Architectural Preservation

Controversies surrounding the demolition of the Rochambeau Apartments and a block of 1820 rowhouses, as well as the plight of the Senator Theatre, have brought renewed focus on the future of Baltimore's architectural heritage. Preservationists welcome recent calls for the city's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) to be more proactive in designating buildings as historic landmarks. But landmarking is a political process that requires CHAP, Planning Commission, and City Council approval to protect individual buildings and historic districts.

Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) will consider granting landmark status today to a row of historic downtown homes slated for demolition by Mercy Medical Center. Preservationists are trying to prevent the hospital from razing the 1820s-era houses in the 300 block of St. Paul Place, some of the oldest downtown, for a planned $292 million expansion. City housing officials gave Mercy a demolition permit Friday, and Baltimore Heritage, a preservation organization, immediately appealed, arguing that a law paving the way for Mercy to quickly get the permit passed the City Council improperly.

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.

New rules protect city's historic core Years of a David vs. Goliath fight to protect the historic scale of this community ended quietly on April 10 with final passage of the Mount Vernon Urban Renewal Plan. Despite the tremendous odds against us, we succeeded - with the help of City Council President Sheila Dixon - in getting the height limit for new buildings in Mount Vernon legislated at an average of 86 feet (including rooftop mechanical devices), with lower height limits near the Washington Monument and higher ones in the northern part of the neighborhood.

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.

Over the protests of preservationists, a City Council committee approved a proposal last night to merge Baltimore's historic preservation commission with the city Planning Department. In the bill that now goes to the full City Council for approval, the committee left out amendments urged by the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation - an omission that critics say will strip the commission of its power. "It feels like someone's trying to put a lid on us," Judith Miller, chairwoman of the CHAP board, said after the Urban Affairs Committee's 3-1 vote, with one abstention.

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.

THE FORCES OF historic preservation and opposing interests have manned the trenches again, and the bodies have begun to pile up. This particular conflict is being fought over the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) in an apparent attempt to weaken its influence as it relocates from the city's Department of Housing and Community Development to the Planning Department. The Baltimore component of the American Institute of Architects, AIABaltimore, believes that this clash is entirely unnecessary and completely avoidable.