2 Englewood Road, Roland Park, Baltimore
Hot House: Palmer & Lamdin semi-detached house, 5 bedrooms/3.5 bathrooms with access to a private two-acre park. Asking price: $795,000
What: I am a big fan of the early 20th century architects, Palmer & Lamdin, and am doing a deep dive into their work for the Baltimore Architecture Foundation’s Dead Architects Society. You can count on seeing Palmer & Lamdin houses featured in Hot House when they go on the market.
This house is one of about 20 that Edward Palmer designed for the Roland Park Corporation to look like a traditional English village, with all of the houses backing up to a common green. The semi-detached houses are in groups of two or three, and I wrote about one of the others last year.
No. 2 Englewood Road is located on a corner property and as soon as you see it, you understand the charm of these houses with many of the signature Palmer & Lamdin features, including varied rooflines, eyebrow windows and arched doors.
As you enter the house, the charm continues in the living room with a coffered ceiling, built-in bookcases, and a large fireplace. The dining room, with its shoulder-height plate rail and swinging door leading to the kitchen, is just the right size for a cozy dinner. The modernized kitchen has a small dry pantry adjacent and looks out over the garden and the common. A sun porch, originally open, spills out onto the patio.
The multi-level second floor holds the bedrooms, one of which has been converted to a walk-in closet. All of the bathrooms have been modernized to include showers. Fortunately, all of the original doors and floors remain intact. Because part of the house is diagonal, the bedrooms have inset window seats and varied angles. The staircase landings are perfect for small sitting areas where you could curl up with a good book or your favorite dog. The top floor is now used for work-from-home office areas, as well as a family room.
One of the most appealing assets of this house is access to a private two-acre park, exclusively for the use of the houses which surround it. The space is owned in common with the surrounding houses and is used by the neighborhood.
Where: Englewood Road is in the quiet northwest corner of Roland Park, just off of Falls Road and Northern Parkway. There is very quick access to the JFX, north and south. It’s close to everything along Roland Avenue, including schools, shops, banks, and the public library. The winding streets and paths of this section of Roland Park are perfect for exploration.
Final Appraisal: Edward Palmer was the original architect for the Roland Park Corporation and his signature houses are highly desirable for their classic and timeless good looks and their unique and original details. This house has been sympathetically updated while retaining all of the quirk and charm that makes this house so special. The listing for the house is here.
