•  Baltimore City Historic District Ordinance 04-812 - 10/06/2004

Description

The Barclay Greenmount local historic district consists of three rows of late-nineteenth-century rowhouses and a Gothic Revival church. Exemplifying many Victorian design principles, the district captures with its eclectic architectural details a picturesque, urban streetscape. St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church is constructed of Jones Falls blue stone, a polychromatic slate roof, and light-colored stone trim. Its asymmetrical massing, massive corner tower, large rose window, and belt-courses illustrate the Gothic Revival style architecture of the period. The houses on the 500 block of 22nd Street are three-story-plus-basement, swell-front rowhouses. The rusticated stone first-story contrasts with the beige brick on the second- and third-stories. Stone belt-courses separate the second and third stories, and a simple dentil-string cornice tops the front façade. The houses located at 400-428 East 22nd Street are another version of swell-front rowhouse design. These are accentuated by a rusticated stone foundation and a corbelled brick and galvanized sheet-metal cornice. The most elaborately designed houses are 405-451 and 430-450 East 22nd Street. The facades undulate with alternating swell-fronts and rectilinear bays. The foundations are made of rusticated stone, and the first-floor window and front door are highlighted with stone archways and stained glass transoms. Every third house is capped with a Queen Anne style, decorative gable and a third-story porch with ginger-bread details.

Significance

The district captures Baltimore's classic late-nineteenth-century rowhouse streetscape, a highly sophisticated representation of the last period of urban rowhouse design. During the 1910s, rowhouse design drastically changed from its full three-story urban design to a squatty, two-story suburban design. The district also includes St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church, a superb example of the early work of nationally prominent architects Francis Baldwin and Bruce Price. Both architects grew to national prominence: Baldwin designed over 150 buildings for the B&O Railroad, and Bruce Price designed many of the Stick and Shingle Style houses in Tuxedo Park, New York. In the words of architectural historian Vincent Scully, Bruce Price was "an elegant gentleman and an erratic genius." In 1872 Baldwin and Price began drawings for St. Ann's Church, and on January 30, 1874 the church was dedicated. The builder was John Stack, a contractor that constructed many of Baldwin's buildings. In addition, Francis Baldwin submitted designs for the Sisters' House and the pastoral residence in 1883.