Excerpt from the Frederick News-Post: City officials emphasized Thursday that their unanimous decision in support of moving the Roger Brooke Taney bust from outside City Hall is just a resolution. It’s not a final decision or a guarantee of action. As Alderwoman Donna Kuzemchak said, “all I can do is legislate.” The Historic Preservation Commission [...]
Excerpt from the Baltimore Sun: The Havre de Grace City Council postponed voting earlier this week on an ordinance to accept a donation of two adjacent properties from a city resident because of concerns about the cost of maintaining one of two homes, built in 1847, as well as deed restrictions prohibiting the city from [...]
Excerpt from the Frederick-News Post: The four recommended overlay sites, all in Neighborhood Advisory Council 12, are the first of the 26 identified as potentially eligible for historic designation under the city’s 2010 Comprehensive Plan. The designation committee will continue to submit applications for the remaining properties on that list, apart from a handful that were [...]
The latest edition of Maryland's Historic Districts, MAHDC's quarterly publication, is out! Read the Fall 2015 Issue In this edition: Art in Historic Districts: What’s a Commission to Do? By Lisa Mroszczyk Murphy Every so often free speech challenges to historic preservation ordinances arise, especially when dealing with the regulation of signs, news racks, and artwork. While the ability to [...]
Cleaning Historic Masonry: Methods and Rationale October 29, 2015 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM Simpson Gumpertz & Heger 1828 L Street NW, Suite 950 Washington, DC 20036 Join APT DC for a presentation on methods of cleaning historic masonry. This lecture, hosted by SGH, is being presented by Elena Charola, a research scientist for the [...]
Excerpt from an interview with Kate McConnell, chair of the City of Frederick Historic Preservation Commission, in the Frederick News-Post: What do you think is the biggest misconception people might have about the historic preservation process and designations for the city? Length of review. I’ve heard concern about large projects being held up and smaller [...]
Historic Window Repair Seminar Oct. 31, 2015, 9 AM-5 PM Ruark Boatworks of the Richardson Museum 103 Hayward St., Cambridge, MD 21613 Mr. David Gibney of Window Restoration Specialists will lead FREE a one-day-only window restoration workshop. Find out how to: Restore and repair window frames, sashes and sills Re-rope upper and lower sashes Make your windows air tight and energy efficient The pros and cons of storm windows Space [...]
Our first MAHDC all-you-can-eat crab feast at J.M. Clayton's in Cambridge was the most fun we've had in years! We raised vital funds for the organization, enjoyed the company of about 75 crabophiles and preservationists (look at all these fun-loving people and the smiles on their faces!), gave away some great door prizes, and even [...]
Bernie Callan, MAHDC founding member and current Treasurer and Vice President of Finance, recently received the 2015 National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Historic Preservation Medal. From the Frederick News-Post: "If you step back and say, ‘Well, we accomplished this, so it’s time to quit,’ then [preservation] won’t keep going forward,” he said. “Someone [...]
Sharon Kennedy, MAHDC Vice President and Annapolis HPC Chair, explains why it's time to update Annapolis' preservation ordinance in the Capital Gazette: "As the result of community conversations as well as procedural practices over the past years, the HPC has identified four main goals of the updates: Codification of the existing administrative approval process. Designed [...]
From the Washington Post: Frederick’s Historic Preservation Commission voted overwhelmingly Thursday night to allow demolition of a 200-year-old log cabin near the city’s downtown, ending a lengthy battle over the crumbling structure. ... Habitat [for Humanity] has agreed to work with local preservation experts to tear down the cabin by hand, document the work and [...]
If you are a Maryland historic preservation commissioner, staff to a commission, or an MAHDC associate, please RSVP to the Annual Meeting right before the Crab Feast. We’ll be meeting briefly to hear reports from the officers and executive director about MAHDC's year, and to take care of a couple small issues of business. Your [...]
Extracted from the Frederick News-Post: Habitat for Humanity of Frederick County staff and supporters continue to wait with bated breath for the outcome of a request to demolish a dilapidated downtown log cabin. The Historic Preservation Commission determined in a 3-2 vote Thursday that the East Fifth Street cabin contributes to the Frederick Town Historic District, [...]
SILVER SPRING, MD –The Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission, a nine-member group supported by The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, has completed its review of 2014 applications from County property owners seeking a financial reward for faithfully restoring the exteriors of their historic structures. On August 12, [...]
Montgomery County has erected a wooden box around a Confederate monument recently spray-painted with the words “Black Lives Matter,” in hopes of shielding the statue from further vandalism as officials seek to move it out of downtown Rockville. County workers put up the barrier Friday, about a week after the words appeared across the base [...]
"Discussion of the city’s historic preservation efforts typically centers around the historic buildings themselves. At last week’s Historic Preservation Commission meeting, however, it was the landscaping, specifically trees, that took center stage. Roughly a dozen neighbors and longtime residents flooded city hall to protest owner James Roembke’s application to demolish five Hawthorn trees on his [...]
"Council members questioned representatives from the state Historic Preservation Office on what should and should not be part of the city’s historic district rules during a workshop Thursday, July 16 in City Hall. Representatives Andrea Tingey and Jonathan Kinney attended the meeting, held to discuss proposed changes to the ordinance and give the residents a [...]
The latest edition of Maryland's Historic Districts, MAHDC's quarterly publication, is out! Read the Summer 2015 Issue. Demolition Review Creates More Opportunities for Designation By Christina Martinkosky After the loss of several historic properties, the City of Frederick established a demolition review process in 2013 to ensure that potentially significant buildings are not demolished without public notice and that [...]
New program: Six-to-Fix to provide vital resources to save threatened buildings
City of Frederick seeks individuals to serve on HPC