Author: Eli

Eli Pousson started as a Field Officer at Baltimore Heritage in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in October 2009. Prior to moving to Baltimore, Eli worked for the DC Office of Historic Preservation and completed graduate work in anthropology and historic preservation at the University of Maryland College Park. Eli continues to work with the Lakeland Community Heritage Project and other heritage organizations in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Next Saturday walking tour at West Baltimore Farmer’s Market!

Tour group at the West Baltimore Farmer's Market, Greater Rosemont Walking Tour

Celebrate the end of the inaugural season of the West Baltimore Farmer’s Market and explore the history of the Greater Rosemont neighborhood with a free mile-and-a-half long walking tour on November 20 at 10:00 AM starting from the West Baltimore MARC Station (Southwest corner of the North Smallwood and West Franklin Street). In the early 1950s, the neighborhoods of Greater Rosemont flipped from nearly exclusively white to almost completely African American through a period of rapid “white flight.” The new residents established a stable middle-class community that successfully resisted demolition by the “Highway to Nowhere.”

This short walking tour will take you from the very beginnings of the neighborhood as a streetcar suburb up through the present day and the prospect of the new Red Line light rail route. It is also a chance to celebrate the last day of the West Baltimore Farmers Market which is brining fresh, locally produced food to residents who live in a community that is characterized as an urban “food desert.” Please RSVP for this free walking tour!

Baltimore Building of the Week: Maryland Institute College of Art Main Building

The Baltimore Building of the Week arrives on Mount Royal Avenue and the campus of the Maryland Institute College of Art for a feature on their 1908 Main Building designed by New York architects Pell & Corbett following a design competition sponsored by the New York Association of Independent Architects.

Image courtesy Jack Breihan

The Beaux-Arts movement in architecture used up-to-date technology clothed in various historical styles. Penn Station (featured last week) employed French Neoclassical elements; MICA’s Main Building revives the Italian Renaissance style. Renaissance palazzos were considered most appropriate for art galleries – the Walters Art Museum is another example.

Baltimore Heritage nominated for The Mobbies

The Baltimore Heritage blog has been nominated for The Mobbies 2010 competition–a ten-day competition where you can vote for “Maryland’s Outstanding Blogs.” We are up for the best Neighborhood Blog, along with a number of great neighborhood news and Main Street sites. If you aren’t a regular Baltimore Heritage reader, a sampling of our posts include our May update on the history of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, our recent feature on the Baltimore Heritage award-winning Northern District Police Station, and our continuing efforts to keep you informed about important preservation issues, such as the controversial Mount Vernon Place Restoration Master Plan.

Voting opened today, November 2 and continues through through November 12, concluding with an awards bash at RA Sushi Restaurant Bar on November 16. You can vote once for every 24-hour period, so please vote early and vote often.

Baltimore Building of the Week: Penn Station

This week’s Baltimore Building of the Week for Dr. John Breihan includes a great photo of the historic Penn Station prior to the installation of the controversial Man/Woman sculpture–

Image courtesy Jack Breihan

Louis Sullivan’s skyscraper style (as seen in Baltimore’s Equitable Bank Building featured last week) made full use of modern steel-framed construction and electrical appliances like elevators. But in the 1890s it was superseded by a style with equally advanced technology but not based on Sullivan’s famous pronouncement that “Form follows function.” Inspired by – and named after – the great French architecture school, the Ecole de Beaux-Arts, this new style combined modern steel-framed construction with historical European styles. Penn Station, completed in 1911, is a good example. Planned to handle several streams of travel on several different levels, it nevertheless presents a serene classical façade to viewers approaching up Charles Street – balustrade roofline, modillioned cornice, paired Roman columns, rusticated stone base. The equally classical interior has undergone several restorations since the 1970s. In the 1990s a connection to Baltimore’s new light rail system was added. As it approaches its 100th birthday Penn Station shows how old buildings, well maintained can continue to serve the community.

Baltimore Building of the Week: Charles Village Porch-Front Rowhouses

This week’s Baltimore Building of the Week returns to Charles Village to highlight the characteristic porch-front rowhouses,

Image courtesy Jack Breihan

The same sort of exuberant, uniquely American designs that appeared in the late 19th century reached a high point early in the 20th. The so-called Queen Anne Style had nothing to do with Britain’s last Stuart monarch, but instead mixed various architectural details into a happy pastiche. Here in Charles Village row houses boasted Flemish gables, Italianate brackets and arched windows, classical columns and pediments. Deep front porches offered some relief from the city’s heat as well as sociable contact with neighbors. Lately they have been acquiring vivid redecoration that highlights their architectural features.