Join us in October for Race and Place in Baltimore Neighborhoods

In addition to our regular tours this fall, in October we are pleased to host a special series called “Race and Place in Baltimore Neighborhoods.”  The series includes three Saturday morning walking tours in Upton, Greater Rosemont, and Sharp-Leadenhall and a lecture by distinguished scholar and Baltimore native Dr. Rhonda Williams.  We would love to have you join us for one or all of these!  And, thanks to the Maryland Humanities Council and Free Fall Baltimore, they are all free.

Together with scholars from the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, UMBC, and Towson University, as well as neighborhood leaders from the Upton Planning Committee, the Evergreen Protective Association, and the Sharp-Leadenhall Planning Committee, we will walk through neighborhoods that have served witness to Baltimore’s challenging histories of segregation, civil rights, racial transition, displacement, urban renewal, and even historic preservation. You’re encouraged to stay for a light lunch after each tour to continue the discussion with our tour leaders as we delve into the complicated relationships between race and place and what this history means for the future of these and many other Baltimore neighborhoods.

Click here to register for one or more of the tours and the lecture or read on for more details.

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Baltimore Building of the Week: Mt. Washington Presbyterian Church

This week’s edition of the Baltimore Building of the Week from Dr. John Breihan returns to Mount Washington, home to an Octogan House and the 1807 Washington Mill, to feature the 1878 Mount Washington Presbyterian Church,

Image courtesy Jack Breihan

In the decade following the Civil War many American buildings imitated Victorian Gothic and Second Empire from Britain and France. But some American architects struck out on their own distinctively American designs. The Mount Washington Presbyterian Church on Thornberry Road (now the Chimes, Inc.) is an example of the “stick style.” Built in 1878, the church is a celebration of the machine-cut lumber now coming on the market. Exposed wooden beams and vertical board-and-batten siding evoke the Gothic, but are far cry from the heavy masonry of Victorian Gothic.

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Historic Baltimore By Bus Tour: Celebrating 50 Years of Saving Historic Places

Step back into 1960 Baltimore:  Charles Center was just underway (with Mies van der Rohe’s One Charles Center two years from completion); Baltimore’s population had dropped by 10,000 people, down to 940,000; city planners had begun crafting highway plans to run through Fell’s Point, Mount Vernon, and West Baltimore; and Baltimore Heritage was founded to preserve historic places in Baltimore City.  To help celebrate our 50th anniversary, we are recreating a bus tour of historic sites in central Baltimore that launched our organization and the historic preservation movement in Baltimore City.  Please join us on this two-hour bus trip with our tour guides, local historians Wayne Schaumburg and Marsha Wise, as we connect the dots of historic preservation and city development between the Baltimore of 1960 and the Baltimore of today.

Tour Information

Date:     Sunday, October 3, 2010
Time:     Two tours (sign up for only one)
10:00 a.m. to noon
1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Cost:      $25
Place:    Meet at the Peale Museum (225 North Holliday Street, Baltimore 21202)
Free parking on the street

Note: The tour is by bus (school bus, to be exact) and will last two hours.  We will get off the bus a few times to examine historic places up close and stretch our legs.

Click Here to Register.
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2010 Preservation Awards: McDowell Building

McDowell Building, Image courtesy Brasher Design

Anchoring the historic Charles Street retail corridor for decades, the McDowell Building at 339 North Charles Street is a solid 4-story historic building that now houses 12 market rate apartments and retail space on the first floor. The preservation and renovation of the building strikingly revealed that there were actually two, not one, original entrances. The project team faithfully brought this dual-entry system back, along with recreating original millwork and saving the leaded glass transoms. With historic rehabilitation tax credits to help, the building once again is a great asset to historic Charles Street. The Adaptive Reuse and Compatible Design Award went to architect Brasher Design and contractors John E. Day Associates.

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Thank you for your support for Baltimore’s Hebrew Orphan Asylum

This Place Matters: Baltimore's Hebrew Orphan Asylum

The results of the This Place Matters Community Challenge are in and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum landed in the top 10! With 1563 votes we came in 9th place out of 108 contenders nationwide. Congratulations to the winner–the Historic Paramount Theatre in Austin, TX–and thank you to everyone who voted in support of the building.

Special thanks to the Jewish Museum of Maryland, the Coppin Heights CDC, and Coppin State University for joining us in this effort. We also appreciated the great stories from Tim Tooten at WBAL (video), Jacques Kelly at the Baltimore Sun, the Baltimore Jewish Times, as well as posts on Baltimore Brew and the Baltidome Blog. Friends and neighbors–including the Alliance of Rosemont Community Organizations, the Baltimore National Heritage Area, the Baltimore Red Line, the Evergreen Protective Association, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Temple Oheb Shalom, and Preservation Maryland–generously helped to spread the word across the city.

Although we did not win the $25,000 prize, your support for Baltimore’s Hebrew Orphan Asylum has affirmed our shared commitment to continue the hard work ahead, to preserve the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and restore the building to its historic role as an asset to the community. In the next few weeks, we will follow up with everyone who voted to offer a few suggestions on how you may be able to stay involved with the work to preserve this rare Baltimore landmark.