303-327 E North Ave
Baltimore, MD, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Rowhouses at 303-327 East North Avenue

Statement of Significant:

The significance of the row houses at 202-317 and 319-327 East North Avenue is derived from their architectural merit and their association with the development of Baltimore in the late nineteenth century. Built on a large scale, these two groups of row houses are some of the most elaborately decorated rows that were constructed in Baltimore in the late nineteenth century outside of Mount Vernon, a neighborhood several blocks to the south that is characterized by ornate grand-scale row houses. The East North Avenue buildings are particularly noteworthy architecturally for the exterior decorative detailing (generally stone on 303-317 and generally brick on 319-327), interior woodwork and plan (303-317) contain four story sky lights that light first floor reception rooms), and the unique central heating system for 303-317. Historically, these houses which are an anomaly today for North Avenue, represent an early attempt at planning the future of the street. The row houses at 303-317 and 319-327 are the first-row houses developed on the street which through the mid nineteenth century was the northern boundary of the city and not developed on any major scale until 1874 when it was widened to the scale of a grand boulevard. Development of the buildings along the street, however, never took on the grand scale the width of the street and these rows set.