West Baltimore Squares Photo Walk & Tour

Sunday, May 27, 3:00 to 4:30pm
Meet at the west end of Hollins Market (South Carrollton Avenue and Hollins Street)
RSVP online today! Free.
Free street parking available in the surrounding area. Off-street parking available at the UM BioPark Garage (West Baltimore and Poppleton Streets). Transit – Take the free Charm City Circulator Orange Route to the Hollins Market stop at Arlington Street.

H.L. Mencken in his garden, July 28, 1955. Courtesy the Maryland Historical Society, B737(5)D.

Bring along your camera for a quick afternoon walk to see a few of West Baltimore unique parks and landmarks. Starting from the handsome brick Hollins Market, designed by Baltimore City Hall architect George Frederick, we’ll explore the Italianate rowhouses around Union Square and stop in at H.L. Mencken’s backyard. From Union Square, we’ll cross Baltimore street (one of the oldest commercial main streets in the city), check out historic Franklin Square, and take a look inside the grand Gothic Revival sanctuary at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. We’ll be joined by a Baltimore Sun photographer who’ll offer professional advice on getting the most out of your photos.

The Friends of West Baltimore Squares will also be raffling off a few chances to enter Baltimore City Parks Photo Competition for free! Even if you don’t win, you can enter the competition for $20 for adults and $10 for under 18.

Image courtesy the McDonogh School.

Join us for a tour of the 139-year-old McDonogh School.  We will be venturing into Baltimore County to see a campus that has its roots in Baltimore City and was originally intended to be located there.  The school’s archivist, Ms. MaryLu Greenwood, and Vice Principal, Mr. Larry Johnston, will lead us on a tour of the school and its classical architecture and share the story of how this one time farm school for indigent “boys of good character” became the venerable private co-ed school it is today.

Tour Details
8600 McDonogh Road, Owings Mills, MD 21117
Thursday, May 10, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
$15 members | $25 non-members (wine & cheese will be served)

RSVP for the tour today!

Image courtesy Wikipedia.

John McDonogh, a Baltimore-born merchant and philanthropist, was born in 1779 and died in 1850, bequeathing half of his estate to the City of Baltimore to educate children. However, since the public school system already existed in Baltimore, the mayor and city council used the funds to endow a “school farm” for poor boys of good character. Mr. McDonogh had envisioned such a school in his handwritten will dated 1838. In 1872, a tract of 835 acres—essentially the same land that comprises the campus today—was purchased for $85,000 for the school’s establishment.  McDonogh School was founded on November 21, 1873 with the arrival of twenty-one poor boys from Baltimore City. From the beginning, the boys followed a semi-military system, which provided leadership opportunities and ensured order.  Major milestones in McDonogh’s history signaled change. The first paying students arrived in 1922 and day students in 1927. The semi-military program was dropped in 1971, and the first female students enrolled in 1975.  Today, McDonogh is a non-denominational, college preparatory, co-educational day and boarding school. The school calls many accomplished athletes alumni.  They include tennis-pro and sports commentator Pam Shriver, Orioles pitcher Brian Erbe, and equestrian Olympic gold medalist Bruce Davidson.

Young Preservationist Happy Hour

Friday, April 13, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
The Brewer’s Art, 1106 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
RSVP today to join our e-mail list!

Pick up a copy of Wicked Baltimore: Charm City and Scandal to peek into the darker corners of Baltimore’s past or check out From Animal House to Our House: A Love Story for a story of the challenges and rewards of a DIY rowhouse rehab. We’ll be joined by both authors of these two new Baltimore books — Lauren Silberman and Ron Tanner — for a informal opportunity to drink and chat about books, buildings and history with fellow Baltimore preservationists (and book lovers)!

The Brewers Art is located in a classy historic building in the heart of Mt. Vernon right on the Charm City Circulator Purple Route. With their affordable happy hour specials and a great selection of house beers, Brewer’s Art gets very crowded early in the evening so please come out early. Don’t forget to RSVP and have a chance to win free Behind the Scenes tour tickets next Friday!

Tour Details

2746 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
Tuesday, April 3^rd | 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
$15 members | $25 non-members (please join!)

RSVP for the tour today!

Ron Tanner and Jill Eicher have spent 12 years renovating an 1897 Queen Anne rowhouse that was condemned property when they bought it.  A notorious fraternity had all but destroyed the 4,500 square foot Charles Village house. The run-down rowhouse even found itself as the perfect setting for a horror film starring then unknown actresses Dana Delaney and Keri Russell.  Undaunted, Mr. Tanner and Ms. Eicher took on a whole-house restoration, beginning with emptying out multiple roll-off dumpsters of trash.  They found themselves learning how to re-plaster walls, finish floors, restore windows, and much more.  Their work was featured in This Old House magazine in 2008, in Baltimore Magazine in 2012 in an article called “Trashed to Treasured,” and just a few months ago by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  Mr. Tanner, a writer by trade, created a blog about their adventures.  The blog was very popular and led to the recently published book, From Animal House to Our House: a Love Story, a must-read for anybody who has struggled through a home renovation project.  Mr. Tanner is a wonderful storyteller and the evening is sure to be entertaining as well as informative.

Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar at the Maryland Women's Heritage Center

On Tuesday, the Secretary of the Department of Interior Ken Salazar celebrated Women’s History Month with an appearance in downtown Baltimore at the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center, just one week before Baltimore Heritage’s Behind the Scenes Tour there (Saturday March 31, 2-3 pm).  Joined by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Judge and First Lady Katie O’Malley, Secretary Salazar noted a serious underrepresentation of historic sites associated with women’s history, and articulated a vision for getting more of these places designated as National Historic Landmarks and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  In one example, the Secretary noted that of the country’s National Historic Landmarks, a designation that the Department of Interior bestows on buildings with the highest level of national significance, only 4% are places with significance to women’s heritage.

As the Secretary of the Department of Interior, Mr. Salazar oversees numerous agencies that are responsible for heritage sites, including the National Park Service that manages the National Register of Historic Places and the National Historic Landmark program.  In his vision for the near future, Secretary Salazar said that as the National Park Service gears up to celebrate its centennial anniversary in 2016, he is committed to launching a national dialogue over women’s heritage sites to create a blue print for how to bring these to a higher level of prominence and visibility.

Citing Maryland as a national leader in the role of state governments to promote women’s heritage, the Secretary also said that he is committed to more full federal funding for State Historic Preservation Offices as a way to  make sure that smaller places and ones with more local significance also receive assistance.

Baltimore Heritage will wrap up Women’s History Month with a tour of the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center on Saturday, March 31.  The tour is from 2-3 pm at the Center: 39 West Lexington Street, in the historic former BG&E Building.  The cost is $10.  Register online today.

Upton Mansion in 1936, one of fifteen historic landmarks included in city-owned landmark review

Our most important goal must be to make sure the buildings are occupied, well cared for and remain intact as public assets for Baltimore. These fifteen properties are irreplaceable reminders of our city’s long history from the War of 1812 through the development and civic life of Baltimore up through the present. In addition, the ownership for each building should be evaluated based on what is best for its repair and maintenance. There are many different forms of ownership that these properties could have, ranging from public ownership and public use, leasing to nonprofit organizations, or even outright private ownership and private use. These options, and others, should be considered with the long-term care of the building as the guiding principle.

All of the properties should be protected with historic designation to make sure they are preserved, regardless of who owns them. Twelve of the fifteen properties are already on the city’s historic landmark list, requiring the approval of CHAP (the city’s preservation commission) for any exterior changes. Additional protections could include placing historic easements on the properties or including specific preservation requirements in leases or use agreements.

Finally, although the current proposal has targeted fifteen buildings, the city owns dozens more iconic historic structures — The Bromo Seltzer Tower, Patterson Park Pagoda, Flag House, H.L. Mencken House, Washington Monument, and Babe Ruth House, are all city-owned historic properties. If nothing else, the attention and concern over this study has put city-owned landmarks in the spotlight. We should seize the opportunity to ensure a future for all of these historic places by creating an inventory of city-owned structures and a rehabilitation and maintenance plan for each.

"This Place Matters" at the McKim Center

For nearly all of these buildings, from the Shot Tower to President Street Station, local residents and preservation organizations have spent years, even decades, working to celebrate their unique stories and preserve them for our city’s future. These leaders understand the importance of this history more than anyone else. They and the city’s preservation commission must be at the center of any consideration for their future.

Baltimore City-Owned landmarks identified for possible lease or sale

1. Superintendent’s House, Clifton Park
2. The Peale Museum, 225 N. Holliday St.
3. Shot Tower, 801 E. Fayette St.
4. Public Works Museum – Eastern Avenue Pumping Station, 701 Eastern Ave.
5. Upton Mansion, 811 West Lanvale St.
6. Valve House at Clifton Park, 2803 Saint Lo Drive
7. Roland Park Water Tower, 4201 Roland Avenue
8. West Arlington Water Tower, 4025 Ridgewood Avenue
9. Engine House No. 6 – Baltimore Fire Museum, 416 N. Gay St.
10. Cylburn House and Park, 4515 Greenspring Ave.
11. McKim Free School, 120 E. Baltimore St.
12. War Memorial, 101 N. Gay St.
13. Old Town Friends’ Meeting House, 1201 E. Fayette St.
14. Civil War Museum, President Street Station
15. Orianda Mansion, Crimea Estate in Leakin Park, 4921 Windsor Mill Road

Linda Shevitz

Did you know that March is Women’s History Month? What better way to celebrate than by visiting the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center located in the historic 1916 Baltimore Gas and Electric Company building on Lexington Street? We hope you can join us.

Tour Details
Maryland Women’s Heritage Center | 39 W. Lexington Street (corner of Lexington & Liberty Sts.), Baltimore, MD 21201
Saturday, March 31st | 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
$10 members | $20 non-members

RSVP for the tour today!

Edith Houghton Hooker

The Maryland Women’s History Center is the first comprehensive state-based women’s history center and museum of its kind in the nation. For our tour, a docent from the Center will guide us through exhibits on Maryland women “firsts,” unsung heroines, and the suffrage movement in Maryland. The Center’s location at the BG&E building is more than fitting. In the early 1900s, a suffrage pioneer named Edith Houghton Hooker staged a major rally for giving women the vote outside the building at Lexington and Liberty Streets. Ms. Hooker had come from Buffalo to Baltimore as one of the first women accepted into the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In 1909, she established the Just Government League of Maryland, a local affiliate of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and edited and published Maryland Suffrage News from 1912 through the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. In addition to the history of the suffrage movement, we will be among the first to see the Center’s newest exhibit on Maryland women in science and technology.

• Tuesday, February 21
• Thursday, March 22
• Tuesday, April 17

All workshops will be held from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the AIA Baltimore basement gallery, 11 1/2 West Chase Street. RSVP today!

Our historic tax credit workshops offer a brief introduction to Maryland Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit program — a 20% refundable income tax credit program for home-owners working on rehabilitation projects in designated historic districts — together with information on the Baltimore City historic tax credit for homeowners and businesses.

With over seventy historic districts across the city, thousands of Baltimore home-owners are eligible for tax credits on projects as diverse as repairing damaged masonry, restoring wood windows, replacing an aging furnace, repainting and more. Not sure if you are in a historic district? Check online using the Baltimore CityView Map (select “Landmarks & Historic Districts” from the drop-down menu of “Thematic Overlays”) or download a PDF map of Baltimore City historic districts.

Questions? Contact Eli Pousson, Field Officer at pousson@baltimoreheritage.org or 301-204-3337.

Take a look at our award categories and nomination guidelines or go ahead and make a nomination today. It only takes a few minutes to submit a nomination with a brief description of the project and contact information for project participants. Photographs (the more the better!) can be submitted by e-mail to awards@baltimoreheritage.org or by mail on a CD sent to 11 1/2 West Chase Street. The deadline for submissions is April 4, 2012. Contact Johns Hopkins, Executive Director at hopkins@baltimoreheritage.org or 410-332-9992 for more information.

Although the Hebrew Orphan Asylum is just one of of many projects receiving the tax credit across the State, this project received the largest allocation from the nearly $7 million in tax credits offered to projects across the state, including the Senator Theatre and Mount Vernon Mill No. 1 here in Baltimore. These funds will leverage additional public and private support as we work to help the Coppin Heights CDC raise the full amount required for a complete stabilization and rehabilitation of the building. With the building still in seriously distressed condition, these next steps are an urgent priority for Baltimore Heritage and the Friends of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.

Please support our efforts to preserve the Hebrew Orphan Asylum by connecting with the Friends of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum on Facebook or donate $20 to Baltimore Heritage today.