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Manchester Information
Manchester is a neighborhood on Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's North Side. It has
a zip code of 15233, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the
council member for District 6 (Northshore/Downtown Neighborhoods).
Manchester was part of the preserve of the Shawnee and Delaware Indians until
the late eighteenth century, when all Indian lands in Pennsylvania were ceded to
the State. In 1787, the land was surveyed and laid out as a section of the
Reserve Tract, which was conferred as partial compensation to Pennsylvania's
Revolutionary War veterans. Development in Manchester was encouraged by its
division into large parcels of land, which were sold in conjunction with smaller
town lots located in the city of Allegheny. Situated on one of Pittsburgh's few
riverside plains, the level nature of the land allowed the community to be laid
out in a standard grid pattern in 1832. Manchester became a borough in 1843, and
in 1867 it merged with the city of Allegheny. In 1908, Allegheny was annexed to
the city of Pittsburgh. Manchester was largely built up between 1860 and 1900,
and attracted residents from Pittsburgh and Allegheny who desired to escape the
density of the city. The installation of a streetcar network in the late
nineteenth century linked Manchester to both cities, and stimulated its
development as a suburban neighborhood. The community grew into a middle-class
suburb, populated largely by local businessmen and their families.
The name Manchester seems to have originated from the English immigrants who
first settled in the area and named the community after its industrial English
counterpart. Manchester was an important industrial center for the city of
Allegheny. The neighborhood was originally supported by industrial and wharf
activity situated on the shore of the Ohio River, and factories loosely woven
into the community. The Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works was a notable
Manchester industry which produced the first Allegheny-built locomotive.
Manchester's historical boundaries extended beyond Chateau Street to the shores
of the Ohio River, with a neighborhood commercial district along Beaver
Avenue. However, the western section of Manchester was severed in the 1950s when
the elevated Route 65 Expressway was constructed. The expressway bisected the
original neighborhood and created a separate commercial district called Chateau.
Thus, today's Manchester is a remnant of a neighborhood that was once closely
linked to the commercial and industrial sections closer to the river.
Manchester, along with other city neighborhoods, began a slow decline after
1915, when residents began to move to outlying suburbs to escape the encroaching
and unpleasant effects of heavy industry. During the ensuing years, many of the
finest houses in Manchester deteriorated and were demolished, and the
neighborhood as a whole was neglected. In the 1970s, the Pittsburgh History and
Landmarks Foundation (PHLF), the Manchester Citizens Corporation, the Urban
Redevelopment Authority, and private developers formed a partnership that was
successful in renovating many Manchester houses.
Manchester remains primarily a Victorian neighborhood. The term "Victorian,"
however, does not refer to a specific architectural style, but instead to the
era of Queen Victoria's reign from 1837- 1901. During that time, many different
architectural styles were popular. "Victorian" styles prevalent in Manchester
are the Italianate (ca. 1860-1885) and its contemporary, the French Second
Empire (ca. 1855-1885); Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Anne (ca. 1880-1900),
which were superseded by the Classical and Colonial Revivals at the turn of the
century. Examples of all these styles can be found in Manchester.
Some Things to Consider When Looking for a Place...
When searching for a new apartment make sure to take your time to think
through what are the most important things to you in an apartment and plan your
search based on those priorities. Here are some things to consider when planning
your move:
1. Consider the areas where you would like to live
* What is the crime rate?
* If you have children - what rating does the local school system have?
* Is there area convenient shopping, health and recreation services in the area?
2. Make a list of your housing priorities
* Do you have pets?
* Do you need parking?
* Do you need to be on the ground floor?
* What amenities are important to you - swimming pool, fitness room, in unit
laundry?
3. Evaluate the building
* What is the condition of the unit and building?
* Are the grounds maintained?
* Are windows, steps, and railings in good condition?
* View the property at night. Is it safe and well lit?
4. The security of the property
* Are there security service? When is the guard on duty?
* Does the building have controlled access?
* Does each unit have secure door and window locks?
5. Talk to the neighbors
* Ask other residents whether they are satisfied with the building.
6. Amenities
* Who is allowed to use the amenities?
* When are they open?
* Are the fees charged to use those facilities included in rent?
7. Ask about Utilities
* Does the owner or tenant pay the utility bills?
* Are any utilities included with monthly rent?
* Do units have separate thermostats to control heat and air conditioning?
8. Review the lease
* How much notice must you give before moving out?
* Can the rent be increased? If so, by how much and how often?
* Are pets allowed?
* What is the security deposit and cleaning costs upon move out?
* What is the responsibility of tenants for damage to property?
* Is there a penalty for breaking a lease?
9. Information too bring to a lease signing
* Credit Report
* Pay stubs/tax returns
* Reference
* Application
More Apartment Information
An apartment (or flat in Britain and most other Commonwealth countries) is a
self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. Apartments
may be owned (by an owner-occupier) or rented (by tenants).
Some apartment-dwellers own their apartments, either as co-ops, in which the
residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development; or
in condominiums, whose residents own their apartments and share ownership of the
public spaces. Most apartments are in buildings designed for the purpose, but
large older houses are sometimes divided into apartments. The word apartment
connotes a residential unit or section in a building. Apartment building owners,
lessors, or managers often use the more general word units to refer to
apartments. Units can be used to refer to rental business suites as well as
residential apartments. When there is no tenant occupying an apartment, the
lessor is said to have a vacancy. For apartment lessors, each vacancy represents
a loss of income from rent-paying tenants for the time the apartment is vacant
(i.e., unoccupied). Lessors' objectives are often to minimize the vacancy rate
for their units. The owner of the apartment typically transfers possession to
the occupant by giving him/her the key to the apartment entrance door and any
other keys need to live there, such as a common key to the building or any other
common areas, and an individual unit mailbox key. When the occupant move out,
these keys should typically be returned to the owner.
Apartments can be classified into several types. Studio, efficiency, bed-sit, or
bachelor apartments tend to be the smallest apartments with the cheapest rents
in a given area. These kinds of apartment usually consist mainly of a large room
which is the living, dining, and bedroom combined. There are usually kitchen
facilities as part of this central room, but the bathroom is its own smaller
separate room. Moving up from the efficiencies are one-bedroom apartments where
one bedroom is a separate room from the rest of the apartment. Then there are
two-bedroom, three-bedroom, etc. apartments. Small apartments often have only
one entrance/exit. Large apartments often have two entrances/exits, perhaps a
door in the front and another in the back. Depending on the building design, the
entrance/exit doors may be directly to the outside or to a common area inside,
such as a hallway. Depending on location, apartments may be available for rent
furnished with furniture or unfurnished into which a tenant usually moves in
with his/her own furniture. Permanent carpeting is often included in an
apartment.
Laundry facilities are usually kept in a separate area accessible to all the
tenants in the building. Depending on when the building was built and the design
of the building, utilities such as water, heating, and electric may be common
for all the apartments in the building or separate for each apartment and billed
separately to each tenant (however, many areas in the US have ruled it illegal
to split a water bill among all the tenants, especially if a pool is on the
premises). Outlets for connection to telephones are typically included in
apartments. Telephone service is optional and is practically always billed
separately from the rent payments. Cable television and similar amenities are
extra also. Parking space, air conditioner, and extra storage space may or may
not be included with an apartment. Rental leases often limit the maximum number
of people who can reside in each apartment. On or around the ground floor of the
apartment building, a series of mailboxes are typically kept in a location
accessible to the public and, thus, to the letter-carrier too. Every unit
typically gets its own mailbox with individual keys to it. Some very large
apartment buildings with a full-time staff may take mail from the mailman and
provide mail-sorting service. Near the mailboxes or some other location
accessible by outsiders, there may be a buzzer (equivalent to a doorbell) for
each individual unit. In smaller apartment buildings such as two- or
three-flats, or even four-flats, garbage is often disposed of in trash
containers similar to those used at houses. In larger buildings, garbage is
often collected in a common trash bin or dumpster. For cleanliness or minimizing
noise, many lessors will place restrictions on tenants regarding keeping pets in
an apartment.
In some parts of the world, the word apartment is used generally to refer to a
new purpose-built self-contained residential unit in a building, whereas the
word flat means a converted self-contained unit in an older building. An
industrial, warehouse, or commercial space converted to an apartment is commonly
called a loft.
When part of a house is converted for the ostensible use of a landlord's family
member, the unit may be known as an in-law apartment or granny flat, though
these (sometimes illegally) created units are often occupied by ordinary renters
rather than family members. In Canada these suites are commonly located in the
basements of houses and are therefore normally called basement suites.
Staying in privately owned apartments rather than in a hotel is quickly becoming
popular with travelers.