A Study of Emptiness and Finding Purpose Along
Baltimore City’s Historic Corridor
Once a vibrant and
busy destination, Howard Street now functions simply as a means for passage
through, into, and out of Baltimore City. By intimately studying the blocks
between Fayette and Monument Streets, one might catch brief glimpses of the
lively street that once was. Most of what’s left standing today, however, tells
a rather unfortunate story of a neglected and forgotten corridor. Borrowing
from the processes outlined by urban theorists before me, I have used various systems
to evaluate the physical form as well as the expressive essence of Howard
Street. From such vigorous analyses, I have identified a combination of grounds
for explanation as to why the corridor is, or is not, functioning in its
current form.
As a Baltimore
County resident, I often use the light rail line to travel into the city. As it
enters Baltimore’s central neighborhoods, the light rail settles into the
Howard Street right-of-way. In my years of riding, I have developed a sort of fondness
for one stop in particular. At the corner of Howard Street and Centre street,
the light rail drops its passengers off a few blocks west of Mount Vernon, just
south of the Cultural Center, one stop north of Lexington Market, and nearby to
downtown Baltimore. Yet it was never because of this stop’s close proximity to
such amenities that drew me in; it was likely more about the adjacent park, or
perhaps the fact that this particular light rail stop always had a sense of stillness
to it, that I took the opportunity to step off the train. From the intersection
at Monument Street, just north of the Centre Street light rail stop, down to
the next light rail stop on the 100 block at Fayette, Howard Street has a very
distinct character. My study of the corridor encompasses these six blocks, with
heavy focus on the three northernmost blocks from Mulberry to Monument. Systems
of evaluation- such as Kevin Lynch’s visual mapping; Emily Talen’s approach to
transect classification; the Venturi and Scott Brown system of signs and
symbols; and indeed Anne Whiston Spirn’s study of nature within the city- shall
provide an opportunity to peel back the layers of the city to reveal the
fundamental nature of Howard Street.
An Area of Historical
Relevance
 |
| Howard Street, Looking North at Lexington; Photo Credit: Baltimore County Public Library Legacy Web |
The light rail
line, providing access to and from the county, makes Howard Street a
significant transportation corridor. Combined with the Saratoga Street Metro Station, Howard Street is the link between Baltimore City and the larger
Baltimore Metropolitan Region. To many, however, Howard Street’s significance
lay not in its transportation roles, but in the rich history it possesses. City
residents know Howard Street for the stories that have been passed down about its
grand department stores and thriving theaters of the 1870s, as well as for the
Lexington Market just one block to the west. Howard Street was a destination
for city and county residents alike. People from all over would arrive at
Howard Street for the stores found there. Meanwhile, the Academy of Music, Stanley
Theater, and Natatorium (which would later become the Mayfair Theatre in 1941)
were all located just a few blocks north between Franklin and Centre Streets, a
block which grew into a major theatrical complex. Here, well known actors and
actresses performed, such as Katharine Hepburn, who began her career in the
Natatorium (Gunts 1993). The Natatorium was
transformed into Kernan’s Howard Street Auditorium after a man named James
Lawrence Kernan bought the property in the 1890s. Mr. Kernan not only operated
the theater, but owned an additional building on the block which functioned as
the Congress Hotel. This block became known as Kernan’s Corner.
The department
stores and theaters have since shut down; only the Market continues to operate
today (at 230 years old, it is the longest running market in the world), but fading
signage lingers as a reminder of what once was. The evolution, or perhaps
decline, happened slowly throughout the twentieth century as the corridor was
altered little by little. In the 1930s, even amidst the Great Depression,
Howard street was still a robust, and vibrant destination. Howard Street at
Lexington was, at the time, a major intersection and in 1934, Read’s Drug Store
was constructed on the southeast corner. Twenty-one years later, in 1955, Read’s
would be the site of an early sit-in of the civil rights movement, which has since
given Howard Street profound social significance. Five
years before the well known Greensboro sit-in, a group of Morgan State
University students made a powerful statement when they organized a successful protest
at the Read’s Drug Store lunch counter (Pousson 2011).
 |
| Read's Drug Store on Howard Street; Photo Source: Baltimore Heritage Website |
While Howard
Street was doing well during these years so, too, was the automobile which made
traveling outside the city an efficient alternative. With this convenience, the
new shopping malls were able to flourish. As more and more city residents
traveled to the outskirts of Baltimore to shop in these new malls, Howard
Street became less and less relevant, yet managed to remain economically stable.
In 1942, the Greyhound Bus Terminal was built at Howard and Centre Street (Vandervoort
n.d.).
Howard Street was to be enhanced by a new bus route, a future that was never
realized. This building still stands today and is part of the Maryland
Historical Society’s campus. The Maryland Transit Administration entered the
picture in the 1980s with the introduction of the light rail line. Although it
provided an inexpensive means for residents to travel within and around the
city, there has been a general consensus that the transportation “improvements”
of the light rail have been the main cause of Howard Street’s demise.
The Remaining
Architecture
The booming activity of old Howard Street may be gone, but the physical
form remains. Many of the buildings which directly front the street retain
architectural details that can so rarely be found on buildings constructed
after the 19th century. Sadly, behind these magnificent facades, the
buildings crumble in disrepair. Like the Mayfair, whose roof collapsed in the
1990s, these buildings sit as abandoned shells, waiting for the next tenant to
come along and embrace their history; but it’s been years since anyone’s seemed
interested. While people have all but forgotten, nature has slowly begun the
process of reclaiming the land upon which these buildings sit. A future similar
to the one explored by author Alan Weisman in his book, The World Without Us,
is developing before our eyes. As human activity continues to neglect the few
blocks surrounding Kernan’s Corner, nature- as I’ll soon explain- finds new
ways to make its presence known.
Methodology for Deeper Appreciation
Although I have been
to Howard Street many times before, I had never delved so deeply into its story
as I did upon my initial study visit. During this trip, I utilized photo
documentation and visual mapping techniques, in conjunction with notations of
any emotions felt along the way, to document the corridor. The goal was to be
truly within Howard Street’s fabric
as opposed to just passing through it, as too many people often do. Traveling a
total of ten blocks between Martin Luther King Boulevard and Baltimore Street, I
made a point to patronize local establishments and talk to any willing
passerby. The subsequent visit entailed a much more elaborate process of evaluation,
which proved to illustrate very interesting results.
 |
| A Collection of Urban Study Methodologies |
Equipped with map
and pen, I explored Howard Street through Kevin Lynch’s system of spatial
mapping. Recognizing key nodes along the corridor proved simple, as there were
very clearly defined areas of activity- often around the light rail stops, and
certainly around Lexington Market. Landmarks were difficult to distinguish as very
few literal monuments exist. Instead, identifiable and recognizable buildings-
such as the Market, Hutzler’s department store, Read’s Drug Store, and the
Greyhound Terminal- served to orient me along the way. Barriers were abundant
due to the excessive presence of fences near Kernan’s Corner, as well as vast
sections of unusable space formed by entire blocks of vacant buildings. An
obvious north-south pathway was facilitated by the movement of the light rail
train (although automobile traffic on Howard was minor), and certain cross
streets had notably heavier traffic flows than others in the east-west
directions. During my visit, I made quick notations of the presence of people
and the coinciding activities along the way. The portion of Howard Street
closest to Lexington Market was the most active, while my observation of
population was lowest near Kernan’s Corner, where most of the vacant buildings
are situated. Beginning with the most active section at the Lexington cross
street and moving north towards Monument, the density of Howard Street
gradually shifts downward. This transition seems to exemplify Emily Talen’s system
of transect zones, if only as micro-transects of the ‘urban center transect’
classification. From the larger, high-rise structures between Fayette and
Lexington all the way up to the three to four story buildings by Monument
Street, the corridor transitions from a highly active district to a vacant and
abandoned section of blocks. Although merely an observation, the identification
of these conditions may prove useful when considering the future of Howard
Street.
Very little that
exists on Howard Street is consistent from Monument to Fayette. Street art, however,
is surprisingly abundant along the entire stretch. These images carry heavy
messages, which make them particularly intriguing. As I was studying one of the
first pieces I encountered, I paused photographing so as to greet a passerby.
The man said hello, continued walking to the opposite end of the block, then reversed
course with extreme purpose. He marched back to where I stood to ask me why I would
photograph this image which he didn’t find to be especially alluring. I’m very glad
he decided to speak with me, for our long discussion of art proved quite
enjoyable and as testimony of art’s power to bring strangers together. Art, much
like the iconography and symbols discussed by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott
Brown, and Steven Izenour, punctuates the public space of the corridor as a
response to the everyday life of the city. As Venturi, Scott Brown and Izenour
had done with the signage and graphic elements of the Las Vegas strip, I photographed
and cataloged the street art and faded iconography along Howard Street. Plywood
covered storefronts proved to be the most inviting canvases for street art, as
the highest percentage of art was found on the blocks with the most vacant
buildings. Whether it altered the environment for better or worse seems to be a
matter of personal preference, as I noted from my conversation with the passerby,
but its presence is certainly noticed.
A most exciting
study of Howard Street came from my consideration of nature in the city. My
evaluation was based on Anne Whiston Spirn’s belief that nature helps to
determine how meaningful a place may be. In my investigation, I paid particular
attention to nature as it specifically pertains to plant life. When observing an
open space inventory of Baltimore City as a whole, patches of green speckle the
map save for the area within which Howard Street rests (Baltimore
2010).
The only green spaces along this portion of the road are Howard’s Park,
directly across from the old Greyhound Terminal. Outside
of Howard’s Park, nature has been left to fend for itself. Where street trees
once stood, empty wells mark the graves of
fallen allies. These empty tree wells have sometimes been filled with asphalt,
as if to ensure anything that lives can never grow there again. Occasionally,
perhaps in an attempt to conceal this atrocious behavior, flower pots have been
set on top of these asphalt-filled, empty tree wells. My investigation included
counting the total number of tree wells on each block, and how many of them
were actually filled with street trees. I discovered that the blocks with the
most vacant buildings were also those with the fewest occupied tree wells. I
determined that 17% of the tree wells on the 400 block from Franklin to
Mulberry were empty, and an astonishing 62% of the tree wells between Mulberry
and Saratoga were barren. In addition to street trees (or lack thereof), I
identified any instance where nature proved more resourceful than humans had accounted
for. It is not the property-owners of the northern blocks that have claimed
ownership of the land, it’s the land itself that has declared possession. In
these warm March days, hearty and verdant weeds have already begun to seep from
the cracks in the pavement. Even the asphalt filled wells couldn’t keep nature
from persevering: mature trees had found their way into abandoned buildings and
now escape through gaps in the boarded-up windows and out onto rooftops. The
six blocks between Monument and Fayette Streets account for a total length of
approximately 2,513 feet. Along this stretch of Howard Street, there is an
average of about one tree for every 40 feet. Not nearly enough, in my personal
opinion.
Other systems of
observation were less fruitful. The study area lacked many of the layers that
would define any of the elements architect Christopher Alexander might identify
as terminology of a pattern language. Certainly this lack of patterns, however,
contributes to the area’s absent vitality. Hierarchy of spaces can be
experienced close to the Market, but on the northern blocks the space is void.
As I review my findings from the various systems of evaluation, I find
reinforcement of the intuitive perception that it is the absence of a number of systems which make certain environments less
productive.
Oddly enough, however, the total absence of layers is also what
contributes to the haven-like atmosphere of the northern blocks. The two blocks
between Mulberry and Centre lack nearly all layers of environmental character,
including people. Deserted spaces in cities usually connote an unsafe territory,
yet these blocks have just the right amount of people riding by on the light
rail and walking past on their trips to the area’s various attractions that the
blocks offer safe solitude for any urbanite in search of refuge. How peculiar
it is to be in a dense urban setting without all the commotion of frenzied city
life!?
Future Study and Final Thoughts
The element of
life, both human and natural, is an important assessment of a location’s well
being. Had I more time to study this portion of Howard Street, I would take a
cyclical approach. I would consider changes of the natural seasons and note how
they may or may not shape the level of pedestrian activity. Such an analysis should
be continued for a span of many years, and should be critical of the ways in
which human behavior is altered by any changes in environment. There is also
potential for more normative, detailed statistical research on the tree canopy
of the area and about the life stages of the trees on each block. This data
could be compared with that of Baltimore City as a whole. By further developing
a study of life as it exists on Howard Street, overlays of information illustrate
an urban environments success and failure.
Today, Howard
Street struggles, yet it works. It works as an exhibit of sorts through which
someone might stroll to discover something new about their city, or themselves.
The unfortunate truth, however, is that although these crumbling facades paint
a picture of the exciting corridor that Howard Street had once been, their
symptoms of disrepair also warn of a disastrous future.
Bibliography
Baltimore,
Downtown Partnership of. "Downtown Open Space Plan." Baltimore, MD,
2010.
Bejgrowicz, Tom. "Tom B Photography." Blogspot.
May 31, 2009.
http://tombphotography.blogspot.com/2009/05/mayfair-theater-i-balt.html
(accessed March 9, 2012).
Gunts, Edward. "Mayfair Could Anchor 'Avenue of the
Arts'." The Baltimore Sun. November 4, 1993.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-11-04/news/1993308101_1_mayfair-center-for-theater-towson
(accessed March 9, 2012).
Pousson, Eli. "Why the West Side Matters: Read’s Drug
Store and Baltimore’s Civil Rights Heritage." Baltimore Heritage.
January 7, 2011.
http://www.baltimoreheritage.org/2011/01/why-the-west-side-matters-reads-drug-store-and-baltimores-civil-rights-heritage/
(accessed March 9, 2012).
Vandervoort, Bill. Classic Bus Stations.
http://web.me.com/willvdv/chirailfan/greystne.html (accessed March 9, 2012).
