After a year that dealt Baltimore's preservationists some painful hits, the city is stepping up its effort to protect historic properties - and sites that include a noted African-American church, a South Baltimore park and an old brewery are poised to become "city landmarks."
Though the owner of the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre has put off landmark consideration for that downtown site until next month, Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation will consider granting protected status tomorrow to five new locations, after creating only 17 landmarks over the past decade.
Recently, with demolition looming, the commission tried in vain to make a landmark of the 100-year-old Rochambeau apartment building in Mount Vernon and a block of 1820s rowhouses near Mercy Medical Center. Now the commission is attempting to protect deserving buildings before they're threatened.
"The biggest question I got with the Rochambeau is people would say, 'You mean to tell me that that building is not a landmark?'" says Johns Hopkins, executive director of Baltimore Heritage, an organization that fought to stop the razing of the Rochambeau last fall and the Mercy houses this year.
"It is a surprise to people that some really important buildings in Baltimore are not covered by the city's preservation ordinances."
Though keeping the wrecking ball from Baltimore's architectural and historic treasures is the point of the landmark effort, two of the buildings under consideration could already be in jeopardy.
Developers plan to gut the Mechanic and turn the theater at Charles and Baltimore streets, which closed in 2004, into shops and a residential tower.
Arrow Parking co-owners Benjamin and Melvin Greenwald don't intend to demolish the 40-year-old "brutalist" design building, but critics worry that the additions would destroy the integrity of John Johansen's design and spoil what is to some a symbol of the city's revival.
The Greenwalds asked the preservation commission to delay for a month the hearing on the Mechanic to give them more time to prepare their case. CHAP planner Fred Shoken said the commission agreed only after the developers promised they would not alter the building before the Aug. 14 hearing.
Also, the owners of the Scottish Rite Temple of Freemasonry at Charles and 39th streets are protesting the nomination of their building for landmark status, saying the preservation standards would hinder their efforts to sell it.
John Russell Pope, the architect who designed the grand Beaux-Arts structure, also created the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Jefferson Memorial and Constitution Hall in Washington.
City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke nominated the temple after hearing of the Freemasons' plan to sell the building and move to Hunt Valley.
"My concern is that the building may get sold and demolished, maybe replaced perhaps by a high-rise," Clarke says. "It would be a great loss."
Dr. Hans Wilhelmsen, the Freemasons' sovereign grand inspector general and a local plastic surgeon, said his organization doesn't necessarily want to see the building torn down, but it can't afford the upkeep on the property.
"What are we going to do when we run out of funds to support this building?" he asked. "If the city wants to put a wedge into what we want to do, we'll stop the maintenance and let it fall down."
He said the group has been offered - but has not accepted - $10 million for the 1932 building from an Arkansas contractor who wants to tear it down and build condominiums.
To become a city landmark, a property must be approved by CHAP, the Planning Commission and the City Council.
Also up for consideration tomorrow:
Riverside Park: The park, along East Randall Street in South Baltimore, played a role in the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812, providing a key vantage point that helped prevent the British from sneaking past Fort McHenry and entering the peninsula. The park began as 3 acres in 1862, originally called Battery Square. The city changed the name in 1873 and added another 14 acres. The park is also known for its Victorian touches, including the pavilion and the entranceways.
Bolton Square: Residents requested that 35 brick townhouses within the Bolton Hill historic district be nominated for landmark status on their 40th anniversary. In 1969, the modern brick rowhouses designed by Hugh Newell Jacobsen won the American Institute of Architect's national honor award for design
Union Baptist Church: The Gothic Revival church on 1219 Druid Hill Ave. has been at the center of Baltimore's African-American community since the 1800s - even though the current building was dedicated only in 1905.
The Rev. Harvey Johnson, the pastor there from 1872 to 1923, was a civil rights leader who co-founded the city's branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and was also involved in the beginning of the national civil rights movement. More recently, pastor Vernon Dobson, along with Parren J. Mitchell, used the church to stage an effort to get African-Americans elected to public office in the city.
American Brewery: One of the last and best examples of the 60 breweries that proliferated across the city from the late 1800s until Prohibition, it was built by brewer John F. Wiessner and Sons in 1887. The brewery is known for its distinctive towers, windows and brickwork, an eclectic style that some call "high Victorian." "It's probably one of the most unique brewery buildings still around in the country," Shoken says.
Michael Murphy, an architect and member of the preservation commission who nominated the Mechanic, said that these potential landmarks should have more significance than "just being interesting buildings in a neighborhood."
"It's got to sort of catalyze the area and really contribute to the public benefit," he said, adding that he hopes people will realize that it's in the city's interest to preserve these sorts of places.
"If there is not a political will for these properties to be protected, it won't happen," he said. "My hope is we'll be able to convince people we're being careful and studious, not just being reactive."
Tomorrow's meeting begins at 1:30 p.m. in the eighth-floor meeting room of the Charles L. Benton Jr. Building, 417 E. Fayette St. The landmark hearings are expected to begin about 3:15 p.m.
jill.rosen@baltsun.com