Hot House: 2109 Baltimore Street East, Baltimore, 21231
Brick townhome, circa 1910, recently and completely renovated. 3 bedroom, 2.5 baths, 2886 sq. ft. over 3 stories with basement. 12’ ceilings, gourmet kitchen, 4 level glass elevator, master suite with steam shower, heated floors, 2 car garage, garden deck and top floor deck with views: $675,000
What: A very nice renovation of a substantial Edwardian town house, already a Featured Hot Listing on Baltimore Fishbowl. Many improvements have been made in the past few years, and they are listed clearly (and refreshingly, along with costs) on the Home Improvement list. The right decisions were made all the way through. Keeping the original heart pine floors and winding staircase, but adding a cool glass elevator. Expanding the master bath with a huge and luxurious steam shower. Raising the roof in the basement and adding new electrical, lighting and plumbing to make a useable space down there. There’s a large and inviting deck over the garage, and there’s a second, more protected “garden” type deck off the kitchen. Expensive new kitchen cabinets and appliances. Zoned heat and a/c. It all works to make a luxurious home that would work for lots of people.
Where: Butchers’ Hill is an old city neighborhood which, back in the day, was Baltimore’s meatpacking district. Poultry suppliers, tanners and sausage makers, many of them German immigrants, plied their trade here — no slaughterhouses were allowed closer to downtown. Successful merchants built fine houses after the Civil War, and it became largely Jewish and professional. By 1910, when this house was built, the butchers had mostly gone. After WWII, industrialization set in, propelled by nearby defense factories, and many buildings in Butchers’ Hill were used as sweatshops for Baltimore’s garment industry, getting some hard wear in the process. The Jewish families left, and poorer settlers, many from Appalachia, arrived looking for work. The neighborhood went into a steady decline. Rehabilitation officially began in the late 1970’s, but if you came to Baltimore before the millenium, you would have quickly figured out that Butchers’ Hill was Baltimore’s ‘Lower East Side’ — without the nightclubs – and thought twice about moving your family there. Fast -forward 20 years, and it’s a choice, diverse, rapidly gentrifying area, offering proximity to Johns Hopkins Hospital and Patterson Park – where you can go for a run, walk the dog, and probably still score some (medicinal) marijuana. There’s also the Patterson Park Flea and Craft Market, an annual event drawing people from as far away as…Roland Park. The local pub is The Life of Reilly, which is good fun, but you’ll probably end up heading over to Harbor East for nights out. The local church is St. Andrews Russian Orthodox. East Baltimore Street is the northern border of Patterson Park, and 2109 is a couple blocks west, near S. Duncan Street.
Why: Glass elevator endlessly entertaining.
Why Not: Sit outside on garden deck? Rooftop deck? Take steam shower? Too many decisions.
Would Suit: Hopkins doc, committed to urban living.
NB: According to local blogs, crime not a factor here, other than usual city stuff.
Hot House is sponsored by Cindy Conklin and Bob Merbler of Prudential YWGC Realty
No pictures of the glass elevator? No link to the listing?
Nope. We don’t link to the listing because it is not a paid advertisement. As for the pic of the elevator, it was not including in the listing. Sorry!