Pittsburgh's Black-developed subdivisions

[David S. Rotenstein]

In the 1950s, a handful of Black developers began platting subdivisions and building homes for Pittsburgh’s growing Black middle class. Though some historians have written about these mid-century modern communities, they remain ignored by historic preservation. Developer Charles E. Davis (1922-2002) built about 500 homes in Pittsburgh between the 1950s and 1990s. During a downturn in local business, Davis platted a subdivision east of the Anacostia River in Washington, DC, and built homes there. I wrote a brief article about Davis for NEXTpittsburgh: https://nextpittsburgh.com/city-design/charles-e-davis-built-homes-for-pittsburghs-black-middle-class/. 

What didn’t make it into my article: Since 2021 I have spent many hours inside one of Davis’s Hill District homes. Much of the information for this African American Folklorist article (Hair, Numbers, and History) was recorded inside the home and the historical photos reproduced in it were scanned there. As for Davis’s DC subdivision, a good friend of mine spent her last years on the same block before she died at age 92, behind the subdivision Davis built. Had I stood in her backyard, I would have been facing the backs of the Davis homes. I only learned about Davis this year in an interview with a former Hill District resident who described one of the Davis suburban subdivisions. In a June conversation with one of my “Hair” collaborators, I learned that Davis had built her home. I was interviewing her and her neighbor, a man who also grew up in the Hill District. When the conversation turned to the suburbs, he said, “There were new homes built up there. In fact, man, I should remember the guy’s name who built most of the houses.” 

I asked, “Chuck Davis?” 

He replied affirmatively and then my Hair collaborator offered, “He built my mom’s house.”

A widely hailed “Pittsburgh Modern” initiative minimizes the city’s Black residents to people victimized by urban renewal and redlining. Though many of the Black subdivisions I visited this year easily meet National Register Criteria for listing as historic districts, none are inventoried let alone designated locally or in the NRHP. Where are the stories/resources that don’t depict African Americans as victims or actors in White-driven architectural and land use contexts? Charles Davis and his contemporaries were agents of change in a place and time ripe for re-evaluation. My sources are in their 70s to 90s. What will historic preservation (and beyond) lose when we miss the opportunities to work with these folks to tell their stories? They are right out there in the open. 

David

_________________________________________
David S. Rotenstein, Ph.D.
Historian/Folklorist
david.ro...@earthlink.net
Phone: (412) 328-3830
Bluesky: @iVernacular & @yinzervice

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