Shelley House Landmark Designation in Mayor's Hands
The building, located at 3849 Roland Ave., is one of the fist homes in the area built with reinforced concrete.
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The Shelley House is on the verge of being added to the Baltimore City Landmark List.
On Monday, the Baltimore City Council gave final approval to a bill that would add the structure to the landmark list, and it now just needs the mayor to sign the legislation into law.
Earlier this year, the building, located at 3849 Roland Ave., was in danger of being turned into 12-unit apartment complex. That plan was scuttled after residents opposed the project in February.
The Shelley House was constructed between 1905 and 1906 in when Hampden was still a lightly developed part of Baltimore County.
The building has historical significance because it was one of the first homes in the area built with reinforced concrete. The construction material was likely in response to the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, which destroyed many of the old wooden structures in downtown at that time.
By adding the building to the landmark list, the city will have control over any kind of redevelopment or changes to the building that may impact its historic nature.
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IamGayle
8:57 am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Which essentially means, that the city can do whatever they wish with this historic building... anything.
Tom Kiefaber
12:11 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
IamGayle is right on. The legislated city landmark list is not about preservation, it's about control. Uber Commissioner Robert C. Embry at CHAP has singlehandedly blocked the demolition of the execrable and abandoned brutalist (concrete) Mechanic Theatre, yet authorized an horrific "Crepes in the Crapper" plan to destroy the ladies room suite at The Senator Theatre. Thankfully sanity prevailed regarding the Sophie's crepe shop near debacle and professional preservationists overruled it, yet that was too close for comfort. CHAP is a preservationist joke, and Baltimore's citizens should never be sanguine when our inept and corrupt city seizes control over its private real estate. It's often not what it appears to be.