It was a bold idea to create a historic preservation zone around the row of old variety stores at Howard and Lexington streets in 2017. The city bought up a number of failing properties and then put them out for developers’ proposals.
The problem was that over the years, nothing happened. Developers came and went. The vacant buildings and piles of discarded liquor bottles scared people away. The street was filthy and sent a message: stay away.
Until Tuesday.
In the middle of the afternoon, a fire raced through the vacant floor space of the old McCrory’s five-and-ten-cent store. In this crowded old neighborhood, the flames touched off other buildings and showed just how vulnerable this part of old Baltimore is.
The flames tracked southward and caused a Fayette Street building to collapse. They also damaged some old furniture stores that later housed the Chicken George’s restaurant.
The damage is severe. It’s all the more painful for those who remember how busy and productive this collection of shops once was. They were an integral part of what it meant to be a Baltimore resident — shopping downtown, a deli sandwich, a crab cake or oysters at Lexington Market and maybe a movie at the New or Towne theaters.
And as derelict as the place is today, it’s not too hard to appreciate why the city designated this a historic area. Even ravaged by fire, the remains reveal 1880s architecture with its graceful brick arches and ornate limestone trim. Next door is a fine example of a cast-iron building, also heavily damaged.
A week ago this area looked like a collection of dirty, battered buildings. Now it appears to be a danger and a doubtful preservation cause.
For nearly 75 years, McCrory’s was a busy seller. The original Lexington Street store was conjoined with properties on Howard Street to create a lively retailing bazaar that sold everything from Easter baskets to potted geraniums.
There was nothing elegant about this block’s variety stores, the “five and dimes” that did exactly what today’s dollar stores do. Baltimore’s grouping — Woolworth, W.T. Grant, Kresge and McCrory operations — sold mainstays downtown. They sold what you wanted and the prices were right. And while they were not fancy, they sure were busy and spoke of a time when urban downtowns hummed.
McCrory was one of the larger businesses. It had an escalator that reached the second floor and its housewares department. There was also a shoe repair section in the basement that smelled like leather and a pet section for take-home turtles, goldfish or parakeets.
City planners and the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation made the case that restoring this area would create a bridge between adjacent neighborhoods like the Central Business District along Charles Street and the Mount Vernon neighborhood, and it would also link institutions — the Hippodrome, Lexington Market and the University of Maryland’s downtown campus.
This failed. The fire site is depressing. It presents a loud lesson in what can and will go wrong.
All is not lost. Small developers have transformed nearby properties. A block north of the fire, at Saratoga Street, a refurbished Crook Horner Lofts (the old Pollack Blum’s furniture store) recently received the Urban Land Institute’s Americas Award for Excellence. The place, converted to loft apartments and workspaces, is fully rented.
Also nearby, a new apartment house has risen on a parking lot adjacent to the old Martick’s Restaurant Francais. Park Avenue, once the center of Baltimore’s Asian community, is also undergoing refurbishment.
Investigations into the structural safety of the McCrory and other properties will determine whether preservation is possible or financially feasible.
And yet, only blocks away are Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Bromo Seltzer Tower, the Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Branch, the Basilica of the Assumption and the Charles Center.
We can do better at Howard and Lexington. And Baltimore has done better. What was once rotting wharves, an old lumberyard and brownfields is now Harbor East.
Have a news tip? Contact Jacques Kelly at jkelly@baltsun.com.
