Historic House

The way the Rev. Stephen Neel sees it, his South Columbia Baptist Church's effort to tear down a mid-19th century farmhouse to make room for a new church pits the forces of good against, well, other forces of good.Neel, the church's pastor, says he understands why preservationists would want to save a historic site, but "we're there to minister to the people and minister to the needs of the community. I would hope that if it comes down to the building vs. the people, that we would choose people."

A political spat nearly doomed its restoration, but preliminary work finally began yesterday on the historic London Town Publik House, as experts with optical instruments used a tiny camera to videotape brick and mortar damage inside the chimneys."

The county's historic sites planner will present a slide program on historic houses and locations at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at a meeting of the Woman's Club of Linthicum Heights.Donna M. Ware has had 16 years experience in historic preservation, the last seven in the county. She is the author of "Anne Arundel County Legacy -- The Historic Properties of Anne Arundel County," and "Green Glades and Sooty Gob Piles: the Maryland Region's Industrial and Architectural Past" to be published by the Maryland Historical Trust.

As the Orioles retake the field this week, we wanted to look at some of the neighborhoods surrounding Oriole Park: Ridgely's Delight today, and Otterbein next Sunday.When Oriole Park at Camden Yards opens tomorrow, Bill Reuter wants to be first in line. He has season tickets and plans to attend every game."It's a beautiful stadium. And there is so much excitement around Opening Day. The crowds of people who come, the way they cheer the team, I can't wait," says Mr. Reuter, 39.There are thousands of fans as enthusiastic.

The big, white stucco house along Crain Highway used to be one of the most beautiful residences in North County. Now it haunts the road like a decrepit ghost, its windows boarded with plywood, its walls scrawled with graffiti, its once gracious back porch crumbling into the weeds.Vandals have burned the house. A murdered man's body was dumped in its basement. Whoever owns the place doesn't bother to respond to Anne Arundel County's offers to help save it."It's really sad," says Donna Ware, the county's historical sites planner.

A multicolored grouping of four clapboard rowhouses in Fells Point stands out like Gerbera daisies against the Formstone and brick fronts of its neighbors on either side. Architect Myrna Poirier calls one of these gems home and will soon invite visitors beyond her threshold as part of the Historic Harbor House Tour of Fells Point on Mother's Day. In keeping with the facade of her home, the interior is a color-infused, uplifting space. "Color is so important," she said. "A lot of people don't realize what color does for your spirits," pointing to an open interior 50 feet deep, with soft pastel paint on the walls in each room, richly embellished textiles from all over the world hanging on them and the morning sun bursting through ceiling skylights.

The Anne Arundel Department of Planning and Code Enforcement has granted the owner of a 125-year-old historic Brooklyn Park house a demolition permit to raze the brick structure.Work on demolition of the house at the 10-acre site in the 5600 block of Ballman Ave. is expected to begin in two to four weeks, after a contractor is selected, said Thomas A. Pavlinic, a lawyer for owner Georgia O. Clift.The house has been vacant since 1985, has no running water, heat or electricity, and has extensive water damage from a leaky roof.

The Thomas Fortune house might be gone, but it's far from forgotten.More than a month after the 145-year-old stone house in Cockeysville was illegally razed, the Baltimore County Board of Appeals urged the Police Department yesterday to pursue the unknown contractor who performed the demolition. The three-member board said it might also ask the state's attorney's office to launch an investigation.Former owners Mary and Bill Kraft were fined $3,000 last month for several building code violations.

A Southern Baptist congregation near Columbia received zoning approval yesterday to build a new church and raze a mid-19th century stone house that county preservationists would like to save.The Board of Appeals said the South Columbia Baptist Church's plan to raze Moundland, a two-story stone house built in the 1840s, conflicted with preservation policies expressed in the county's new General Plan for growth.But since the county has no laws to protect structures outside Ellicott City's historic district, the board said it could neither deny the congregation a special zoning exception to build a church in a residential area nor order it to move the stone house.

A stately, two-story house between majestic oak trees on a Mount Airy hillside is home, hobby and hope fulfilled for Dan and Joann Rockwell.The Rockwell residence, a post-Victorian that has been home to five families since it was built in 1913, is one of 10 houses featured in the Mount Airy Historic Homes Tour. The event, which commemorates the town's Centennial, will be held from ** noon to 8 p.m. May 21.The Rockwells found the house in 1979 when they ventured from their Gaithersburg townhouse to Mount Airy in response to a newspaper advertisement.