By Zach Davidson
For those who can remember or have read the archived articles, much of Baltimore’s historical landmarks and coastline was fought for by community leaders and figures, such as Senator Barbara Mikulski, with threats and protests aimed against a bulldozing highway building machine. Now, Baltimore preserves its history not just for history’s sake, but also for our business and economic future. Charmed Magazine spoke with two City officials who are part of a new generation of preservationists.
Kathleen Kotarba is the head of CHAP, or Baltimore City’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation. CHAP has preserved historic neighborhoods and sites since 1964. CHAP has designated over 11,000 buildings, as either local landmarks or part of a local historic district.
Jeffrey Buchheit is the director of the Baltimore Heritage Area, which gives areas of the city historic designations, and works closely with VisitBaltimore to plan activities and events to increase tourism and an economic impact in Baltimore.
Charmed| What is your official role and mission as preservationists?
Jeffrey| A national heritage area is a special place where you can experience a story of national significance. It’s a geographic area, and for Baltimore it’s not the entire city, but the most historic portions of the city. The boundaries start in the Inner Harbor, and radiate outward in 11 different directions. As part of a national heritage area we partner with the National Park’s Service, as well as other friends and partners. We partner for tourism development, and one of the best examples of that are our Heritage Walking Trails. The trails help build understanding and visitation of our historic sites. We can take visitors and expose them to multiple sites all in one sweep. We work with neighborhoods and sites to do these trails, because our office is all about preservation, neighborhood-revitalization, development, as well as promoting understanding and education to the public.
Kathleen| My office works with Jeff on many projects related to the historic sites and neighborhoods of the city. Our commission is one of the earliest in the country; it was created in 1964 to protect the area around the Washington Monument, which was very groundbreaking in that day. There were actually some plans that would have destroyed many of the buildings we love in Mount Vernon. So, from that beginning we have grown to have 31 historic districts all over the city, with very familiar neighborhoods including Fells Point, and Seton Hill. And many of our suburb neighborhoods are becoming historic districts as well. Preservation is a wonderful planning strategy to protect our heritage, so that our city of the future will embrace its past. We have a landmark booklet, which is also online. It is an ever-growing list; which will never be finished, because Baltimore is the kind of place where every day you can discover something new. Baltimore has remarkable landmarks. There are 156 landmarks that are protected under Baltimore City’s Landmark Designation Program, which is a function of our office. And, many of the landmarks and the sites, attractions and neighborhoods are the ones included in the national heritage areas and trail systems that Jeff works on. So, (along with Jeff) we certainly embrace heritage tourism. Another one of our programs that folks are probably familiar with is the Edgar Allen Poe House and Museum. We have the annual toast to Poe where the mysterious visitor, until this year, leaves the bottle of cognac and roses. Last year, we gave Poe the funeral he never had, and the mysterious visitor didn’t come this year. Those are just a few of the things that we do.
Charmed| What makes a historic area, and what are the benefits to living there?
Kathleen| Historic areas may have architecture or history associated with events, or individuals; it may also represent particularly notable styles. A lot of our neighborhoods have different varieties of row house architecture. We have a lot of green space as well; there are extraordinary parks that are within the historic districts, and within the heritage areas. Those are some of the criteria that we consider when designating either a district, or a city landmark. There are also many benefits to living in a historic district. Some of the financial benefits can include tax credits. The City of Baltimore, through our office, has a program to provide a credit if you rehab your house. If you complete a comprehensive rehabilitation project, where you make a major investment, typically your taxes go up, but if you apply through our program you will receive a benefit for 10 years. So, your taxes will not jump up, because you did the right thing and fixed up your house. There are also other tax benefits at the state and the federal level, and beyond all of that there is the intrinsic benefit of keeping our neighborhoods attractive, and keeping that irreplaceable fabric that you find in old neighborhoods.
Jeff| And, all of this is so closely tied together, because it is intricately tied to tourism. It’s taken everyone a long time to figure out that people aren’t going to come and visit something that’s not there. Baltimore has over 59,000 buildings on the local or national register; the only city that’s ahead of us is New York. So, out of this entire country Baltimore is number two (and not by much) as a city with the most historic fabric intact. That’s pretty amazing, and residents should be proud. And, it also brings a lot of tourism to our city, our second largest industry, which means tax money coming into the city. And, hopefully for those who live here, their property taxes can eventually be lowered as we get more and more people to visit.
Charmed| When and why did Baltimore begin to preserve its history?
Kathleen| I think 40 or 50 years ago there was an entirely different mindset about cities, and there was so much thinking about the future that maybe there was a tendency to overlook the obvious qualities of cities. Some people went out on a limb to say we have to protect these places; I really think that the successful cities have preserved their past, and cities really appreciate that now. But, back in the 60’s there was a lot of highway planning, and there is the classic story about Fells Point and Federal Hill where there would have been mass destruction of those neighborhood had the highway gone through. The same is true with our highway to nowhere, but fortunately it did not plow its way through Leakin Park and the historic neighborhoods adjacent to the park — Windsor Hills, Dickeyville, and Franklintown. So, there has always been a history of a few voices, community activists, and a few leaders who are not afraid to speak out. Our sister organization, a private citywide non-profit just celebrated its 50th anniversary, is an organization known as Baltimore Heritage, which is different from Baltimore Heritage Area. And, in a way their involvement in preservation led the way to creating my office — CHAP (Chief Historical and Architectural Preservation) a few years later in 1964.
Charmed| How do you see the city as it is now, and what are your hopes for the future?
Jeff| I think one of the great things about Baltimore is its uniqueness. You can travel anywhere in the city, and you know where you are because the neighborhoods have such a strong local identity - that’s a great strength. Yes, some of the areas need some improvement, and that’s why one of the goals of the Baltimore Heritage Area is neighborhood revitalization.
Charmed| How is the Redline helping your initiative?
Kathleen| The Redline has a strong connection to the historic neighborhoods. And, there’s a very thoughtful planning process that’s going on right now, because it should be designed in such a way that it is respectful of the historic buildings, certainly in Fells Point and West Baltimore. It will be going through or near the Ten Hills and Hunting Ridge districts; so it will be touching many areas of the city. For cities to thrive, you really have to get away from the reliance of cars. We will be in better shape in many ways when we have a more comprehensive transportation system- it will really help the city to thrive.
Jeff| And, we now have the Charm City Circulator.
Kathleen| Yes! And the circulator is fabulous! This is something that we hoped for and planned for in the heritage area. 10 years ago we thought, wouldn’t it be nice if we had a bus that could go around to the sites, and maybe it could be free? So, our dreams are coming true.
Charmed| What are some of your successes?
Kathleen| Fells Point is extremely successful, and recently became a CHAP district. Everyday we see all kinds of projects. Even with the slowdown in the economy, there is a lot of homeowner investment in the city. People are working to improve their homes and proceed with thoughtful development projects. And, the commission spends a lot of time reviewing plans to make sure they are sensitive to the historic neighborhoods. We have a commission that’s appointed by the Mayor, it’s not just staff, and we have a team of volunteer citizens who really care about the design issues.
Jeff| One of the things Baltimore is really gearing up for is the bicentennial of the war of 1812, which was the birth of our national anthem and flag. So, we’re going to be pouring energy into that event, which should be bringing thousands of people to the city. We’ll be getting communities like Fells Point ready for visitors. This year, we have National Park Service Rangers giving tours of Fells Point starting from the water taxi stop.
Charmed| What are some of your plans for Charles Street?
Jeff| 2009 was a big year for us. We became the National Heritage Area, and then Charles Street became a National Scenic Byway, which is also a very prestigious designation. What’s so amazing about that is there are very few urban National Scenic Byways. There are also very few urban National Heritage Areas. Baltimore is one of four urban centers with a National Scenic Byway, and it runs the entire length of Charles Street. That means we will be increasingly drawing a lot of tourists — a lot of international tourists, believe it or not, travel to go to National Scenic Byways, and what we’re creating is itineraries for people to shop, dine, visit attractions, and so forth, up and down the length of the byway. Certainly, there are sections that could use some improvement, but hopefully this designation will enable us to make those changes.
Charmed| What do you want people to take away from the work you are doing?
Kathleen| I would want for visitors and residents to look around and feel that this is a beautiful and well cared for city, that offers many surprises and continuously reveals facts that perhaps you didn’t know before.
Jeff| The fact we couldn’t do it without them. Our partners are the public, and without the public, the residents, and the tourists none of this would be possible. We hope the residents are very proud to live in such a historic city with all of this amazing history.
Charmed| When will your job be done?
Jeff| I think in small ways were always reaching that point.
Kathleen| That is very true. In the world of preservation, you are never done because things constantly change. It’s not unheard of to in one decade preserve something, and 20 or 30 years later do it again. It’s a passing of the torch, our ancestors left us this beautiful place to take care of; so that’s what we are doing now. Everyday there are happy victories when something gets done. But, it’s no guarantee that it will stay that way in the future.
Jeff| In 2014, if we have successfully completed projects tied to the war of 1812, and have successfully welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors to Baltimore, we will feel really good about that. I personally will be happy about that, and will maybe get an extra night’s sleep in 2014, because were counting the days at this point. That will be a big moment, but we celebrate our successes everyday.
Charmed| Why should people visit and live in Baltimore?
Jeff: A friend of mine who works for Visit Baltimore, the tourism agency here in the city, taught me a couple of years ago about what he calls “bragging rights.” I think that people who live in Baltimore have bragging rights. Where else can you say that at lunch that you had an authentic Italian meal in Little Italy.Or, that you visited the Baltimore Museum of Art or the Walters Art Musuem for free. And, that over the weekend you attended the Honfest in Hampden. It’s endless, and there’s never a dull moment in Baltimore, and 75% of it you can do for free. That’s pretty cool.
Charmed| What are your favorite spots in Baltimore?
Kathleen| A place that I really, really like, and this may be a personal attachment, is Zion Church, which is downtown across from City Hall. The garden at the Zion Church is a wonderful place to retreat, or enjoy some German food during a festival. And, it’s just a quiet little oasis in the middle of the city with extraordinary architecture, and beautiful artwork thatis a part of the building design.
Jeff| When people think of Heritage Areas they think of architecture, sites, and buildings. But, Heritage Areas are also about the open spaces, and in Baltimore I would encourage people to visit Cylburn Arboretum, if they have never been there and also Druid Hill Park’s beautiful conservatory. Druid Hill is one of the largest open spaces in any city in the country. Part of President Obama’s initiative is the great outdoors, and we actually have plenty of beautiful outdoor spaces in Baltimore that I don’t think people think about. I would encourage people to take advantage of it.
Baltimore National Heritage Area
http://http://www.baltimorecity.gov/OfficeoftheMayor/MayoralOffices/BaltimoreNationalHeritageArea/Tours.aspx
