Baltimore officials survey work of city-owned historic building

BALTIMORE – City officials Monday surveyed the stabilization work at a city-owned historic building in Marble Hill.

The property—1313 Druid Hill Avenue—is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Built in 1870, the building was used as an orphanage for more than 60 years by "Home of the Friendless." 

It was then used as the first Baltimore City Health clinic in a Black neighborhood. It has been vacant since 1992.

"You got the empty windows with no boards of them and basically nobody ever goes in there," Donald Morton, Sr., who lives a block away, said. "It's a giant eyesore when it's just sitting there doing nothing."

Stabilization work to shore up the building has been under way since last year. Several interior floors and the roof had caved in.

"This building is unique in terms of size and scale," Baltimore City Housing Commissioner Alice Kennedy said. "All of our vacant properties across the city have deep-rooted history."

Kennedy told WJZ that stabilization is the first step to re-development.

The stabilization work costs about $2.3 million, which funding sources ranging local, state, and federal.

"It was basically a lot of turning over couch cushions to see how we could come up with the funds," Kennedy said.

City officials said they will try to get local CHAP status to be sure historic features are preserved before putting the building out to bid for re-development.

"A lot of people in the area are interested in seeing improvements. The price doesn't matter. We're just interested in seeing results," Morton said.

To learn more about the building, you can read about its historic status here.