Baltimore, Maryland
Founded in 1729 at the mouth of the Patapsco River, Baltimore is a historic mid-Atlantic port city home to rowhouse neighborhoods, a revitalized waterfront, and spectacular parks and monuments. The Southern Field Office has been involved in a broad range of activities here, from fighting to save endangered buildings, to capacity-building for local organizations, to crafting long-term preservation strategies.
Baltimore Heritage Receives Partners in the Field Grant
Through the Partners in the Field program, the National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded Baltimore Heritage, Inc. $80,000 in February 2009 to provide on-the-ground assistance to traditionally African American neighborhoods faced with the opportunities and challenges of new transit development. As a first step, funding will support community outreach in neighborhoods affected by the proposed Red Line, which would connect east and west Baltimore.
Partners in the Field is a transformative funding program dedicated to expanding preservation field services nationwide, supported by a generous gift from Robert Wilson, a long-time friend of the National Trust. Mr. Wilson's challenge gift of $5 million requires a financial match, with the potential to generate a total of $10 million for preservation field services over a five-year period.
To learn more about the Partners in the Field grant program, visit http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/find-funding/grants/partners-in-the-field.html.
West Side
Listed as one of America's Most Endangered Historic Places in 1999, Baltimore's West Side has experienced dramatic change. The West Side is still threatened, though -- this time by a redevelopment project known as the "Superblock." The Superblock consists of more than a dozen buildings, many of them historic, which if demolished would represent a major loss for Baltimore and a step backward from the tremendous progress recently made on the West Side. To learn more, visit http://www.preservationnation.org/travel-and-sites/sites/southern-region/west-side-of-downtown-baltimore.html.
The Basilica of the Assumption & the Rochambeau Apartment House
One of the most significant historic properties in America, Benjamin Henry Latrobe's Basilica of the Assumption is a national symbol of religious freedom, and recently underwent a world-class restoration. http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2007/january-february/restoration-of-light.html
That's the good news. Unfortunately, at the same time, the Archdiocese decided to demolish the stately 1905 Rochambeau Apartment building, which stood adjacent to the Basilica on Charles Street, a major commercial corridor. The Rochambeau was an important element of the Cathedral Hill National Register Historic District and of the Baltimore City Heritage Area, and should have been preserved as an asset to Charles Street and the City of Baltimore. In fact, in 2005, the National Trust offered to play a direct role in rehabilitating the Rochambeau through our for-profit subsidiary, the National Trust Community Investment Corporation.
Despite a massive public outcry, the Archdiocese and the City allowed the demolition of the Rochambeau, which resulted in an undistinguished and ill-used prayer garden on one of Baltimore's most beautiful streets. The Rochambeau's loss caused irreparable harm to Baltimore’s aesthetic character and historic integrity, and Baltimore missed a key opportunity to capitalize on a growing market for downtown housing and commercial space.
Financial Support in Baltimore
The Southern Field Office is the voice of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Baltimore. In addition to the Partners in the Field grant recently awarded to Baltimore Heritage, we have a limited amount of funding available for preservation-related planning and educational activities.
But the National Trust invests in urban revitalization in many ways. The National Trust Community Investment Corporation (NTCIC), a for-profit subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has also been extensively involved in Baltimore. A few highlights include:
- The Hippodrome Theater. Of a total $71 million dollar project cost, NTCIC made an investment of $9.6 million and employed both historic and New Market Tax credits--the latter of which provided $2 million dollars in funding that otherwise would not have been possible.
- The American Brewery. The project cost to rehabilitate this enormous 1887 brewhouse totalled $25 million dollars, of which more than $5.4 million in New Market and federal tax credit equity was invested by the NTCIC.
- The Masonic Temple. Of a total $22.3 million dollar project cost, the NTCIC made a tax credit equity investment of $6.5 million using New Market and federal and state historic tax credits.
The National Trust Loan Fund has invested in the American Brewery project, and in MacGillivray's -- a successful corner building in Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood that blends affordable housing and retail space. MacGillivray's was the recipient of a 2005 Restore America grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and HGTV.
We appreciate your comments:
[break for sidebar content]
