| Rowhouse
blocks with ornate brick and formstone facades forming a vivid urban environment, the
proverbial scrubbed marble steps, carefully painted front doors, trees lining the
sidewalks, cafes and stores mixed in. These are not only images of the past, they are very
present in pockets of Baltimore such as Federal Hill, Ridgely's Delight, Seton Hill or
Bolton Hill. In too many other areas, however, we find now plywood nailed on doors and
windows, crumbling facades, trash strewn alleys and vacant lots like so many missing
teeth. Years and millions of dollars of renaissance efforts have left at best spotty
successes. So many rowhouses are vacant in Baltimore, that the Housing Authority bought
its own crane to demolish them. Because we pretty much gave up hope that we will ever get
Baltimore back to its peak population of 960,000 it is time to ask, how should a Baltimore
of 650,000 be designed to avoid the blight of under-utilization, or as Yale Professor Rae
calls it: "undercrowding"? Can the gained space really be turned into an asset
as the Professor proclaimed at the Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CPHA)
conference in April? (see article in the last issue of Urbanite). While the April Conference
discussed the problems of inner City urban housing, a follow up conference in the fall
enlisting the help of the Neighborhood Design Center (NDC) and the Urban Design Committee
of Baltimore AIA Architects will put the spotlight on solutions. Among the questions: How
many vacant lots and houses are needed to turn them into useful amenities such as larger
yards, parks, playgrounds, shopping centers, business parks or space for new housing types
typically not seen in the City. Can residents be relocated to consolidate whole blocks of
vacant houses for demolition? Should the perimeter of blocks stay intact and only the
alley houses inside the block be demolished in favor of enlarged backyards, protected
playgrounds and off-street parking? Are single family houses, duplexes or flats possibly
constructed inside the blocks appropriate or needed to meet potential demand from
"empty nesters"? What kind demand is there for City living? Can larger houses,
more open space and parking garages bring residents back to the City? Where are the
successful examples? Where could a Baltimore pilot project be started? Some say we don't
have to look any further than our very own Otterbein to see how present housing needs can
be merged with the historic urban form. For new ideas conference organizers are discussing
a national design competition.
The rowhouse,
designed to blend in and act in concert with dozens of look-alikes, has recently moved
center stage. Architects exhibited alley houses in their chapter gallery. Three lectures
by the Architecture Foundation at the Walters educated this spring about the differences
between Baltimore, Philadelphia and DC rowhouses. (the DC ones are more eclectic and
decorated, the Philadelphia ones sparser than ours). But the architectural subtleties pale
in the current discussion of demolition and to be or not to be. Some already want to put
the rowhouse on the list of endangered species.
It is difficult to
find a housing type superior to the very efficient rowhouse. Consider: Rowhouses can be
12-14 feet narrow but still have on two or three floors enough space for a family of four
or five. Access occurs for each unit directly from the street, no lobbies, no staircases,
no elevators. There is minimal exterior wall surface to be maintained and minimal heat
gain or loss through the walls. Each house has its own yard. Waste pick up in the rear
from the alley, mail delivery from the street in front. Is it a surprise, that the Housing
Department substitutes its deteriorated and demolished public housing highrises with the
success model of old, the Baltimore rowhouse? But then, does it make sense to build more
of them at a time when so many are already vacant?
The CPHA fall
conference will provide the opportunity to discuss the future of urban housing and address
the nagging question: Will the Baltimore rowhouse survive? Or does the City really have to
become more like the suburbs to survive? It is not too early to ask these questions:
Baltimore just started its new masterplan. The new plan cannot light Baltimore's way into
the new century without solutions to the housing crisis. |
