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Poet Houses.

The Poet Houses

Field review by the editors.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

A series of four (in 2013; two remained in 2022) houses along a back street in Pittsburgh are each painted as a work of art to honor the exiled foreign literary writers who've lived in them (Pittsburgh's "City of Asylum" project began in 2004). All four are different, and the city hopes to eventually have every home on the block turned into a Poet House, creating "a public library of multi-lingual houses" that can be "read" while walking down the street -- or listened to on a smartphone.

According to Randy Gilson of Randyland, which is only two blocks away, his candy-colored outsider art house was the inspiration behind the Poet Houses. There are serious themes in the art and calligraphy on the Poet House walls, in the native languages of the persecuted poets.

The Poet Houses

Address:
Sampsonia Way, Pittsburgh, PA
Directions:
On the north side of Sampsonia Way -- which is more of an alley than a street -- between Sherman Ave. and Monterey St.
Admission:
Free
Save to My Sights

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