National Register of Historic Places 12/28/01

Description

The Homeland Historic District is composed of a varied number of building types and characteristics. The neighborhood is composed of primarily single detached houses with a handful of semi-detached houses, a school, a public library, four religious institutions, and eight commercial buildings. The Olmstead Brothers designed arterial boulevards, winding secondary streets, and "back turning" courts. The architectural styles represented in the district include: Federal Revival, Tudor Revival, Georgian Revival, Dutch Colonial Revival, Cape Cod Revival, Victorian Gothic, Queen Anne, Williamsburg Revival, French Eclectic, French Renaissance Revival Style, Monterey, Ranch, Norman Cottage, Italianate, Spanish Eclectic Style, Bungalow, Mansard, Jacobethan Reviva, Contemporary, and Late Gothic Styles.

Significance

Architects working in Homeland viewed design as an artistic endeavor that could provoke social reform and significantly improve the physical environment. This understanding of architecture as a social art facilitated the Roland Park Company's developments as a distinct physical and social entity. The architects designing houses for the Roland Park Company's Homeland demonstrated a broad vision of their art. They embraced the earliest ideas of the City Beautiful Era in creating a comprehensive suburban design based on unification of the arts- fine art, landscape and architectural design.