Row Housing in Baltimore

 Baltimore, MD

Row Housing Everywhere

In the past, when we had traveled to a place that is very different than where we came from, we usually got on a plane and then when we got off the plane we were in that vastly different area.  When you drive across the country things change gradually so when you get to a new place it feels a little different than the place you were just in.  Baltimore was like that for us.  We drove into Baltimore and it was another big city for us with a lot of brick buildings.  Our friend Tony visited us last week and one of his first comments about the area was, "Wow, look at all of the row housing!  Cool!"  He was right, after a quick google search I found that Baltimore has more Row Housing than any other city in the US (according to this site).  

A Brief History of Baltimore's Row Housing

Baltimore was one of the earlier cities that grew during the 1700s when white migrants came to help populate the British Territory.  Baltimore was founded in 1729 and as Baltimore grew larger and more densely populated houses started being built that resembled the dense housing in England.  Those houses were row houses, houses built of brick in a long row with no space between them.  Pigtown, the area we are staying in, has Federal Era Row Houses characterized by two-and-a-half stories with pitched roofs rather than flat roofs.  These houses also worked well with the "Ground Rent" system that is fairly unique to Baltimore.  Ground rent is a periodic monetary payment by a tenant to a ground leaseholder who owns the property or “ground” underneath a home. Specific terms and conditions are contingent on the actual language of the ground lease, but such leases often require payment from the lessee (homeowner) of between $50-150 per year, commonly paid in semi-annual installments (site).  People buying homes today need to check to see if the home is on a ground lease or if the ground is owned by the homeowner.

Today there are quite a few types of row houses.  Different neighborhoods have different styles of row housing.  It's one of the things that helps make the neighborhoods in Baltimore feel unique.  If you want to dive deep into this subject this site has great info.

That's it for today.  We mostly took the day off to prep for travel.  If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here.