cite news | last = Conte| first = Andrew | title = New Uptown arena to match neighborhood | publisher = Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | date =2007 -11-14 | url = http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_537817.html | accessdate = 2008-09-01]Neighborhood character
Fifth Avenue is home to law offices and a few restaurants, but vacant storefronts, rundown bars, and small street parking lots for Downtown commuters are prevalent as well. Brick rowhouses are common in the neighborhood.
There are significant efforts in the community to reassert a sense of identity, and residents range from Downtown workers and long-time residents to university students and health professionals.
Adjacent neighborhoods
The Bluff neighborhood borders Pittsburgh's Central Business District, the Crawford-Roberts neighborhood,
South Oakland , the Southside Flats (via Birmingham Bridge), and West Oakland.ee also
*
List of Pittsburgh neighborhoods References
Further reading
*cite book | author=Toker, Franklin | title=Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait | location=Pittsburgh | publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press | year=1986, 1994 | id=ISBN 0-8229-5434-6
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