Row houses boast long Balto. history

Street after street in downtown Baltimore is lined with an architectural phenomenon that has almost become the symbol of a city: the row house. While the style of houses varys almost by block, the community created by these tightly-packed residences has great historical significance. Many Hopkins students make their upperclassmen homes in the row homes of St. Paul and Calvert Streets.

Row houses date back to the early days of maritime trade. The first set of houses were built on Eutaw Ave. by the local cobbler Gottleib Heckel. The first residential area was built in stone. A second era of row houses was built in the Tudor style, favoring cross beams and bricks.

Row house developments around the Inner Harbor burgeoned as products of rapid commercial and industrial development around the port of Baltimore. Early maritime trade in tea, silk, and satin brought many sailors in need of a place to stay in between voyages. Sailors populated neighborhoods like Federal Hill, Fell's Point and Canton. Permanent residences surfaced further from the water - houses on Baltimore St. were home to the prostitutes that sailors liked to frequent. The area maintains its "sketchy" feel even today, boasting a adult movie theaters and porn shops.

Many a famous person has inhabited a Baltimore row house. Betsy Ross, seamstress of the giant and infamous flag that flew over Fort McHenry in the War of 1812, lived in a brick house that is now a museum. So did Edgar Allen Poe, the famously disturbed and talented poet.

Early in the 20th century, the B & O Railroad transformed the Baltimore harbor into a major industrial area. More brick row houses were thrown together to house railroad, factory and metal workers.

The row house, however, was not neccessarily a symbol of budget housing. In the nicer areas, further removed from the bustling harbor, architects and designers were commissioned to built monuments and sculptures. A prime example of this is in the Mount Vernon area, which to this day displays a monument honoring George Washington.

Already in the 1840s, row houses were built for the wealthier classes away from the manufacturing districts. Three and four-storied row houses loomed large and spacious. From the 1850s to the 1880s, communities blossomed that were far more elegant than their blue-collar counterparts. These row houses were adorned with carvings and etchings on the outer stone porches and window sills, and flaunted back alleys, carriage houses, and grandiose front steps and entrance ways.

The early '20s crowned the construction era, and most of the remaining history of row houses lies in neighborhood migration. As wealthier families moved out to the suburbs in search of space and good schools, single professionals took their places in row homes that were later converted to apartments.

Between the construction and the urban flight eras came WWI immigrants - Russian and Polish Jews who added a cultural diversity to the uptown neighborhoods. Historically, cheaper housing remained along the waterfront - until now. With new construction, an incoming Ritz Hotel and careful renovations of areas like Fell's Point, the waterfront is looking up like never before.