One of Baltimore’s newest landmarks is going up for auction.
A former funeral home at 3818 Roland Ave. in Hampden will be sold at auction on April 9 at 1 p.m. A. J. Billig is the auctioneer. The building is currently vacant and boarded up, and the auction is a voluntary sale on behalf of the owner, 3535 Chestnut LLC.
This is the second time in a year that the two-story building has gone on the auction block. In April of 2024, Alex Cooper Auctioneers held an auction for it, but the high bid of $380,000 was rejected by the seller.
The Renaissance-Revival style building was constructed in the late 1800s and has had a variety of uses, including a funeral home. The property is zoned R-6, for residential use, and includes a garage accessible from Rectory Lane. In 2022, Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) designated it a local landmark.
“The property at 3818 Roland Avenue is significant for its length of female homeownership in the early twentieth century, specifically for its association with Katherine “Kate” Chambers Naylor, a dressmaker who owned the property from 1900 to 1944 and made many of the improvements to the property,” according to a Landmark Designation Report prepared by CHAP’s staff.
“The property is also significant for its architecture. The building at 3818 Roland Avenue is a unique and distinctive brick home with brick and frame bays and a two-story porch.”
Designation as a city landmark means that any proposed changes to a building’s exterior must be reviewed and approved by CHAP before the city will issue a building permit.
According to auctioneer Dan Billig, the 5,277-square-foot building is in “shell condition,” ready for renovation. The auction will be held both online and on the premises. Online bidding opens on April 7, with the on-site auction starting two days later.
According to the auctioneer, the building will be sold to the bidder who makes the highest offer over $300,000. It will be open for inspection one hour before the auction begins and is also available to view by appointment.
I hope that “shell condition” doesn’t mean that all of its interior architectural details( mantels, doors decorative mill work) have been taken out.