Calvert Rowhomes Demolished

This weekend I discovered that my a favorite crumbling ruin of mine, a pistachio-green three-story rowhome on the 2100 block of Calvert Street, in Baltimore, was finally demolished. I wrote about the house earlier, here.

As it was...
What a beauty

From Google Maps, on Built Baltimore

At the same time, Axis Alley, a very cool experiment in environmental art, also comes to a close. A number of artists had been painting, building and engaging with the site for the past few months. The demolishing of the block and clearing of the lot ends this temporary exhibit as well.


I've discovered that the 2100 block demolition is part of an 85 Million dollar redevelopment deal between the city of Baltimore and the DC development company, Telesis. Details are here.

Neighborhood re-envisioned by Telesis. [From Baltimorebrew.com, courtesy Telesis.]

I don't quite understand why the properties still appear to be owned either by the "Housing Authority" or "the Mayor and City Council". They got some good deals though! (Here's a home sold to the city for 5$!!)

I hope the new structures coming soon to Charles Village, Goucher and Barclay will respect the architectural heritage of the buildings they are replacing, and not just be bland, thoughtless generic "ugly-tecture" (Of the variety of Charles Commons or Village Lofts in upper Charles Village! Ugh!). We'll see I guess!

† [A Note to readers. I am currently migrating images previously hosted on flickr. Hopefully images that have been 'broken' by flickr (*shakes fist menacingly*) will soon be restored.]

Pretty Ruins

There is a certain building, standing on a (frankly) ugly section of street several blocks south of my home, for which I have a strange affection, despite its being in a nearly complete state of ruin.

I like the home because of its unique brickwork, tall windows and interesting 'pistachio' paint-job. I decided to write about my affection for the home after I recently discovered 2 tidbits relating to its existence.


View Larger Map

First, while googling some addresses as a time-waster, I found a photo of the home in 2006 and was shocked by its much superior condition. Its obvious that a fire occurred on the second floor sometime between September 2006 and 2008. The internet was unable to bring me any details of this unfortunate event.

-->Beautiful photos of the home, pre-crumble, on Flickr here: thepeoplemachine.
(Via Flickr.)

According to city records (If you have time, check out this cool tool.) the home was built in 1890 (along with many homes of the Charles Village district) and is currently owned by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City. I sincerely hope they do not plan to demolish it (they own nearly the whole block it is situated in)--although, I don't know who would possibly be able to front the money to repair it.

Ok, second, also by way of the net, I learned about an artistic revitalization effort focusing on the 2100 block of N. Calvert, called Axis Alley. Its goal, from its website here, is to activate the back alleys of Baltimore and explore the "toxic beauty" and "fascinating possibility of urban intervention and creative gesture" by installation of art/design works in the alleys behind distressed buildings and spaces.

I especially like the phrase "toxic beauty". I feel like this is exactly what drew me to this home and this block in the first place.

Sadly, the deadline for submissions has passed, but it appears applications for proposed projects will perhaps continue to be accepted on an ongoing basis, so who knows, perhaps I will have an opportunity to interact with my favorite building in a more personal way.