Mount Washington area tapped as nation’s best

Monday, October 08, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Chatham Village on Mount Washington tops the American Planning Association’s list of top-10 Great Neighborhoods.

The APA recently debuted its Great Places in America program, which recognizes 10 neighborhoods and 10 streets for good design, function, sustainability and community involvement.

Local association member Kay Pierce, a planner with the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development, called the designation “a big plus for Pittsburgh.”

“It was built as affordable housing, [and designed] so that automobiles are on the outside,” said Ms. Pierce. The units face wooded courtyards that value the pedestrian, she said. “It’s what a lot of planners are starting to create: communities not focused on the automobile.”

Chatham Village, a National Historic Landmark, was built in 1935 in the “English Garden City” model, which grew from reaction against densely populated industrial centers. The English model was supposed to give city dwellers an oasis of green space away from noise and pollution but still in the city.

On the list of Great Neighborhoods, Chatham Village is followed by Eastern Market in Washington, D.C., and Elmwood Village in Buffalo. Under the APA’s Great Streets designation, Bull Street in Savannah, Ga., and Canyon Road in Santa Fe, N.M., topped the list.

First published on October 9, 2007 at 2:36 am