Endangered Maryland

ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK NOW

E N DA N G E R E D M A RY L A N D. O R G

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Preservation Maryland Endangered Maryland 2014

The Selection Committee evaluates nominations based on these criteria: / Historic significance / Urgency of the threat / Feasibility of a solution / Level of community support / Geographic diversity / Diversity of resource / Diversity of the type of threat

The Selection Committee this year was chaired by Edward Day, Museum Director at Riversdale House Museum Program Direction: Margaret De Arcangelis 2014 Selection Committee: Ms. Marilyn Benaderet, Preservation Maryland Ms. Mary Catherine Cochran, Preservation Howard County Mr. Edward Day, Riversdale House Museum Ms. Carol Ebright, Archaeological Society of Maryland Dr. Clifford Murphy, Maryland State Arts Council Ms. Gail Owing, Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area Dr. Dennis Pogue, University of Maryland Ms. Roz Racanello, Southern Maryland Heritage Area Ms. Patricia Schooley, Washington County Historical Trust, Preservation Maryland Board Member Ms. Amy Seitz, Main Street Maryland Mr. David Wiles, Clear Spring District Historical Association Ms. Cheri Yost, Cumberland Historic Preservation Commission Ms. Nell Ziehl, Maryland Historical Trust

Design: Writer: Photography:

Ashton Design Karen Fish Edwin Remsberg

* Quote on page 3 is from the National Park Service

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PRESERVATION IS ABOUT DECIDING WHAT IS IMPORTANT, FIGURING OUT HOW TO PROTECT IT, AND PASSING ALONG AN APPRECIATION FOR WHAT WAS SAVED TO THE NEXT GENERATION. PRESERVATION IS HANDS-ON.

OUR

ENDANGE

THEATER John Johansen has always been an architect committed to ideas: scientific, architectural, and cultural. His work is filled with a sense of response to agendas that are always broader than the narrow limits of his immediate problems at hand. This perspective gives his work great resonance and, in an era displaced from such fundamentals, its clarity, resourcefulness and invention stand out all the more. — Michael Sorkin

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MORRIS A . MECHANIC THEATER / DEMOLITION

ERE D

R Baltimore City

F I N D O U T W H AT Y O U C A N D O Kat hleen L a ne , A I A B a l t i m o re

klane@aiabalt.com

PERMIT ISSUED

Prince George’s County

HYATTS VILLE LIBRARY / SLATED FOR DEMOLITION

F I N D O U T W H AT Y O U C A N D O G lor ia Felix -Th o m p s o n , H y a t t svi l l e Pres er vat i o n As s o ci at i o n

hpahyattsville@hotmail.com

MID-

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OUR

The library system originally proposed renovating and expanding the building but is now planning to replace the building with something new of comparable size. This library, designed by Walton & Madden, is slated to be torn down without a feasibility study or public input.

CENTURY In the push-and-pull between change and continuity, preservationists find it relatively easy to protect things that please the contemporary eye, like Colonial meeting houses or Gothic Revival churches. But when the buildings in question are out of style, they become much harder to save. — Ruth Graham

LIBRARY

IN DANGER

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The Nelson Homestead (c. 1836) is a telescope-style plantation house that is remarkable because it retains 95% of its original woodwork including mantels, doors, chair rail, wainscoting, and cupboards. The house stands out as one of the least-altered examples of a three-part frame house in Maryland.

Crisfield, Somerset County

F I N D O U T W H AT Y O U C A N D O Jay Pa r ker, Lo w e r E a ste r n S h o re Heri t ag e Co unci l

LESHC1@aol.com

NELSON HOMESTEAD / MAINTENANCE AND RESTORATION DEFERRED FOR LACK OF FUNDS

OUR BLOCK I N Cambridge, Dorchester County

All the stories I’ll ever need are right here on Main Street. ­— Robert Cormier

DAN

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500 BLOCK OF RA CE ST. CAMBRIDGE / FIRE DAMAGE / NEGLECT / DEFERRED MAINTENANCE

NGER

This group of early 20th-century buildings is a keystone to the continued reinvestment in the town’s business district. The block includes the Skinner Bros. Wholesale Grocery Building (1905), the elegantly detailed Hearn Hardware Store (1915), and the Art Deco Tolley Theater (1920).

F I N D O U T W H AT Y O U C A N D O Far re ll M cC o y, H i s to r i c Ca m b r i d g e Inc.

historiccambridgeinc@gmail.com

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Beginning in 1787, the construction of Baltimore’s municipal water system was an innovation that allowed the City to grow into one of America’s largest and most prosperous urban centers of the 19th-century.

The Valve House at Clifton Park (1887) is a Gothic and Romanesque octagonal stone structure that sheltered the gates that controlled the flow of water for the Lake Clifton Reservoir. The structure pioneered the use of steel trusses for a soaring tile roof punctuated by ornate stained glass windows. Lake Clifton and the Valve House served as an aesthetic attraction and an emblem of civic pride in the early 20th century. To remain viable, the building needs to be re-purposed for the 21st century.

Baltimore City

F I N D O U T W H AT Y O U C A N D O John C iekot, C i v i c Wo r k s

jciekot@civicworks.com

VALVE HOUSE IN CLIFTON PARK / DEMOLITION BY NEGLECT / ADAPTIVE REUSE NEEDED

Frederick, Frederick County

Historic preservation clearly does much more than preserve bricks and mortar. It recognizes that our built history connects us in tangible ways with our past and provides context for the places we occupy and the world we live in. It fuses art with craftsmanship, capacity for modern utility with embodied energy, and progressive ideas for economic revitalization with traditional authenticity.

­

— Craig Potts, Historic Preservation Expert

F IN D O UT W HAT YOU CAN D O An thony Mosc a to , Fre d e r i c k Pres er vat i o n Trus t

contact@frede rickpreser vationtrust.com

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NEGLECTED OUR

BIRELY TANNERY / POSSIBLE DEMOLITION / DEVELOPMENT PRESSURE

INDUSTRIAL H E R I TA G E

IN DANGER

Prince George’s County

GLENN DALE TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL / DEMOLITION BY NEGLECT

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This campus features 23 brick Georgian Revival buildings on 200 acres. Nathan C. Wyeth designed many of the buildings as well as the Key Bridge, the Oval Office, and a number of other municipal and federal buildings in the area. The classical detailing of the buildings and interconnected pedestrian paths all contribute to its historical and architectural significance as a representative example of a 20th-century therapeutic campus.

F I N D O U T W H AT Y O U C A N D O Henr y W ixon, T h e G l e n n D a l e Ci t i zens ’ As s o ci at i o n

info@saveglenndalehospital.org

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B U I LT BY 1870 CHURCH

CERES BETHEL AME CHURCH / DEFERRED MAINTENANCE OF THE CHURCH AND CEMETERY / VANDALISM

FREE Wherever you go in the history of America, there have been Black people making contributions, but their contributions have been obscured, lost, buried. ­— Henry Louis Gates

BLACKS

IN DANGER

Burkittsville, Frederick County

Ceres Bethel AME Church is a post-Civil War, rural, African-American church. Evidence indicates that Ceres Bethel had an active congregation of free blacks by 1858 when it acquired the land for the church. The adjacent graveyard contains burials from 1870-2010.

F I N D O U T W H AT Y O U C A N D O Anthony Mos c a to , Fre d e r i c k Pre s er vat i o n Trus t

contact@frederickpreser vationtrust.com

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MARYL AND HISTORIC NATIONAL ROAD / RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT PRESSURES / HISTORIC INTEGRITY THREATENED

Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things. ­— Russell Baker

F I N D O U T W H AT Y O U C A N D O T i f f a ny Aha lt, M a r y l a n d N a t i o n a l Ro ad As s o ci at i o n

info@mar ylandnationalroad.org

Multi-County

In 1809, Congress authorized a road running through Maryland to the Ohio River to facilitate America’s westward expansion. Our All-American Historic National Road possesses intrinsic qualities that are nationally significant and contains one-of-a-kind features, including mile houses, mile markers, and stone arch bridges. The Road is considered a destination unto itself.

Sharpsburg, Washington County

This property has historical significance for its proximity to the site of the Civil War Battle of Antietam, fought near Sharpsburg on September 17, 1862. The house served as a hospital after the battle and contributes to the viewshed of the battlefield. There are several historic structures including a 19th-century tenant house, a slave cabin, summer kitchen, and frame barn on the property.

F I N D O U T W H AT Y O U C A N D O El iza beth B ux to n , M a r y l a n d E n v i ro nment al Trus t

MET.info@mar yland.gov

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A N T I E TA M

OUR

MT. PLEA SANT / DEMOLITION BY NEGLECT

BATTLE It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable. ­ — Molière

FIELD

IN DANGER

NEVER DOUBT THAT A SMALL GROUP OF THOUGHTFUL, COMMITTED CITIZENS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD; INDEED, IT’S THE ONLY THING THAT EVER HAS.

— MARGARET MEAD

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ENDANGERED MARYL AND 2014 - 500 Block of Race Street / pgs. 10-11 (Dorchester County) - Birely Tannery / pg. 14 (Frederick County) - Ceres Bethel AME Church / pg. 19 (Frederick County) - Glenn Dale Tuberculosis Hospital / pgs. 16-17 (Prince George’s County) - Hyattsville Library / pg. 6 (Prince George’s County) - Maryland Historic National Road / pgs. 20-21 (Multi-County) - Morris A. Mechanic Theater / pgs. 4-5, 24-25 (Baltimore City) - Mt. Pleasant / pg. 22 (Washington County) - Nelson Homestead / inside front cover, pgs. 8-9 (Somerset County) - Valve House in Clifton Park / pgs. 3, 12-13 (Baltimore City)

Protect these bu ildings.

Go to endangeredmar yland.org

ACT NOW

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E N DA N G E R E D M A R Y L A N D. O R G

Preservation Maryland’s Endangered Maryland program is a call to action to save critically important historic buildings and sites that are at risk of being lost. Every site on this list is at imminent risk. Increased public dialogue and creative solutions are key to saving these historic places. Contact the person listed with each site to see what you can do to help save an endangered part of Maryland’s history.

Act now.

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PRESE RVATION MARYLAND THANKS OUR SPONSORS.