Inspired by Stevie Wonder, developer Larry Jennings wins concept approval for a second apartment building in Woodberry

If architecture is frozen music, as Goethe wrote, developer Larry Jennings knows what he likes.

Instead of drawing inspiration from 19-century architecture for an apartment project he wants to construct in the Woodberry historic district, Jennings told Baltimore’s preservation commission on Tuesday he’d prefer to go back to the 1970s.

“We are more replicating what’s there now, which is a 1970s building,” he told the panel, when asked to speak about the design of a four-story apartment complex he wants to put up in place of a metal-clad industrial structure at 3535 Clipper Road.

The proposed apartments will replace the Charles E. Bristor Company building, former home of a business that made stapling, tacking and nailing devices.

The two-story structure, built in the 1970s, is now dormant and covered with graffiti. According to testimony at a Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) hearing, it replaced a stone millworker’s house that was destroyed after a dump truck crashed into it.

“We can decide what period of history we want to focus on, but I would argue that the 1970s are as interesting as the 1860s,” Jennings continued. “The building there right now is a 1970s building. It’s been there for 50 years and we’re more mimicking that building than what somebody may want in, say, the 1860s.”

The senior managing director and co-founder of ValStone Partners, a private equity investment firm, Jennings served as a member of Mayor Brandon Scott’s transition team, on the Housing and Neighborhood Development committee. ValStone recently sold its real estate holdings in Woodberry’s Clipper Mill community, but Jennings retained development parcels he owned separately along Clipper Road.

Jennings likened the challenge of designing a building for Woodberry, which largely took shape in the 1800s as a mill workers’ village, to composing music.

“So I thought about this from a song-writing point of view, right? … From the 1850s, 1860s, you had ‘Old MacDonald Had a Farm.’ Or you could love Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ from the 1970s,” he told the commissioners.

Old MacDonald Had a Farm, sometimes shortened to Old MacDonald, is a children’s song and nursery rhyme that was written for an opera in 1706 and later became a folk song in the British Isles and North America.

Attributed to songwriter Thomas D’Urfey and lyricist Frederick Thomas Nettlingham, it was first recorded in the 1920s. Then, in 1941, Walt Disney produced a film called Old MacDonald Duck featuring the cartoon character Donald Duck singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm.

The song has been covered by Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Ella Fitzgerald and even John Mahoney on Cheers, when he changed the words to “Beer and Pretzels that’s our game, C-H-E-R-S.”

Just as a musical cover reinterprets an original song, architecture also builds upon past work, Jennings asserted.

After discussing his preferences in music during the CHAP meeting, Jennings shared his thoughts about historic districts that are ‘frozen’ in time.

“I don’t think we can decide what time period you want a project to be frozen in,” he told the board. “What we’re doing is we’re replicating a building that’s existing and we’re sort of building and expanding on that building versus trying to go back 150 years in a neighborhood where, quite frankly, this neighborhood is 200 years old and everybody wants to be frozen in a 30-year period of time.”

As described to the preservation panel by staff planner Caitlin Audette, the design calls for the first level of the replacement building to be clad in “beige ribbed metal panels” running vertically and for the upper levels to be clad in “light gray fiber cement panels” with darker accent panels. Most buildings nearby, by contrast, have exteriors made of stone or brick.

After hearing testimony from Jennings and others during the virtual meeting, the commissioners voted 7 to 0 to give concept approval to the design, by JP2 Architects.

The vote means the panel accepts the proposed building’s height, scale and massing, but the development team still needs to work with CHAP’s in-house staff to get approval of the final exterior design, including materials and detailing.

The vote marked one of the first times CHAP has approved a new building for Woodberry since it became a local historic district one year ago. It’s the second apartment building on Clipper Road for which Jennings has received at least concept approval, along with a 51-unit project for 3511 Clipper Road that received final approval before the area was designated a CHAP district.

No one on the commission challenged the developer on his views about architectural design or even questioned him about them.

But Jennings’ decision to use the metal-clad Bristor building as the starting point for the replacement building’s design was questioned by several Woodberry residents, who testified before the panel took its vote that they found his musings capricious and illogical.

They said Woodberry is known for its stone and brick structures from the 1800s and early 1900s and they didn’t believe taking design cues from what many consider the ugliest building on the street was the right approach for the city’s newest historic district.

Jessica Meyer, president of the Woodberry Community Association (WCA), said the 1800s are relevant to the historic district because that’s when Woodberry began.

“I think it’s important to remember that Woodberry achieved historic status because of its existence as a mill, and those are mill houses that are surrounding it,” she told the commission. “That is the period that is significant, and that’s what we would be interested in maintaining. “

“As much as it’s playful to think about the 1970s,” the shed-like Bristor building replaced a historic stone dwelling and “definitely is not part of the character of the neighborhood,” said Clipper Road resident Todd Evans. “I understand contrasting and trying to work with a similar design but when that design is so out of place to start with, I’m not sure it’s worth amplifying.”

Longtime resident Tracey Brown said she found it interesting that Jennings would want to “reference” a building that he plans to demolish, when it’s “the only building that looks like that.”

Former WCA president Sherry Higgins said she always thought the Bristor building was ugly: “There’s nothing attractive about the … siding.”

“To be inspired by a warehouse from the 70s is not Woodberry,” said Clipper Road resident Jill Orlov. “There’s a lot of great things about the 70s, but that’s not Woodberry.”

Tom Liebel, chairman of the commission, reminded the panel members that they were meeting fundamentally to consider the size and siting of the proposed building, not the final materials or detailing, which would be considered later.

“Right now we’re here for height, scale and massing,” he said. Because the latest design calls for a building smaller than a previous version CHAP already approved, “I don’t see that there’s a whole lot to debate here.”

Jennings told the panel that the design was “50 percent below” the massing that would be permitted under the city’s zoning for the site, a category known as TOD-2, for Transit-Oriented Development.

“I think our project, from a massing point of view, is no bigger than if someone were to build four townhouses on this lot,” he argued. “The scale of our project should be acceptable.”

Residents said after the meeting that they were disappointed that CHAP gave the project concept approval, given the opposition from the community.

They also said they’re concerned about the number of people who will live in both 3511 and 3535 and where they will park. They said the floor plans for 3535 show about 18 apartments, with several bedrooms each.

Counting the apartments in both 3511 and 3535, “there may be over 80 people living where once stood two single-family homes,” said Woodberry residents Jared Block and Jeff Pietrzak, in a letter to CHAP executive director Eric Holcomb and City Council member James Torrence.

“We feel strongly that this area cannot support this significant addition of people, and likely, automobiles,” they said. “We believe this development will have a detrimental effect on the residents we represent. Once built, there will be no remedy to too many people and cars in an area that cannot support them.”

Staffers say CHAP isn’t the proper forum to take concerns about density and parking, because they aren’t within its purview.

Block and Pietrzak also had a different perspective than CHAP did regarding what constitutes appropriate scale.

“As Woodberry is now an historic district, new construction ought to conform in scale and material with the existing structures,” they said. “In this case, this does not occur. The proposed building is square and boxy, and its façade doesn’t match the many old stone homes that line this stretch of Clipper Road.”

In other action, CHAP commissioners voted that an early-1900s garage behind 12 East Eager Street is a “contributing building” within the Mount Vernon historic district and that the property owner must come back for a second hearing if he wants permission to tear it down.

CHAP took its votes this week without the participation of one long-time commissioner. Holcomb disclosed that commissioner Larry Gibson has left the panel after 10 years of service, saying he has exceeded his term limits and wanted to finish other projects.

“We’re going to miss his perspective,” Liebel said.

In other Woodberry news, the Baltimore Architecture Foundation and Baltimore Heritage will present a virtual talk by preservationist Nathan Dennies on “A History of Woodberry: The Heart of Industry in the Jones Falls Valley,” from 1-1:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 13. The talk is free but donations are welcome. Reservations are required through eventbrite.com. For more information, people can contact ndennies@aiabalt.com.