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July 2005
Happy Independence Day! I would like to invite everyone to the Butchers Hill annual potluck 4th of July picnic. It will be on July 6th, in Halcott Square (also known as Duncan Street Park) on Duncan Street between Lombard and Pratt. Bring the family and BH neighbors, and don't forget a side dish, appetizer, or dessert. I'll be, as always, manning the grill. For some time, Butchers Hill and neighboring communities have been working to reduce the speed and volume of commuter traffic through our neighborhoods. One problem has been that a few of our streets are set up like major through streets, like one would expect from a commercial corridor, rather than as neighborhood streets with neighborhood traffic patterns. We are now seeing the first steps from the city in response to our concerns. Hopefully, this will be part of an ongoing process resulting in traffic patterns that are more in line with the residential character of our neighborhood. I understand that there is a wide range of views on how to improve the traffic situation, and I look forward to working with everyone on this issue going forward. --Dave Dyer. COMMUNITY DUMPSTER, For neighborhood residents only. No electronics, batteries, paint, hazardous materials, or appliances. The dumpster arrives around 8 AM and leaves around 2 PM. Please fill from the back of the Dumpster. Historic SE Zoning Task Force Public Meetings Planned Butchers Hill is one of 13 groups included in a Task Force examining existing zoning, preservation strategies, and urban renewal plans. Between March and June 2005, the Historic Southeast Zoning Task Force has been studying existing and future land uses in this part of southeast Baltimore with the goal of making standards reflective of existing and planned land use in southeast. Urban Renewal Plans currently exist in Fells Point, Washington Hill, Jonestown, and Inner Harbor East. National Register Historic Districts exist in Butchers Hill, Fells Point and Central Avenue. Local historic (CHAP) districts exist in Washington Hill, Jonestown and three blocks of Butchers Hill. The Task Force study area included the area between Patterson Park Avenue to the east, the waterfront to the south, the Jones Falls waterway to the west and Fayette Street to the north. Representatives of each of the neighborhoods in the study area, including Butchers Hill, were represented on the Task Force. The Task Force recommendations include accelerated local historic district designation (CHAP) to include most of the area (including all of Butchers Hill) and changes to zoning and urban renewal plans for this part of southeast Baltimore. Public meetings to present the Task Force recommendations, respond to questions and solicit public input are scheduled for 7 to 9 PM on Thursday, July 7 at St. Andrews Orthodox Church, South Chester and East Lombard Streets and 7 to 9 PM on Tuesday, July 12 at the Polish National Alliance, 1627 Eastern Avenue. For more information, please contact Billy Hwang, Legislative Aide to Councilman Kraft, (410) 396-4821. Laurie Feinberg of the Baltimore City Planning Department and Eddie Leon of the Baltimore City Commission on Historic and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) will present the Task Force recommendations and respond to questions at the next Butchers Hill general meeting on Wednesday August 3 at 7:00 PM. A special thanks to Erich and Bernadette Burger of the 100 block of S. Collington Avenue, Alayne Taylor and Christian Dunn of the 100 block of S. Duncan Street, and Jeff Gabriel of the unit block S. Chester Street, for volunteering to wire-brush, prime, and paint the fencing in Duncan Street Park (as part of our restoration project). Many hands make light work! Pratt and Lombard Streets To Become Two-Way in August Traffic direction will be changing from one-way to two-way on Pratt and Lombard Streets between Broadway and Patterson Park Avenue this August. The City Department of Transportation is implementing the changes, which are supported by 1st District Councilman James Kraft, at the request of community groups along the Pratt and Lombard corridors. BHA COMMITTEES AND MONTHLY MEETINGS
Dog owners, please be good neighbors and clean-up after your dogs. It is evident along a number of our sidewalks and tree pits that some of owners are not cleaning up after their dogs. A recent new area where this is occurring is the sidewalk around our elementary school (School #27). The school's custodial staff should not have to clean up after neighbors' dogs.
THERE IS NO BUTCHERS HILL ASSOCIATION GENERAL MEETING IN JULY. HIGHLIGHTS, June 1st BHA General Meeting. The complete set of minutes, prepared by BHA recording secretary Beth Needham, can be found at http://www.butchershill.org/association/minutes.shtml.
ARCHITECTURE IN THE ROMANESQUE STYLE Butchers Hill has a fine example of a distinctive late 19th century architectural style often called "Richardson Romanesque." It is the Antioch Baptist Church at Washington and Baltimore Streets. Romanesque influence can also be found elsewhere in the neighborhood. Henry Hobson Richardson was born in New Orleans in 1838, a descendant of chemist Joseph Priestly. In 1856 he went to Harvard, and after receiving a baccalaureate degree, he traveled to Paris to study architecture. He is said to be only the second American formally trained in that discipline. On returning to this country after the Civil War, he settled in Boston, where his first important public building, Trinity Church, defined his new unique style. He created many examples of this style before his death in 1886, and it remained popular in Baltimore through about 1910. The Romanesque style is well suited for large public structures. It features rough stone as the principal building material, with openings defined by semicircular arches, often supported by finished stone columns. The semicircular arch was in use in Europe from Roman times to the 12th century, when it was largely supplanted by the pointed Gothic arch. Richardson and his disciples designed a few private residences in his new style, and it could be adapted well to rowhouses, especially if long rows were treated as a single façade rather than a series of individual fronts. But it remained most widely used for large public buildings. The dramatic church completed in 1889 at Washington and Baltimore Streets was designed by the prolific Baltimore architect Charles Carson. It is the most architecturally ambitious building in our neighborhood, comparing favorably with the best ecclesiastical design of that period in Baltimore. It is mostly Port Deposit granite trimmed with sandstone. A tall cone-shaped roof caps the tower surmounting the Baltimore Street entrance porch and is echoed in the conical roofs that spread beyond the top edges of each stone tower. The nave's gabled roof is broken by gabled wall dormers, cylindrical stone chimneys, and eyelid roof vents-all occasional elements of late Romanesque style. The building next to St. Andrews Church on Lombard Street also exhibits Romanesque characteristics in the two rough stone walls and the arched third-story windows. An example of Romanesque influence can be found in the block at 2234-2242 East Baltimore Street, where semicircular arches framed in rough brownstone in an otherwise brick façade. -Rick Gilmour, with review by architect Virgil Bartram, BHA Land-Use Chair.
Mercy Medical Center Presents Music in Patterson Park 05.
COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARDTHE ART WALL
THROUGH JULY: JUNE FLEA MARKET THE BEST YET-THANKS TO GREAT VOLUNTEERS! The best grilled and baked goodies ever (thanks to Athba and her crew-Barry, Bill, Greg, and Virgil); more vendors than ever (thanks to Bev and Rick); and the mellow jazz of the Paul Snyder Trio made the June Flea Market a great success! Including the Marketing Committee, Butchers Hill has many neighbors and friends to thank. Butch and Ray orchestrated vendor placement. John Murphy made and put up the large signs at Pratt Street and Eastern Avenue. Beth, Jeannie, John, Liz, and Sue moved a never-ending stream of donations at the Butchers Hill Flea Market booth-to benefit the Education Committee. The Parks Department crew headed by Gerald Gilliam, along with the Friends of Patterson Park, provided a base of action that made use of the park possible. These businesses provided prominent poster space to advertise the event: High Grounds Coffee/Book Shop, Santoni's, DiPasquale's, D. J. Liquidators, Highlandtown Market, Broadway Market Management, Long & Foster Realtors, the Foster Avenue Rite Aid, Whole Foods, and Safeway. Please patronize these community-conscious businesses. Of the four fund-raising activities the Marketing Committee sponsors, the two flea markets showcase our community to the most diverse population as well as benefit the Education Committee. We are looking for someone to run the Fall (September 10th) Butchers Hill Flea Market Booth and set up the spaces the evening before. If you can help, contact Rick (410-342-7061) or come to the July Marketing Committee meeting. Receipts for donations made to the Butchers Hill Flea Market booth will be made available at the August General Meeting. -Sandy Sales. ANOTHER FABULOUS GARDEN TOUR Folks who braved the hot weather to attend our sixth Garden Tour found a cornucopia of delightful urban oases sprinkled with a delightful variety of art in all mediums. In addition, of course, they discovered the charms of "Baltimore's Friendliest Neighborhood," "Baltimore's Best Back Yard," and our two neighborhood parks. Sandy Sales and Rick Gilmour, staffing the ticket tent, received many compliments about the event, the artists, and Liz Elliott's striking poster and brochure cover. Although attendance was down because of the weather, early receipts show that the event made money, largely because most of the work is contributed by us! Moreover, our strategic ticket location right at the Lombard Street entrance enabled us to publicize Butchers Hill activism to people attending other activities in Patterson Park, including the Butchers-Hill-sponsored "Fun Mobile." We'll have a complete thank-you list in next month's newsletter, but special recognition goes to Roxanne and Joe Rehak, intrepid Garden-Tour chairs, and to first-time Artists Coordinator, Megin Diamond Renaud, who kept all crises behind the scenes! -Rick Gilmour. Female teacher and BH resident for the past few years needs to move no later than Aug 1st. Looking for either a single unit to rent or share rent and utilities with prof. M/F; have friendly medium sized dog. Call Kathy 410-402-3108 or email. Harry Potter Breakfast, July 16, 2005! Return to Hogwarts and join Three Birds Used Books in celebrating the release of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" from 8 to 11 AM. LIMITED BOOKS AVAILABLE! Call in advance to reserve your copy (leave a message): 410-327-7708. We will be serving chocolate frogs and pumpkin juice, along with a few other wizardly treats. 2027 East Lombard, on the corner of Castle. See you there!
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
