You Can’t Build That Here — The Eaglemoor
December 6, 2023
Our fourth entry in the You Can’t Build That Here series takes us to a turn of the century apartment building in Highland Park .
For our fourth entry in our “You Can’t Build That Here!” series, we’re back in the East End - this time in Highland Park.
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 1137 N Highland Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 - an apartment building currently called The Eaglemoor.
The building that exists there now was built prior to the 1903-1906 set of maps, but after the 1890 maps. At the time, the three buildings were called the “Norfolk”, “Delaware” and “Howard”, owned by an E. M. Kenna.
From the 1903-1906 maps, The Eaglemoor, then called the “Norfolk”, “Delaware”, and “Howard”.
It appears to have been used as an apartment building since it was built, with 21 apartments arranged in 3 buildings. Each building is 4 floors (bottom floor being a half basement), with two units on each of the 3 upper floors, and 1 unit and a laundry room on the bottom floor.
All units are 2 bedrooms/1 bathrooms and range from 953 square feet to 1,350 square feet.
Here is a sample floorplan:
The buildings are, in total, approximately 30,000 square feet (give or take a few thousand). The lot it sits on, parcel 82-M-167, is 16,543 square feet, roughly 120 feet by 135 feet. It is currently zoned R1D-L (single family detached low density housing).
Under the current zoning code, R1D-L requires minimum lot sizes of 5,000 square feet, and only one housing unit can be built per lot. They also require minimum front, rear, and exterior sideyard setbacks of 30 ft, interior side yard setbacks of 5 ft, maximum heights of 40 ft (not to exceed three stories), and, of course, a
