(rshsdepot) President St. Station (Baltimore, MD)

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Baltimore Sun.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 
Train station is on track to preservation
Panel seeks to shield President Street site from demolition, vast  changes
Edward Gunts 
Architecture 
January 14, 2008 
 
 
(http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/trb.baltimoresun/ent;tk=10039;tk=10059;tk=10101;tk=10106;tk=10107;tk=10117;tk=10121;tk=10209;tk=10260;tk=10337;tk=10560;tk
10743;tk=11165;tk=11186;tk=11263;tk=11268;tk=11379;tk=11383;tk=11587;tk=12016;
tk=12297;tk=12525;ptype=ps;slug=bal-toarchcol14jan14;rg=ur;ref=baltimoresuncom
;pos=1;sz=300x250;tile=1;ord=21711838?) 
President Street Station in Baltimore is the oldest surviving big city  
railroad terminal in the United States. The property was a stop on the  Underground 
Railroad used by slaves fleeing from the South. The building played  a key 
role in the first fatalities of the Civil War. It's also sitting vacant in  an 
area of intense commercial development on Baltimore's waterfront.  
So when members of Baltimore's preservation commission learned that Mayor  
Sheila Dixon plans to seek proposals from groups interested in redeveloping the  
city-owned property at 601 President St., they decided to take steps to 
protect  the former train station from disappearing altogether.  
Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation will  
hold a hearing this winter to decide whether to add the building to the city's  
landmark list to help protect it from demolition or insensitive renovation.  
"President Street Station is one of the most important buildings in the  
city," said Tyler Gearhart, the commission's chairman. "Most people feel  strongly 
that it should remain publicly owned and publicly accessible."  
The mayor's office disclosed in late December that it had asked the Baltimore 
 Development Corp. to request proposals from groups interested in buying or  
leasing the vacant station, home to the Baltimore Civil War Museum from 1997 
to  2007. The Maryland Historical Society closed the museum in November, saying 
it  was losing money.  
Although the building dates to the early 1850s, it is not protected by local  
landmark status. Once a building is added to the city's landmark list, an 
owner  cannot change the exterior without permission from the preservation panel. 
It's  a way of giving panel members a say in what happens to it, and a way of 
 notifying future owners or tenants that they must comply with local 
preservation  guidelines.  
The station was built as the southern passenger terminal for the old  
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore (PW&B) rail line, later part of the  
Pennsylvania Railroad. On April 19, 1861, 700 members of the 6th Massachusetts  
Regiment arrived there on their way to Washington and were attacked by an angry  mob, 
resulting in the first fatalities of the Civil War.  
Now part of Harbor East, a new neighborhood on Baltimore's waterfront, the  
building was converted to a museum in the 1990s at a cost of $1.3 million. The  
architect was Kieran, Timberlake & Harris of Philadelphia. Its successor,  
KieranTimberlake, was named this year's Architecture Firm of the Year by the  
American Institute of Architects.  
During their January meeting, panel members said they believe any request for 
 proposals should underscore the station's historical significance. They also 
 said they'd like an offering to indicate that the city would prefer that the 
 building remain accessible to the public and continue to impart information  
about Civil War-era history, even if it has to be combined with some 
commercial  activity.  
Gearhart said the landmark designation hearing for President Street Station  
will be held Feb. 12 or March 11. In the meantime, commission members 
suggested  several possible uses for the building, such as a community center or the  
setting for a model train garden, possibly with a full-scale train car parked  
outside.  
Panel member Michael Murphy suggested that the building be retained by the  
city and used for Harbor East residents' community meetings and other  
activities.  
"More and more people are living there," he said. "Can't the city just own  
that building and let the citizens use it?"  
One organization with a keen interest in President Street Station is the  B&O 
Railroad Museum at 901 W. Pratt St.  
Museum executive director Courtney Wilson said he has been talking with city  
representatives about ways to reuse the station and that the museum might  
respond to the city's request for proposals. But he said the museum most likely  
would need assistance if it were to become involved.  
Wilson said the city's decision to seek development proposals could be good  
if it elicits ideas that ultimately help give the station new life as a public 
 attraction. He said the emphasis should be on preserving the history 
represented  by the station, not just the structure that's there now.  
For example, he said, a train garden inside the building could depict the  
rail yard and station as they were in 1861 and the events that unfolded, making  
it valuable as an educational resource. The station might also be marketed in 
 conjunction with nearby hotels, he said, as an unconventional setting for  
cocktail parties and other gatherings for conventioneers.  
Above all, "we ought to move to preserve the stories told there," Wilson  
said. "The preservation of the building will follow."  
_ed.gunts_@_baltsun.com_ (mailto:ed.gunts@baltsun.com)   




**************Start the year off right.  Easy ways to stay in shape.     
http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489

=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
To Unsubscribe: http://lists.railfan.net/rshsdepot-photo/unsub.html

------------------------------