Category: Preservation

Recovering from Hurricane Sandy – Help report damaged historic properties to the Maryland Historical Trust

Photo courtesy Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun.

Baltimore avoided major damage from Hurricane Sandy, especially in comparison to more seriously affected communities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, New Jersey and New York. Unfortunately, the storm did result in damage to at least a few of our city’s historic buildings and landscapes: four vacant rowhouses collapsed in West Baltimore’s historic Harlem Park neighborhood and the storm uprooted a storied Osage Orange tree in Druid Hill Park believed to be around 400 years old.

The Maryland Historical Trust is working to gather information about properties affected by this disaster so if you own a historic property that sustained damage please visit the MHT Hurricane Preparedness and Disaster Recovery page and fill out a Hurricane Damage Report form to alert MHT staff to your property’s condition. MHT plans to use these forms for recovery efforts and work in consultation with both FEMA and MEMA to help connect property owners with recovery resources as they become available.

The Maryland Historical Trust has also prepared an Historic Structures Emergency Assessment Form for  available for download as a Microsoft Word Document that you can use to assess and inventory damaged historic resources in Baltimore or around the region. Finally, rehabilitation tax credits are available through MHT for qualified projects and FEMA will likely have low interest loans available. Baltimore Heritage also offers our own resources, including regular workshops, to help home-owners learn more about city and state historic tax credit programs. The Maryland Historical Trust is working to identify other available resources to help with damage recovery costs and will make the information available as soon as possible.

Old Hamilton Library listed on the National Register of Historic Places

On September 25, the Old Hamilton Library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Designed by Baltimore architect Theodore W. Pietsch, the historic branch library was built thanks to the organized efforts of the Woman’s Club of Hamilton and the Hamilton Improvement Association along with support from Pittsburgh industrialist Andrew Carnegie.

Baltimore Heritage submitted the nomination to the Maryland Historical Trust in February with support from both the owner and the Hamilton-Lauraville Main Street. We hope this designation and the financial incentives of city, state and federal historic tax credits can help our partners find a new use for this neighborhood landmark and restore it to its long-time role as an asset to northeast Baltimore communities.

Support preservation leadership in Baltimore! Tell CHAP to keep their director

Today we have an update with some distressing news regarding historic preservation in Baltimore. We just learned that Baltimore’s local historic preservation commission- the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) – is holding a special “closed door” meeting on Monday, August 27 with the purpose of firing CHAP’s Executive Director, Ms. Kathleen Kotarba. While we are reluctant to get involved in a personnel matter at CHAP, we are confident that the effort to fire Ms. Kotarba is directly related to her professional work with CHAP staff and commissioners and fear that it involves recent controversial historic preservation issues – the preservation of Read’s Drug Store, the Mechanic Theater, and the Edgar Allan Poe House. As you know, preservation issues are at the forefront of many city-shaping decisions today and we fear that the effort to fire Ms. Kotarba is an attempt to reduce the influence of historic preservation in Baltimore.

I wanted to let you know that this controversy is unfolding and also to ask for your help. We do not know the full story behind Monday’s meeting, but we do know that Ms. Kotarba has served the city with distinction for nearly 35 years. Firing her behind closed doors is unfair and makes no sense. If there are administrative issues or issues involving the direction of CHAP, we strongly believe that the director should be involved in the solution. Therefore, I ask that you join us in voicing our concern by contacting CHAP Commissioners. In thinking about this, I want to point out that the executive director of CHAP is an unusual position within city government: the director works for the CHAP Commission. I think the position was created this way on purpose knowing that the director might encounter tough issues that ruffle feathers. It is only with a strong and professional preservation staff and commission that checks and balances within city government are possible.We need you to let the CHAP Commissioners know that you care about preservation leadership in Baltimore. Click here to start composing an e-mail addressed to the full commission or find a list of individual commissioners below. Please also join us in demonstrating your concern by attending Monday’s CHAP meeting. We expect there may be no opportunity for us to speak but we can help show the importance of preservation in Baltimore just by being there.

Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation – Special Session
Reeves Conference Room, Baltimore City Hall, 100 Holliday Street, 4th floor
Monday, August 27, 1:00 pm.

Thank you, again, for your help in ensuring that we have a fair and respectful city process for historic preservation in Baltimore.

Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation

Updated publication provides comprehensive take on Baltimore City designated landmarks

Baltimore’s Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation has just published the first update to the official Baltimore City Designated Landmarks List since 2003. This report features summaries and photos for each of the 164 Baltimore City landmarks and public interior landmarks – from the designation of Baltimore City Hall back in January 1971 through Old Dunbar High School designated this past spring.

The new publication features cross-referenced, easy-to-use overview maps and index as well as information about the benefits, protections, and review procedures for Baltimore City Landmarks. Download a copy online today!

Tax credits and historic district offer new momentum for rehabilitation of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum

In February, we celebrated the announcement that Baltimore’s Hebrew Orphan Asylum received over $2.5 million in support from the Maryland Sustainable Communities Tax Credit program. In order to secure the claim to these tax credits, the Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation was required to pay a 3% fee – over $75,000 – which posed a tough challenge for a small non-profit. For the past several months, Dr. Gary Rodwell has worked with Baltimore Heritage and other partners to continue promoting interest in the project and identify partners who could provide the necessary funding. Thankfully, Coppin State University has stepped forward to pay the fee and secure the Hebrew Orphan Asylum’s claim to the state historic tax credits. With this support, the Coppin Heights CDC is in a strong position to continue planning and  push forward with fundraising for the rehabilitation of the building.

The past few weeks have also marked the end of work by the Red Line Station Area Advisory Committees – groups of volunteer residents, business owners, and other stakeholder who collaborated with designers, planners, architects and land-use experts to bring their insight into the design and planning of the nineteen proposed Red Line stations. The Rosemont Station Area Advisory Committee produced a vision plan (find a PDF here) for the future of the Rosemont area that highlighted the importance of historic district designation for neighborhood revitalization, established the reuse of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum as a key goal and considered landmark designation for the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and other historic properties.

Baltimore Heritage is helping make this vision a reality by starting to prepare a historic district nomination for the neighborhoods of Greater Rosemont and by working with the Coppin Heights CDC towards the restoration and reuse of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.  As we continue to strive for the revitalization of historic West Baltimore neighborhoods, we welcome any questions or suggestions.