On the Market: 3305 Bancroft Road

Bancroft Road is just a few blocks long, starting (or finishing) at Cross Country Boulevard. The house at 3305 Bancroft Road is currently on the market with a price cut of $210,000, bringing the price down to $990,000. 

This house is similar to ones in Guilford, with features including the downspouts as a design element framing the front.  Sadly, the house has been "rode hard and put away wet" as they say. 

The interior is pretty ghastly, and we counted 16 beds! In order to fit all of those beds, there are bedrooms everywhere. 

And oddly, the terrace off the second floor is listed as a theatre.

I am very curious as to whether this house was something other than a family home. It's devoid of any decoration or personal items, and they certainly haven't staged it to sell. 

Fortunately, many of the original details remain, especially in the bathrooms, including the below-grade tub!

And what looks like the original deco-style railings. 

Honestly, the rest of the house is fairly dire. Take a look for yourself and hope that whoever buys it restores it to its original elegance.

The listing is here. 

Also, this is what the listing says:

***MAJOR PRICE REDUCTION FOR QUICK SALE! ***Rare opportunity to own a grand stone Colonial in Baltimore’s historic Bancroft Park neighborhood. Situated on a 2/3 acre lot , this elegant home offers timeless architectural charm, spacious living, and exceptional privacy. Features include 6 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a finished lower level, garage, fireplaces, a huge sunroom and a large private porch. Located on a quiet, tree-lined street among distinguished custom (what???) homes known for their oversized lots and established community charm. Don't miss this one-of-a-kind house!

Franciscan Friars Novitiate

My friend, The Architect, was in town this lovely spring weekend for part two of our search for all things Palmer & Lamdin. Last time he visited, we did the big three: Roland Park, Homeland and Guilford. This time, we went a little farther afield, visiting Bancroft Road, Dumbarton and the Franciscan Friars Novitiate, aka the Shrine of St. Anthony of Padua, in western Howard County. 

I have visited this property a number of times because of its peaceful and contemplative nature. The Shrine appears on the list of projects from Palmer & Lamdin and its successive architectural firms. I was always surprised to see it on the list, as when it was built in in the late 1920s and was located in what was then a very rural section of Howard County. 

The property on which the Shrine is located was once owned by the Carroll family, and one of the original houses still remains just 100 yards from the Shrine. 

I love strolling through the four arcades which surround a central court-yard with a fountain.

The symmetry of the site, with its arches and groin vaulted ceilings, appeals to my sense of order.  

For the first time, we were able to have a small glimpse of the Shrine's library, and were delighted to see the small staircase leading to the mezzanine.

From the HABS report comes this description:

The library consists of a large room which is three bays wide, two bays deep, and one story high. It features a large fireplace centered on its west wall, similar to that in the refectory. This room is also beautifully paneled, and features a half story high, open book stack loft, which runs along the perimeter of the east, west and north walls of this room. The paneled library, with its fireplace of Italian stone, is stocked with volumns on such topics as Franciscans, the saints, prayer and meditation

Sadly, there were people meeting in the room, so we couldn't see all of it. Maybe next time!

Here are a few more images from our visit on Saturday:

The HABS reports have loads of detailed information on the Shrine, Carrollton Hall, which is on the same property, and the nearby Folly Quarter Farm, another historic Carroll property. 

Bancroft Road, Baltimore

As I was looking up another P&L house, I spotted several addresses on Bancroft Road. I knew a rather elegant couple who lived with their children on Bancroft Road, but I hadn't really thought about where it was or what was there. 

So, on an overcast Sunday afternoon, I put Bancroft Road into my GPS and headed over there. For those in Baltimore, it's located diagonally between Park Heights Avenue and Cross Country Boulevard. The actual name of the area is Bancroft Park due to a huge tract of woodland behind the road.

The styles of homes include Colonial Revival, Four-Square with Colonial Revival details, Tudor Revival, Spanish Eclectic, French Eclectic, both symmetrical and towered, and Modern. 

Apparently, the entire original plan, designed by the Olmsted Landscape was never fully implemented, mainly because the Bancroft Park Company thought there was too much wasted space with the wide roads and large lots. So all that was built was Bancroft Road itself.

The houses have a set-back of at least 50 feet and there were building restrictions similar to those of Roland Park. Unfortunately, the streets aren't marked on this early 1900's plan.

The houses are now mostly occupied by Orthodox families and some are well-kept and sadly, others are not. The area is in the Baltimore Eruv, which is an urban area enclosed by a wire boundary, which symbolically extends the private domain of Jewish households into public areas permitting activities within it that are normally forbidden in public on the Sabbath. 

This is a fascinating article on the area which includes some interesting history, as well as some personal memories.