San Francisco's "painted ladies" have come cross- country to Charles Village -- in the form of a playful Victorian house-painting contest in North Baltimore.
San Francisco is nationally known for the creative color schemes that have long decorated its houses overlooking the bay. The nickname painted ladies was supplied by 19th-century architect Andrew Jackson Downing, who thought the multicolored houses resembled facial features.
Traditionally, Charles Village, with its handsome turn-of-the-century housing stock, has been more staid in its sturdy shades of red brick and brown paint.
But that is on the brink of changing, because of a $20,000 grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a Baltimore-based nonprofit group dedicated to helping disadvantaged children. The grant will fund the contest and two planned for next year.
The theory is that enhancing the streetscape creates a healthier, happier urban village for children and adults in North Baltimore.
Makes sense, if you ask Steven Rivelis, 44, who lives in a tall house -- with a pink door -- on St. Paul Street. "We want to make a declaration that this is a community that's thriving," he said.
"It's not just paint on a house," Rivelis said, as he walked along nearby streets Friday. "Bold colors say this is a good place to work and play."
First prize is $3,000 for the most vibrant porch-front facade. Homeowners without front porches can compete for a $2,000 prize for the most colorful facade. The best front door in the 100 square blocks of the Charles Village Community Benefits District wins $500. The deadline is Nov. 1. At least three colors must be used.
The contest was the inspiration of Rivelis and Dawna Cobb, 42, another Charles Village resident. With more intuition than scientific studies, they wondered whether a contest would work as a strategy to make Charles Village more pleasant: safer from crime, with slower traffic and cleaner streets.
"Necessity breeds all kinds of creativity," said Cobb, an assistant attorney general who painted her porch blue and yellow.
She and Rivelis, a community development consultant, took their contest proposal to K. C. Burton, director of Baltimore relations for the Annie E. Casey foundation, and convinced him of its merits as a beautification and revitalization strategy. "It's a neighborhood transformation approach," said Burton, who believes the program could serve as an innovative model and an organizing tool for other city neighborhoods in Baltimore and elsewhere.
