Architectural Preservation

HECHT CO.'s former flagship department store at Howard and Lexington streets is likely to become Baltimore's newest landmark.Members of Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) voted unanimously this week to add the eight-story building at 118 N. Howard St. to their list of official city landmarks.The panel's action must be approved by the Planning Commission, City Council and Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke before the building can be declared a landmark.If the other officials concur with the preservationists, as is usually the case with landmark designations, the 1924 structure will become the third department store building to receive landmark status in Baltimore, along with the 1888 Hutzler Bros.

Karen Lewand, a preservationist and educator who launched a series of walking tours while establishing programs for children to learn about architecture, died of cancer Dec. 20 at her home in the Radnor-Winston section of North Baltimore. She was 67. "She was an innovator, a leader and a strong advocate for preserving Baltimore's historic buildings and neighborhoods, and helped Baltimore grow in countless ways. With an unwavering voice for preserving the best of our architecture and neighborhoods, she was instrumental in saving historic places that many of us now take for granted," said Johns Hopkins, executive director of Baltimore Heritage.

It's certainly not to everyone's taste, but there's no doubt the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre at Baltimore and Charles streets qualifies as a genuine architectural landmark. Built in 1967 in a Brutalist style, it's neither sleek nor inviting by today's standards. Yet it commemorates an important chapter in Baltimore history that ought to be preserved. The question is how, and preservationists, city planning officials and the property's developers seem unable to agree on that. The city's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation wants landmark status for the building to protect it from demolition.

Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation decided not to vote on the ouster of the commission's executive director Monday. During a closed-door meeting, the commission opted not to take a vote on the removal of Kathleen Kotarba because "no action was requested of us," said a member of the commission who declined to be named because personnel discussions are confidential. Public notice of the meeting was made less than a week ago. It is not clear who in Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's administration initiated the meeting to discuss Kotarba's job performance.

The author of a new book about Baltimore architecture will speak at noon tomorrow at a forum. Charles Belfoure will discuss Niernsee and Neilson: Architects of Baltimore, at the Johns Hopkins Downtown Center at Charles and Fayette streets. John Rudolph Niernsee and J. Crawford Neilson designed 19th-century buildings, including Camden Station and the Green Mount Cemetery chapel. They also planned the original Johns Hopkins Hospital campus. The discussion, part of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation's fall forum, is free.

Landmark status will protect theater The controversy over the future of the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre continues, and tomorrow, the Planning Commission will decide whether to support a landmark designation for the Mechanic. In its recent editorial "Landmark in all but name" (Aug. 17), The Baltimore Sun was correct in stating that the theater "qualifies as a genuine architectural landmark" but wrong in recommending against a formal landmark designation. On Aug. 14, 2007, the city's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP)

A proposed merger of Baltimore's preservation agency and Planning Department came a step closer yesterday after a City Council hearing showed that many local preservationists could support the arrangement, albeit with reservations. After hearing three hours of testimony about a council bill that would make Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) part of the Planning Department, Urban Affairs Committee Chairwoman Paula Johnson Branch promised a final bill that would keep CHAP strong even though it would be integrated with the city department.

Fast forward 50 years, to 2058. The Baltimore region's population has doubled, and the port is booming in the post-petroleum era. Mass transit has finally taken hold, and the city's population is over 1 million. In the surrounding counties, most houses, 50 to 60 years old, with vinyl siding and vinyl windows, are looking shabby. In contrast, most city neighborhoods have become historic districts, especially those from the 1920s through 1950s - totally rehabbed and looking great. At a neighborhood school, a teacher explains that Baltimore was not always this way. The economy thrived in the 1950s, but by the 1960s many businesses and residents were fleeing to the suburbs.

Lady Baltimore's right arm looks as if it has been attacked by the flesh-eating virus. Her face has been darkened by soot from years of auto exhaust. Her crown is tarnished, and green fungus is growing up her robe.But by early next year she could be presentable again, if friends can raise enough money for a long-overdue face lift.Baltimore's Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation is scheduled today to join local historians and others to launch a $250,000 fund drive aimed at restoring Lady Baltimore and the memorial she adorns, the Battle Monument on Calvert Street near Fayette Street.

Go ahead and repair that mid-19th-century front door and start painting those cornices with the intricate dentil moldings. The city is in the mood to pick up part of the tab -- in the form of a 10-year property tax credit for thousands of historic buildings.A City Council bill is in the works to give property owners a financial break if they have wanted to do significant improvements but couldn't because of the threat of higher property taxes."This will ensure that your tax bill will not rise if you make your house beautiful," said Eric L. Holcomb, a city planner with the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation.

Mary Ruff Brush, who owned and managed North Baltimore's Broadview Apartments for 60 years and successfully challenged Baltimore's historic preservation commission when she wanted to put parking on a nearby property, died of renal failure April 20 at her Marathon, Fla., home. She was 87. Born Mary Ellen Ruff in Baltimore, she was the youngest daughter of John K. Ruff, a Randallstown stone mason who built apartment houses and Towson High School. She was a 1940 Catonsville High School graduate and earned a business degree from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Landmark status will protect theater The controversy over the future of the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre continues, and tomorrow, the Planning Commission will decide whether to support a landmark designation for the Mechanic. In its recent editorial "Landmark in all but name" (Aug. 17), The Baltimore Sun was correct in stating that the theater "qualifies as a genuine architectural landmark" but wrong in recommending against a formal landmark designation. On Aug. 14, 2007, the city's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP)

Fast forward 50 years, to 2058. The Baltimore region's population has doubled, and the port is booming in the post-petroleum era. Mass transit has finally taken hold, and the city's population is over 1 million. In the surrounding counties, most houses, 50 to 60 years old, with vinyl siding and vinyl windows, are looking shabby. In contrast, most city neighborhoods have become historic districts, especially those from the 1920s through 1950s - totally rehabbed and looking great. At a neighborhood school, a teacher explains that Baltimore was not always this way. The economy thrived in the 1950s, but by the 1960s many businesses and residents were fleeing to the suburbs.

It's certainly not to everyone's taste, but there's no doubt the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre at Baltimore and Charles streets qualifies as a genuine architectural landmark. Built in 1967 in a Brutalist style, it's neither sleek nor inviting by today's standards. Yet it commemorates an important chapter in Baltimore history that ought to be preserved. The question is how, and preservationists, city planning officials and the property's developers seem unable to agree on that. The city's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation wants landmark status for the building to protect it from demolition.

Right way to save Mechanic Theatre Thanks to Edward Gunts for pointing to a solution regarding the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre and its uncertain future ("Heightened drama," Aug. 4). The architectural and cultural significance of the building is without question, as affirmed by a unanimous vote for landmark designation by Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) and a flood of testimony from local and national experts. Among historians of architecture and urbanism, Benjamin Latrobe's Basilica of the Assumption is the only building in Baltimore better known beyond the city.

One year after the leaders of Calvert School told residents of Baltimore's Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood of their plans to seek permission to tear down a former headmaster's residence to make way for an amphitheater, the private school is moving ahead with plans to restore and expand the residence for academic use instead. Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) voted 5-0 yesterday to give conceptual approval to the school's plans to expand Castalia, the 1928 residence at 200 Tuscany Road that noted architect Laurence Hall Fowler designed for Calvert School headmaster Virgil Hillyer.

The last of the downtown Baltimore rowhouses from the 1820s could be headed for demolition, a move preservation activists say would damage the historical uniqueness of the city. "For a row of buildings like that to survive is terrific," said Tyler Gearhart, executive director of Preservation Maryland. "That's what we're trying to preserve." Though Mercy Medical Center would not comment on its plans for the buildings in the 300 block of St. Paul Place, city Planning Director Otis Rolley III said hospital representatives have met with him and indicated they are considering tearing down the buildings as part of a broader expansion effort.

The owners of a Union Square tavern expect to learn today if the city will tear down what is left of their $125,000 investment, which partially collapsed Saturday, or risk bracing rear and side walls so repairs can be made. None of the workers installing wallboard inside the 160-year-old building at Little Hollins Street and Arlington Avenue in Southwest Baltimore was injured when a major portion of the front wall suddenly caved in. A neighborhood resident, who had just left Glen and Nan's Beer Garden and Cafe with a cup of coffee, suffered a head injury that required stitches, according to fire officials.

With another five days to go before its scheduled dismantling, the golden chain-link fence that is serving as the controversial opening phase of a two-month-long art exhibit in Mount Vernon Place survived the weekend - remaining up, open and a source of disagreement. The fence originally blocked all access to the historic park and was to remain in place until Saturday. Late last week, amid heavy criticism from residents, the Maryland Institute College of Art student who created the fence removed a section from each of the park's four quadrants, allowing public access.

Usually, local buildings must be at least 50 years old to be designated as national landmarks. But for only the second time in its history, Baltimore's preservation commission has made an exception. The panel voted this month to add Highfield House, a 16-story condominium building in Baltimore's Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood, to the National Register of Historic Places - even though it's just 43 years old. The only other Baltimore building individually listed before reaching 50 was One Charles Center, a 1962 office tower at 100 N. Charles St. It was added in 2000.