Seven preservation and revitalization projects in Baltimore City have been awarded a total of $50,000 through the Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund. The projects represent a wide variety of challenges and opportunities – all focused on preserving neighborhood identity and contributing to community revitalization.
The Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund is a collaborative program of Preservation Maryland, the Maryland Historical Trust, Baltimore Heritage, Inc., and the Baltimore City Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP). Financial support for the grant program is provided by a fund established several years ago at the Baltimore Community Foundation.
Preservation Maryland Executive Director Nicholas Redding said, “We are proud to continue our administration of this important program. The projects funded in the two rounds of this program have demonstrated the vital role of preservation in community revitalization.”
Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund Awards
Project Name: Ambassador Theater Redevelopment
Recipient: Artspace Projects, Inc.
Amount: $5,000
The 1935 Ambassador Theater, located in Northwest Baltimore’s Howard Park neighborhood, served as a movie theater until 1968. It was then used a multi-purpose space before becoming vacant. Artspace Projects, Inc. purchased the building and intends to make the much-needed repairs to create a community-focused art and cultural center. Grant funding from the Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund will support architectural design work and an engagement process with the neighborhood.
Project Name: Gorsuch Avenue Firehouse Exterior Repair
Recipient: Civic Works, Inc.
Amount: $10,000
This early 20th-century firehouse served the Coldstream Homestead Montebello neighborhood until 2000 and becoming vacant. It was briefly used as a set for the movie Ladder 49. Civic Works has worked over the past two years to purchase and renovate the building. The goal is to use the firehouse as a space for their job training and education programs. The $10,000 grant from Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund will fund work to the exterior of this historic fire station.
Project Name: Patterson Theater Marquee Restoration
Recipient: Creative Alliance
Amount: $10,000
The marquee of the 1930s Patterson Theater is a highly-visible landmark of the Highlandtown Arts & Entertainment District. Creative Alliance has owned and operated the building as an active gallery and performance space. The iconic marquee, the only vertical marquee in Baltimore, is in need of structural repairs. The grant from the Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund will support a conditions assessment and repairs to the metal framing as the first phase of the restoration project.
Project Name: Herring Run Heritage Trail
Recipient: Friends of Herring Run Parks
Amount: $5,500
The Friends of Herring Run Parks is undertaking a multi-year project to explore the history of Herring Run Parks, located in Northeast Baltimore and create the Herring Run Heritage Trail to connect visitors to that history. This history includes several pre-Columbian contact sites followed by history from many subsequent eras like Eutaw Manor. The grant from the Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund will fund the coordination of existing research as well as new research to identify points for the trail as a prelude to the creation of a self-guided trail and educational programming.
Project Name: Conditions and Interpretation Assessment at Mount Clare
Recipient: Mount Clare Museum
Amount: $10,000
The 18th-century Mount Clare Museum was the home of Charles Carroll and is now in what is called, Carroll Park, Baltimore’s third oldest city park created out of land that was originally part of the vast Mount Clare estate. The museum, operated by the National Society of Colonial Dames in Maryland, the local chapter of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America is currently closed and undergoing a physical and interpretative reimagining. The grant from Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund will finance a conditions assessment of the physical structure and support a more inclusive interpretation plan for the museum.
Project Name: Roland Water Tower Stabilization
Recipient: Roland Park Community Foundation
Amount: $3,500
Roland Park’s ca. 1905 water tower stands as a distinctive highly-visible stone landmark at the convergences of several residential neighborhoods in Northwest Baltimore. For the past decade, the small park-like area around the tower has been surrounded by a safety fence to prevent access in case of falling building material. The grants from the Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund will support the major restoration effort underway to restore the Roland Water Tower and return the park around it to community use.
Project Name: West Baltimore Archeology Project
Recipient: University of Maryland
Amount: $6,000
The Old West Baltimore Historic District comprises a neighborhood that was home to many important African American figures in civic life, the arts, and civil rights including Thurgood Marshall. The University of Maryland will undertake an archeological project to discover more about the neighborhood contemporaneously with Black Women Build, a non-profit that is rehabbing several nearby rowhouses. This grant from the Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund will help fund the dig to be conducted by students from Coppin State, Morgan State, and the University of Baltimore.