On August 5, 2019, Preservation Maryland—in partnership with the Maryland Historical Trust, Baltimore Heritage, Inc., and the Baltimore City Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP)—announced the first round of grants awarded by the Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund.
Financial support for the grant program was provided by a mitigation fund established several years ago at the Baltimore Community Foundation. The goal of the dynamic new program is to provide direct assistance for capital and non-capital activities that advance efforts to preserve historically significant properties in the City of Baltimore.
In this first round, nine projects totaling $70,000 in grants were selected from a highly competitive field of nearly forty applicants. The projects selected represent a wide variety of building types and uses. In addition to considering historic significance, grant reviewers also looked for projects which demonstrated broad community support and would contribute to the revitalization of neighborhoods.
Preservation Maryland Executive Director Nicholas Redding explained, “We are proud to administer and support this important new program. The grants funded this round each underscore the real power of preservation to be a positive force for community revitalization.”
The projects which received funding during this round included:
CASA de Maryland, Inc.
Type: Bricks and Mortar
Project Name: Baltimore Regional Education and Training Center
Description: CASA of Maryland’s new headquarters will be in the historic Belnord Theatre. The 1921 site, also part of the East Monument National Register Historic District, will provide on-site vocational training, workforce development programs, and afterschool programs, legal services, and ESOL programming. The $10,000 grant from the Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund will go toward the restoration of the building’s historic façade to its 1929 appearance.
Jubilee Baltimore
Type: Education and Research
Project Name: East Baltimore Midway National Register Historic District Nomination
Description: Jubilee Baltimore seeks to secure National Register Status for the East Baltimore Midway neighborhood. The $8,000 award will the used to prepare the nomination and open the door to greater incentives for investment and preservation in the community.
Recipient: Leadenhall Baptist Church
Type: Bricks and Mortar
Project Name: Stained Glass Window Restoration
Description: Leadenhall Baptist Church, dedicated in 1873, houses one of the City’s oldest congregations continually housed in the same building. The $7,000 Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund grant will go towards the restoration of the stained glass windows.
Le Mondo, Inc.
Type: Bricks and Mortar
Project Name: Stabilization and Storefront Rehabilitation
Description: Le Mondo is a project to rehabilitate three buildings in the Market Center Historic District into a multi-use space. The $5,000 grant awarded to LeMondo will go towards the restoration of windows on two of the buildings for this project.
Recipient: Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore
Type: Education and Research
Project Name: Penn North National Register Historic District Nomination
Description: The Penn North Neighborhood is a vital part of Baltimore’s African American arts history and is part of the recently named Pennsylvania Avenue Arts and Entertainment District, the first in Maryland designated for its role in black arts and entertainment. The $8,000 Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund grant will fund the research needed to submit a National Register Nomination for the district.
The Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture
Type: Bricks and Mortar
Project Name: Peale Center Picture Gallery
Description: Both the first purpose-built museum building in the United States and the first place in Baltimore to use gas light, the Peale Center is undertaking a multi-year restoration effort. The $7,000 grant will support restoration work to the main congregation space, the Picture Gallery.
Recipient: Society for the Preservation of Federal Hill and Fell’s Point
Type: Bricks and Mortar
Project Name: Caulkers’ Houses Rehabilitation
Description: The Caulkers’ houses stand as a rare example of wood frame vernacular housing in Baltimore. The houses are long vacant and in need of both rehabilitation and new use. The $10,000 grant will go towards efforts to restore the Caulkers’ houses to their 1840s appearance and use them to highlight this chapter in Baltimore’s history.
Southwest Partnership
Type: Bricks and Mortar
Project Name: Malachi Mills House Stabilization
Description: The 1843 Malachi Mills House is an example of workers housing in mid-19th Century Southwest Baltimore. The $10,000 grant to Southwest Partnership will provide funds to stabilize the building against further deterioration and to ensure the buildings survival among the revitalization efforts in the neighborhood.
St. James Terrace Apartments, Inc.
Type: Bricks and Mortar
Project Name: Sellers Mansion
Description: The National Register listed Sellers Mansion sits prominently on the corner of Lafayette Square Park in the Old West Baltimore Historic District. Efforts are underway now to restore the 1868 home and the $5,000 grant from the Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund will help stabilize the building from further deterioration.
Preservation Maryland is the state’s first and foremost historic preservation non-profit organization founded in 1931 and dedicated to preserving Maryland’s historic buildings, neighborhoods, landscapes, and archaeological sites through outreach, funding, and advocacy.
Featured photo of Belnord Theater groundbreaking at CASA de Maryland (2018) is courtesy of Baltimore Fishbowl.