Community Architect Baltimore: What's New on Howard Street?

Nothing stands more for Baltimore's problems than The Wire and Howard Street. People just need to utter the street name and the eye-rolling begins.

While there are good reasons for this bad image, 23 years of Superblock failures and even longer the inability to give light rail signal priority to speed its downtown journey, for example, overall reality in this former downtown shopping street is better than the image.

A very wlecome redevelopment of the former Greyhound Station at 601 N. Howard Street open its doors last month to 6 squash courts, 3 classrooms, a communal kitchen, administrative offices, a fitness center. The old bus terminal is now a youth-center offering space for playing squash, workouts, youth development, PE clinics, school field trips, memberships, leagues, tournaments, community clinics, and Women’s and Girl’s Squash Clinics.

The Greyhound is still there (Photo: Philipsen)

The art deco style bus terminal had many lives and many vacancies. After Greyhound moved its buses to the Trailways bus terminal on Fayette Street (now demolished) the building stood vacant before the Baltimore Center of Governments (now BMC) occupied it for many years. But they moved to Canton and then the Greyhound Station became a film center. More vacancy followed until architect Kuo Pao Lian of PI.KL Studio in tandem with John Porter of Porter Construction converted it for Abby Markoe, Executive Director and founder of Baltimore SquashWise.

SquashWise utilizes the sport of squash to bring people together in community and to support them in reaching their goals. SquashWise was co-founded by a group of passionate squash players — Abby Markoe, Doug Hoffberger, Nancy Cushman, Peter Heffernan, and Charlie Wise. (website)

In the telling of the contractor and architect this latest conversion which utilized state and federal historic tax credits was no easy undertaking, especially since squash courts have to conform the certain size standards while the Maryland Historic Trust wanted to keep as many details of the 1920s bus station intact.

The result is a bright spot, inside and out, bringing this important corner at Howard and Centre Street back to life with urban youth at its center. The courts and the central meeting space with the giant suspended Greyhound logo only fit into the old 20' tall waiting hall of the bus terminal after one bay of second floor was shaved off. The result is a convincing reincarnation that is bright, friendly and inviting.

SquashWise at the former Greyhound Terminal
(Photo: Philipsen)

The 600 block of Howard Street previously saw the conversion of the former Planned Parenthood building, the creation of a small pocket parket opposite from the former Greyhound station and has now a row of small houses under construction that had been owned by the MD Historical Society and were boarded up for decades.

The 500 block consists of one of Baltimore's oldest conversions, what is now the Chesapeake Commons Apartments. Next to them the facade of the Mayfair Theater is awaiting to be kissed awake again, a project that has been talked about for decades as well, but that is still to come. Further South, the 400 block of Howard Street has seen renovations end to end on both sides of the street with a full rehab project on the northwest corner of Howard and Mulberry Street still under construction. The area south of Mulberry Street is more problematic all the way down to Fayette and Baltimore Streets before Howard Street with few active uses. MTA has plans to relaign its tracks and make a better Lexington Station and BDC is fully determined to finally reslove the Superblock conundrum. However, not much is known about the status of a new attempt of development.

Otherwise, the Mayor embraced the Downtown Rise program which is now also administered by BDC. It is a program that will fix up the streets and sidewalks and bring a less autocentered feel to downtown. Much of that is also still on paper with an example how it would look visible at Baltimore and Eutaw Streets.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

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