What do the the Clarence Mitchell Courthouse, the SS John Brown, and the neon Tochterman’s Fishing Tackle sign on Eastern Avenue have in common? They have all won historic preservation awards from Baltimore Heritage over the last 50 years, of course.
This year, Baltimore Heritage turns 50. Please help us celebrate a half-century of preserving historic places in our great city by submitting a nomination for a 2010 Preservation Award. Whether it’s your own do-it-yourself home rehabilitation project, a neighbor who has put her heart and sole into preserving a historic space, or an organization that has shown commitment to preserving the city’s heritage, we’d love to get a nomination from you.
In a great new post on Baltimore Brew, Joan Jacobson and Elizabeth Suman lay out the story of the continuing threats to Baltimore’s historic West Side, an area that has been listed on the Baltimore Heritage Preservation Watch List for nearly 10 years. Among the dozens of irreplaceable buildings still threatened with demolition is the Art Deco styled 1934 Read’s Drug Store, designed by renowned Baltimore architecture firm Smith & May, the same firm that created the iconic Bank of America Building. In January 1955, following a year of negotiations with Read’s, a sit-in demonstration organized by the Baltimore Congress of Racial Equality led to the desegregation of 37 Read’s lunch counters citywide, establishing a enduring association between this downtown corner and the struggle for civil rights in Baltimore and the state of Maryland.
For many, the story of fighting for preservation on Baltimore’s West Side is a familiar one. In 1999, the National Trust for Historic Preservation identified the West Side as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. In the early 2000s, Baltimore Heritage, Preservation Maryland, and West Side Renaissance created Baltimore’s West Side Story, produced by West Side Renaissance director Ronald Kreitner. This documentary screened daily at the historic Senator Theater, introducing audiences to the vital issues at stake in the preservation of historic buildings and small businesses on Baltimore’s West Side. Enjoy the whole 9 minute video to learn more or jump to 1:04 for a special cameo by former Mayor and Governor William Donald Schaefer as a born-again preservationist.
Even the wealthy Charles Carroll was shocked by the cost of his son’s country villa, Homewood, built early in the 19th century on a hillside north of town. A federal-style version of the standard five-part Georgian Palladian mansion house (see Mt. Clare), Homewood’s principal floor is tall, elegant, airy, and cool. Service rooms are tucked away in the basement or attic (there is a fine brick privy in back). The Johns Hopkins University acquired the surrounding estate and built a new campus there early in the 20th century. Homewood is open to the public as part of Johns Hopkins University Museums.
The Homewood House Museum is currently hosting a four-part speaker series in association with their fourth annual student-curated focus show, On the Road: Travel and Transportation in Early Maryland. The first event in the series is David Shackelford, Chief Curator at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, speaking tonight, February 18, 2010 at 4:30 PM.
We have a rare opportunity to climb up into the scaffolding inside one of the great interior historic spaces in Baltimore: the First and Franklin Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernon. The church is in the midst of renovations, and we have a chance to see the historic building up close and up high before the scaffolding comes down with Rev. Dr. Alison Halsey, the church’s pastor and our tour guide.
The renovations are being undertaken by the architecture firm of Murphy and Dittenhafer. Principal architect Michael Murphy, who was overseeing the work, passed away unexpectedly last week–an enormous loss for preservation and architecture in Baltimore. We are holding this tour as a tribute to Mr. Murphy and his contributions to Baltimore.
Tour Information
Date: Sunday, February 21, 2010
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Place: First and Franklin Church, 210 West Madison Street at the corner of Park Avenue
Meet at the church’s “Backus House,” on Madison Avenue next to the church
Park on the Street
Cost: $10 Read more
A gem within a gem, the historic Baltimore Bar Library sits on the sixth floor of the historic Clarence Mitchell Jr. Courthouse with its barrel vault ceiling and luxurious oak paneling. Please join us for a tour of this fantastic space with three luminary tour guides: retired chief judge Joseph Kaplan, federal judge and Bar Library historian James Schneider, and Bar Library director Joseph Bennett. If you can’t make it out for the tour, you might enjoy this Legal Historian’s Tour of Baltimore from the Thurgood Marshall Law Library at the University of Maryland School of Law.
Image courtesy the Baltimore Bar Library
Tour Information
Cost: $15 (includes wine and cheese reception)
Date: Thursday, February 18, 2010
Time: 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. — Wine and Cheese
6:00 to 7:00 p.m. — Tour
Place: Baltimore Bar Library, within the Clarence Mitchell Courthouse (map)
Park on the Street
Cost: $15 (includes wine and cheese reception) Read more
