Glass House

Kate Blom's glamorous old house is 125 years old this year and, not surprisingly, it is badly in need of repairs. The wood is rotting around the windows, the doors need replacing, the chimney brick work needs re-pointing and the floor in one room is worn and crumbling. So she is throwing a kind of "work party" this week, hoping her guests will pitch in and take on a job that's too big for just one woman. Kate Blom's house is the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens in Druid Hill Park, the last of five Victorian glass houses that once graced Baltimore's parks and offered peaceful respite to the city's residents.

Kate Blom's glamorous old house is 125 years old this year and, not surprisingly, it is badly in need of repairs. The wood is rotting around the windows, the doors need replacing, the chimney brick work needs re-pointing and the floor in one room is worn and crumbling. So she is throwing a kind of "work party" this week, hoping her guests will pitch in and take on a job that's too big for just one woman. Kate Blom's house is the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens in Druid Hill Park, the last of five Victorian glass houses that once graced Baltimore's parks and offered peaceful respite to the city's residents.

WHEN TWO of Carroll County's most active commercial real estate agents don't know the local government is selling a surplus building in the heart of the county seat, something is terribly wrong with the way the county handles its land sales. Until recently, the Industrial Development Authority's attempt to sell the "Glass House" in the 100 block of Distillery Drive in Westminster was one of the county's best-kept secrets.The three-level building was once used to dry grain as part of the former Sherwood distillery.

It shimmers and glistens by day, reflecting the sun's brilliant rays. When night falls, beams of moonlight illuminate its crystal-like walls. The landmark 'Glass House' overlooking the Magothy River in Anne Arundel County is an architectural gem that literally sparkles. More than two decades after its construction, the house at 435 Ginn Lane in Pasadena has not lost its luster. But it has lost its owner, Leroy Merritt, the late developer, philanthropist and founder of the Merritt chain of athletic clubs.

County government has sold the old Glass House building in Westminster to a local restaurateur and a lot in the county air business center to a local veterinarian.The properties were sold Monday through Carroll's industrial development authority, a method that allows the county to bypass a requirement that it sell property only at public auction and instead market property directly to industries.Sal Romeo, owner of Paradiso Italian restaurant in downtown Westminster, outbid one competitor for the Glass House at Locust Street and Distillery Drive, part of an old distillery complex that the county bought in 1991.

It shimmers and glistens by day, reflecting the sun's brilliant rays. When night falls, beams of moonlight illuminate its crystal-like walls. The landmark 'Glass House' overlooking the Magothy River in Anne Arundel County is an architectural gem that literally sparkles. More than two decades after its construction, the house at 435 Ginn Lane in Pasadena has not lost its luster. But it has lost its owner, Leroy Merritt, the late developer, philanthropist and founder of the Merritt chain of athletic clubs.

Carroll County's Industrial Development Authority plans to put a former distillery building in Westminster on the market after turning down two proposals to buy it.One bid for the Glass House, part of the historic Sherwood Distillery complex, was solicited by Commissioner W. Benjamin Brown from a commercial real estate developer. The other came from a local restaurateur who said he heard "through the grapevine" that the county wanted to sell the building.Authority Chairman Arthur A. Peck said the five-member IDA, which markets industrial property for county government, decided in a late August meeting that, "We didn't think the proposals were realistic."

Salvatore Romeo knows that others have seen their dreams shattered by Westminster's distinctive but battered Glass House.But Romeo's determination shines when he talks of his plans for an elegant Paradiso Italian Restaurant in the historic building with its hundreds of glass panes that once was part of the old Sherwood Distillery complex."

TORONTO - Director John Dahl thought his Joy Ride star, Leelee Sobieski, was mature beyond her years. But he forgot just how young she was until discovering she missed her high school prom to perform in the movie. "We all felt like such jerks," Dahl said. "I felt terrible. So the grips and the electrics got together and bought her some flowers. She was a real trouper about it." The 19-year-old Sobieski is part of a new crop of actresses whose sophistication belies their age. Fellow New Yorker Julia Stiles (O)

Salvatore Romeo knows that others have seen their dreams shattered by Westminster's distinctive but battered Glass House.But Romeo's determination shines when he talks of his plans for an elegant Paradiso Italian Restaurant in the historic building with its hundreds of glass panes that once was part of the old Sherwood Distillery complex."

"Can we conceive what humanity would be if it did not know the flowers?" — Maurice Maeterlinck On a sun-splashed late autumn morning, the Druid Hill Park Conservatory, that wonderful whimsical-looking building from the age of Queen Victoria, is a brilliant symphony of curved glass and light. It makes a visitor to this quiet western corner of Baltimore's 600-acre Druid Hill Park think that he's gotten lost and ended up instead in Belle Epoque London, Vienna or Paris.

A GOOD FRIEND of mine likes to call Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. "towel-snapper Bob." It's a reference to Mr. Ehrlich's days as an athlete at the Gilman School and later at Princeton University. My friend's devotion to party would make a yellow-dog Democrat look bipartisan. So the Republican governor's success renders him (nearly) speechless. He knows that Mr. Ehrlich's good ol' boy confidence has been working passably well. Our governor likes being called "Bob" or "Bobby," preferring the informal over the desire of less politically astute advisers who look for a little more gravitas in their governor.

Ehrlich's attack on Democrats lacks all logic Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s statement that Democrats are "racist" is an attack lacking all logic and evidence ("Democrats `racist,' Md. governor says," Aug. 31). At the national level, the Rev. Al Sharpton reminded us that Democrats led the fight to pass the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Moreover, most Democrats support affirmative action, hate-crimes legislation and a host of other issues that are disproportionately important to African-Americans.

CLARIFICATION A May 8 editorial about William J. Bennett's gambling said Empower America opposes casinos and slots. The group says it has no official position on gambling. WILLIAM J. BENNETT gambled very heavily, and it has cost him more than money - providing one more glaring lesson in why Marylanders shouldn't risk legalizing slots. Who knew Mr. Bennett - former U.S. education secretary and drug czar, author of the best-selling Book of Virtues, and $50,000-a-pop sermonizer - was also a whale, the sort of high-roller that Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos thrive on?

In 1949, a woman visited the New Canaan, Conn., residence of the renowned architect Philip Johnson. He had just designed one of the very first modern homes in postwar America. It was flat-roofed with brick and stone floors, steel detailing and exterior walls made completely of glass that took in the views of the countryside. "I could never live here," the woman blurted out to its owner. "I'm glad," replied Johnson. Johnson's home, now known as the Glass House, has since become an icon of modern residential architecture and upon his death will become the property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

TORONTO - Director John Dahl thought his Joy Ride star, Leelee Sobieski, was mature beyond her years. But he forgot just how young she was until discovering she missed her high school prom to perform in the movie. "We all felt like such jerks," Dahl said. "I felt terrible. So the grips and the electrics got together and bought her some flowers. She was a real trouper about it." The 19-year-old Sobieski is part of a new crop of actresses whose sophistication belies their age. Fellow New Yorker Julia Stiles (O)

"Can we conceive what humanity would be if it did not know the flowers?" — Maurice Maeterlinck On a sun-splashed late autumn morning, the Druid Hill Park Conservatory, that wonderful whimsical-looking building from the age of Queen Victoria, is a brilliant symphony of curved glass and light. It makes a visitor to this quiet western corner of Baltimore's 600-acre Druid Hill Park think that he's gotten lost and ended up instead in Belle Epoque London, Vienna or Paris.

Carroll County government workers are tearing down one of three buildings in a former distillery complex in Westminster to add parking space and possibly a tot lot.Demolition of the building is unrelated to efforts of the county Industrial Development Authority to sell the adjacent Glass House, said Richard Soisson, county director of recreation and parks.One building in the complex on Distillery Drive houses the Department of Social Services, the Food Sunday food-distribution program and other social programs.

Two of downtown Westminster's most notable redevelopment projects will receive awards from Gov. Parris N. Glendening this week on behalf of his Smart Growth initiative. The Old Firehouse on East Main Street, by David Max of the Max Group, and Paradiso Italian Restaurant on Distillery Drive, by Salvatore and June Romeo, will be honored in the category of redevelopment and revitalization in a ceremony Thursday in Annapolis. "We're very pleased that both projects we nominated were selected," said Karen K. Blandford, the city's manager of housing and community development.

LET'S SET aside the question of whether covering up an affair constitutes an impeachable offense. Instead, let us address today's impassioned calls for a return to an earlier morality. An examination of the old ways, if done honestly, would not give comfort to many of the President's moral accusers.In 1963, not very long ago, Nelson Rockefeller was vying for the Republican presidential nomination. The year before he had divorced his wife of more than 30 years and mother of his five children.