We are thrilled to share the good news that the neighborhoods of Evergreen, Bridgeview/Greenlawn, and Rosemont Homeowners/Tenants have been listed to the National Register of Historic Places through the new Edmondson Avenue Historic District on December 27, 2010.
We appreciate the support we received from West Baltimore MARC TOD Transportation, Inc., the Alliance of Rosemont Community Organizations and the Evergreen Protective Association as we developed and submitted the nomination last year. We look forward to continuing our partnerships with neighborhood leaders and residents to help home-owners within the new historic district take full advantage of the city and state historic tax credits as they maintain and rehabilitation the handsome “daylight” rowhouses that make up the new district.
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!
2400 block of West Lafayette Avenue within the proposed Edmondson Avenue Historic District.
This month’s edition in our new monthly series highlighting the hearing agenda for the Baltimore Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation is an opportunity for us to share a bit about our own work on the proposed Edmondson Avenue National Register Historic Historic District. In partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Baltimore Heritage has been working in West Baltimore to establish new historic districts and enable home-owners in West Baltimore to access the state Sustainable Communities Tax Credit Program. With support from the Evergreen Protective Association, the Bridgeview/Greenlawn Neighborhood Improvement Association, the Alliance of Rosemont Community Organizations and West Baltimore MARC TOD, Inc. we have nominated nearly 1700 properties in West Baltimore to the National Register of Historic Places.
The neighborhoods within the proposed historic district have a rich architectural legacy including handsome daylight rowhouses, graceful Gothic churches, and well-built schools. In addition, this proposed designation recognizes the important social history of Greater Rosemont as a middle-class African American community that successfully resisted displacement from the threat of the “Highway to Nowhere” in the 1960s and 1970s. You can download a draft copy of the National Register of Historic Places nomination form here (PDF) or take a look at our photos from the Edmondson Avenue Historic District up on Flickr.
Other items on the CHAP Agenda include a concept review for a proposed addition to 524 South Hanover Street within the Otterbein Historic District and a continuation of last month’s discussion on the Mount Vernon Place Restoration Master Plan.
