Five more historic buildings on the west side of downtown could be torn down to make way for new construction, if Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation grants permission.
The panel is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Sept. 12, to consider requests to tear down the three- and four-story buildings at 142-144 W. Fayette St. and 102, 104 and 106 N. Liberty St., in Baltimore’s Five & Dime Historic District.
The meeting comes one month after CHAP approved a request to tear down five buildings at the northeast corner of Fayette and Howard streets to make way for new construction as part of the mixed-use Compass development proposed by a group called Westside Partners.
The applicant seeking to tear down the buildings at Fayette and Liberty streets is the Episcopal Housing Corporation. Its application triggers a review process that involves one or two public hearings. In the first hearing, the panel will determine whether the buildings are ‘contributing structures’ to the historic district. If they aren’t, the panel won’t block demolition. If they are, the panel will hold a second hearing to consider whether blocking demolition would represent a substantial hardship to the applicant.
The buildings in question are noteworthy because they are on the eastern edge of the historic district, part of a dividing line between the older buildings on the west side of downtown and the newer buildings that make up Charles Center. The Fayette Street buildings have a distinctive shape that appears to narrow where Liberty Street and Park Avenue meet at Fayette Street,
Drivers or pedestrians heading west on Fayette Street know they are leaving Charles Center and entering a different part of town when they see the older, smaller-scaled buildings at Fayette and Liberty streets.
In addition to the Episcopal Housing Corporation’s application, the panel will hear a request from developer Chukuemeka “Chukes” Okoro to tear down buildings at 114 West Lexington Street and 207-209 Park Avenue to make way for a six-story apartment building. The panel last month granted Okoro’s request to tear down 116-120 West Lexington Street but not 114 West Lexington Street and 207-209 Park Avenue.
According to Baltimore City Division Chief, Historical and Architectural Preservation Eric Holcomb: “On September 12th, the commission determined that 142-144 W Fayette St and 102, 104, and 106 N. Liberty street were contributing structures to the five and dime local historic district. That means the applicant will come back to the commission for a demolition two hearing: determination of substantial hardship”