The many ways to destroy history

Historic preservation has come a long way in America since the days when the glorious Penn Station in New York was turned to rubble. Some say, too far and call a Historic society and hysterical society or call preservationists deragatorily building huggers or worth. But some go much further, flaunt the law and even their permits and set about creating a blank slate through demolition. Preferably on Saturday when building officials have the day off, sometimes even like real criminals at night. As with other misdeeds, they are more likely to be perpetrated in a poor and disinvested community.

Thorough destruction of a historic resource (Photo: M. Pitrelli)

The Baltimore Upton community which is proud of its historic and cultural heritage (Thurgood Marshall went to school here) has experienced the loss of its historic buildings in many dramatic ways, including arson, accidental fire, willful demolition in broad daylight and neglect. Sometimes even a 911 call cannot stop the crime as in the case of the  32,400-square-foot former St. Vincent's Infant Asylum at 1401-1411 Division Street in Upton which was turned into a pile of rubble even though Marti Pitrelli, the CHAP representative of the Marble Hill Historic District had called the police on the contractor and Councilman Costello had shown up as well. They had achieved a late Saturday "Stop Work Order" issued by the Code Enforcement unit under Baltimore Housing, which was posted when the all exterior walls had been pushed over.

The building before demolition but after the 2015 fire (Baltimore Heritage)

To be clear, the building was adjacent but not inside the local Marble Hill Historic District and was "only" listed in the National Register of Historic Places, a listing that has no "stick" of enforcement associated with it.

The building suffered a devastating fire while under renovation about 2 years ago. It was then purchased by a group from NYC for around $880k with high hopes of a grand rehabilitation . There are alot of encouraging renovations and stabilizations underway in this area. It's a historically important area, and is both a National and borders a local historic district. For good reason. (Marti Pitrelli)

Nevertheless, it appears clear that the contractor, the Culler Group/TCG Development, acted unlawfully by performing work far beyond the permit which, according to sources, was limited to the demolition of interior walls and some modification to the rear wall.

What kind of black professioinals would go into a historic black neighborhood and demolish one of the African American community's architectural gems that was to be gloriously renovated after a devastating fire, without PROPER DEMOLITION PERMITS on a WEEKEND. It is a national and local historic district and undergoing a marvelous transformation. Now one of the largest landmarks is lost forever because of idiots like you. What a mess you made. What a way to end Black History Month. (Marti Pitrelli on the contractor's Facebook page)

The contractor obviously enjoyed what he was doing, as this Facebook entry of his company shows: "We're bringing this baby DOWN!! Tear the roof off the MothaSucka!'

The history of the mothasucka is described by Baltimore Heritage this way:

The former St. Vincent’s Infant Asylum/Carver Hall Apartments buildings  a complex of structures built between 1860 and the 1910s to provide housing and medical services to dependent children and women, along with housing for the nuns who operated the facility. After years of declining use, the Infant Asylum left the facility around 1934 for a new location on Reisterstown Road. Around 1941, the building was converted to use as Carver Hall Apartments offering a range of rental units to a largely African American group of tenants from the up through 2013. Since the 1970s, the management of the property has posed significant challenges for residents in the building with a major fire in 1978, a lawsuit in 1993 and issues with drug traffic and violence at the building in the 1900s. In January 2015, the building caught on fire destroying the roof and gutting much of the interior. It now stands vacant.


The chair of Baltimore's historic district commission (CHAP) comments:

Quite a tragedy.  The building had been poorly maintained with some really wretched renovations over the years, but there was still a lot of really interesting history there.

Culler, the demolition contractor says he works as a subcontractor and rejected to name his client when asked by the BBJ. He said "Our contract was to knock down the entire building". The owner of the property is listed as  as 1411 Division LLC as owner; that LLC is associated with Shokrollah Afrah, according to sources.

the PS 103 fire in 2016 (Photo: Philipsen)

Upton suffered demolition from arson or negligent squatters in April of 2016 when the former Elementary School PS 103, dating back to 1877, went up in flames. The school's most famous pupil was Thurgood Marshall (1914-21). The school is such a prominent structure that around 2008 the Mayor had appointed its own 103 Commission to oversee the preparation of a long-range plan for PS103 with assistance from the Baltimore National Heritage Area. Thanks to insurance the school was once again restored and mothballed, a final use is still uncertain, though.

Also in the area, Bethel A. M. E. Church demolished the Freedom House at 1734 Druid Hill Avenue, a longtime meeting place for people involved in local and national civil rights efforts.  The church also has applied to the city to tear down the “sister building” to the Freedom House at 1732 Druid Hill Avenue.

Bethel AME Church demolished 1234 Druid Hill Avenue, a rowhouse located just outside Upton’s Marble Hill historic district with strong connections to Baltimore’s Civil Rights movement. The demolition came as a shock to neighborhood activists who had urged city officials to investigate and protect the property when Bethel AME began work on the building in late September. (Baltimore Heritage)

Demolition of old buildings has been in overdrive since the Governor boosted funding for project CORE, a program touted as reinvestment in West Baltimore. Sometimes even the guardians of the historic heritage themselves vote for demolition such as in the case of the old Eddie's in Mount Vernon. (See my article "Misunderstanding historic preservation").

Stop work order: Too late by hours (Photo: M. Pitrelli)

In whatever form the destruction of history appears, there are few serious consequences. Culler and his TCG Group were probably quite aware of what they were doing and calculated the fine into their cost. In the pro-forma of a development project a fine for working without a permit is only peanuts; unless Code Enforcement ramps up the consequences of willful destruction beyond existing permits. For example by taking down the contractor's licence. As in drunk driving, without draconian penalties, the demolition of  historic structures will continue. Once a 150 year old structure has been taken down, there is no good way to get it back. 

Can there be such a thing as "too much historic preservation"? Not if one asks the National Park Service. According to a NPS study which includes Baltimore, all other things being equal, chances of an economic rebound increase dramatically where the historic fabric of a community has been kept. Baltimore can ill afford to ignore this lesson.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

BBJ article about the demolition