The Dumbarton Historic District is a suburban subdivision roughly bounded by Park Heights Avenue, Slade Avenue, Seven Mile Lane, and Old Court Road in the Pikesville Area of Baltimore County.
Primarily developed over the period 1924-1956, the district reflects the influence of Olmstedian design principles in its curvilinear streets following the natural topography, and generously sized lots retaining the established vegetation.
The houses vary in size, and their siting varies with the topography of the lots. The housing styles reflect a wide range of American and European prototypes. The buildings were designed by many of Baltimore’s most prominent residential architects of the period, including many of those who had been commissioned to designed houses for the city’s premier suburban developer, the Roland Park Company, in its Guilford and Homeland subdivisions. The spacing of the housing conveys a sense of openness and suggests a collection of country estates.
While the majority of the housing in Dumbarton was designed in traditional styles, the mid-century Ranch, Contemporary, and International types are also represented in the district. While conveying an impression of spaciousness, Dumbarton is recognizable as a clearly defined, visually cohesive neighborhood.
Buildings represent a range of construction materials, including wood frame, brick, and stone masonry; roof coverings include slate, tile, asphalt, or composition shingles. Many of the properties contain accessory buildings such as garages; while these secondary structures were not specifically counted, those that were constructed during the period of significance, between 1924 and 1956, and retain integrity are considered to contribute to the character of the district.
The Dumbarton Historic District is historically significant for its association with the suburbanization of Baltimore City. Developed in the mid-1920s, it represents the northwestward expansion of the city during the period, and the importance of the Park Heights corridor as a center of the city’s Jewish community. Many of Dumbarton’s original residents were prominent Jewish merchants and industrialists who were tacitly denied access to the city’s established suburbs because of their religious and ethnic affiliations. At the turn of the 19th century, Baltimore’s early Jewish community was concentrated in Oldtown and South Baltimore, in the earliest-settled parts of the city adjacent to the harbor.
In 1901, an especially elite group of wealthy Jews, mostly of Germanic heritage, established the Suburban Club in a location along the Park Heights corridor between Druid Ridge Cemetery and the northwestern boundary of Baltimore City. Built at the considerable cost of $200,000, the Suburban Club not only assessed substantial dues, but also required that its members contribute a certain amount of money annually to Jewish charities.
Beginning in the 1890s with the development of Roland Park in North Baltimore, the Roland Park Company set the standard for suburban residential development. Its projects combined a high degree of quality in design, both of the community and its architecture. As was common at the time, the Roland Park Company employed discriminatory covenants in its property deeds to exclude African-American and Jewish residents from its communities.
The Dumbarton Historic District, in part developed as an “alternative” to other suburban developments which excluded Jews, nevertheless was influenced by the design and planning precepts of the Roland Park Company and its emulators. The layout of the district, with its curvilinear streets, lot configurations, and naturalistic landscaping generally reflect design principles associated with Frederick Law Olmsted which characterized the Roland Park Company’s seminal developments. Architects and builders whose creations contributed to the distinctive character of such Roland Park Company communities as Guilford, Homeland, and The Orchards were hired to design and build houses in Dumbarton as well.
The architectural firm of Palmer and Lamdin, long associated with Roland Park Company projects, designed several houses in Dumbarton, as did such other Roland Park Company favorites as Kenneth C. Miller, J. Winthrop Wolcott, and T. Worth Jamison, Jr. Interestingly, the developers of Dumbarton—whose market included prominent Jews who were barred from established suburbs—used similar restrictive covenants to exclude African-Americans from their community.
The district derives architectural significance as an example of a type of suburban community which was typical of the region in the period, and for the architectural merit of the houses which characterize it. With curvilinear streets following the natural topography, and generously sized lots retaining the established vegetation, Dumbarton reflects the model for upscale suburban subdivisions around Baltimore in the 1920s. Its houses, many of which were designed by the area’s most prominent residential architects of the period, represent a variety of picturesque revival styles and a consistently high level of quality in design, materials, and construction.
