You Can’t Build that Here - The School House Apartments

For our eighth entry in our “You Can’t Build That Here!” series, we pole vault over downtown and land in East Allegheny (also known as Deutschtown).

Each entry in this series highlights a currently existing building that would be illegal to build under the existing zoning code. The purpose is to highlight how flawed our zoning code is.

Today, we’re looking at 500 Tripoli St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212- the former Latimer School turned apartment building appropriately named The School House. 

Designed by German-born Pittsburgh architect Frederick Sauer and originally built in 1898 as an elementary school, the 3rd Ward School, the building was converted into a Junior High School called “The Latimer School” in 1915. After being converted into apartments in 1985, this building now has 77 units - varying from studios to 2 bed/2.5 baths, ranging from $700 to $1,475 a month.  The whole building is 4 stories tall and roughly 120,000 square feet, and the footprint is roughly 126 ft by 246 ft.

A sample two bedroom/2.5 bath floor plan for a corner unit.

The lot it sits on, parcel number 23-M-196, is 1.1 acres or roughly 48,000 square feet, and is zoned R1A-VH (Single Residential Attached, Very High Density).  It measures approximately 131 feet by 362 feet.

Under the current zoning code, homes in R1A-VH have required minimum lot sizes of 1,200 square feet and only a single residence may be built per lot. Further, there is a height maximum of 40 feet or 3 stories (whichever is less), a front setback of 5 feet is required (though this can be waived through administrator exemption if the proposed setback is deemed “contextual” - see Section 925.06B), a side setback of 5 feet (though this can be 0 if the buildings are attached, and 3’ if the lot is less than 37’ wide - see Section 925.06C), and a rear setback of 15 feet.

If this building was torn down today and rebuilt according to the current zoning code, it would have to be subdivided into lots - it could not be built as one large apartment  building.  Further none of the buildings could be built as tall as the former schoolhouse, it exceeds the height limit.

That means at most 40 units could be built on this lot today - approximately half the density that currently exists.  These zoning restrictions freeze the neighborhood in amber.  A quick glance reveals that not only this building, but almost every other building in the neighborhood is currently non-conforming with the zoning.

Across the street, 924 James St - parcel 23-M-259 - is a multi-family home built in 1900 in a R1A-VH zone on a 975 square foot lot. Not allowed today.

Just a few houses down, 914 James St - parcel 23-M-254 - single family home built in 1900 in a R1A-VH zone on a 988 square foot lot. Not allowed today.

Two blocks over, 900 Cedar Ave - parcel 23-S-273 - mixed use offices and apartment building built sometime between 1890 and 1906 in a R1A-VH zone. Not allowed today.

In the middle of the 20th century, Deutschtown was broken in half by the building of I-279.  If you walk a block and a half east of The School House apartments, and don’t look where you’re going, you’ll fall right into 10 or so lanes of high speed traffic.

But even if we were to duplicate the success of Boston’s Big Dig and cap I-279 and reunite Deutschtown, we would not be allowed to build the same density of homes and shops that were destroyed. Not because of engineering, or geography, or physics - but because of zoning.

It’s as if the city’s Zoning department is shouting over and over again: “You can’t build that here!”

By Jack Billings with contributions by Chris Beam and Clayton Manley