Reservoir Hill
Reservoir Hill is a community of stately historic Victorian townhouses
and historic apartment buildings immediately adjoining Druid Hill Park. The
homes are beautiful and spacious, with carved mantles, hardwood floors,
pocket doors, and 10 – 11 feet ceilings.
Reservoir Hill, part of a community formerly known as Mount Royal, was
developed as an upscale residential community in the last three decades of
the 19th century. Early homeowners included wealthy merchants and
industrialists such as the Blausteins, Hechts, and Hamburgers. Famed writer
Gertrude Stein lived there at the turn of the century.
With the invention of the car, wealthier homeowners moved away from the
growing city, and a streetcar line extended to Mount Royal facilitated an
increase in population. World War I brought even more housing pressures as
wartime workers poured into the shipyards. The neighborhood became less
affluent but remained stable as working class families, Jewish and
non-Jewish began to settle there. Still, through the 1930s, the community
remained a predominantly middle-class Jewish community peppered with
synagogues, delis, schools, and shops.
Even with the renewed housing pressures of World War II, and through the
giddy post-war 1950s, Mount Royal remained a family, residential
neighborhood, but the shocks of social upheaval of the 1960s brought about
the neighborhood’s lowest point. Slowly, during the 1940s, the Jewish
population began to leave, replaced by working class whites, a departure
that picked up speed in the 1950s and 1960s, eventually leading to a
predominately African-American community. The panicked flight of neighbors
during the 1960s left the way open for massive purchases by irresponsible
landlords who allowed the houses to deteriorate.
In the mid 1970s, Baltimore’s innovative “Urban Pioneer” program brought new
residents to the area. These new homeowners worked with long-time residents
to address some of Reservoir Hill’s biggest challenges. In 1972, the
neighborhood became an urban renewal area, and city officials changed its
name to Reservoir Hill.
Reservoir Hill residents developed a comprehensive revitalization plan in
1996, and a follow-up to that plan in 2002. In cooperation with Baltimore
City and a host of partners, Reservoir Hill residents and staff have
implemented numerous key components of the plans, which call for major
investments in both physical infrastructure and human capital. The vision of
Reservoir Hill is a vibrant, mixed-income community where empowered
residents work together to solve problems common to the community.
Target Blocks
Houses located on the blocks listed below are eligible for acquisition rehab loans from the program.
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Bolton Street: 2100 block
Brookfield Avenue: 2100 through 2500 blocks
Brooks Lane: 800 and 900 blocks
Callow Avenue: 2200 – 2300 blocks
Chauncey Avenue: 800 and 900 blocks
Eutaw Place: 2200 and 2300 blocks
Eutaw Place: 2400 block (odd only)
Lennox Street: 600 and 700 blocks
Linden Avenue: 2000 through 2500 Linden Ave
Madison Avenue: 2200 through 2500 blocks
McCulloh Street: 2400 and 2500 blocks
Mount Royal Terrace: 1900 through 2200 blocks
Newington Avenue: 700 through 900 blocks
Park Avenue: 1800 through 2100 blocks
Reservoir Street: 600 through 800 blocks
Reservoir Hill Schools
Elementary and Middle Schools
Public
John Eager Howard Elementary School
Mount Royal Elementary/Middle School
Midtown Academy -
click for profile
Westside Elementary School
William H. Lemmel Middle School
Private
Calvert School
Grace and Saint Peter’s School
The Greenmount School
- click for profile
Roland Park Country School
St. Ignatius Loyola Academy
St. Thomas Aquinas Elementary School
Waldorf School of Baltimore
High Schools
Public
Frederick Douglass High School
Baltimore City College
Baltimore Polytechnic - click for profile
Western - click for profile
Baltimore
School for the Arts - click for profile
Private
Friends School
- click for profile
Park School
Roland Park Country
Bryn Mawr - click
for profile
Gilman - click for
profile
Boys Latin
Calvert Hall
College - click for profile
For explanations of test scores and other indicators, as well as helpful
links for education, click
here.
Contact Information
Reservoir Hill Improvement Council
Carl Cleary
2001 Park Avenue
Baltimore, Maryland 21217
Phone: (410) 225-7547
Fax: (410) 225-7455
ccleary@reservoirhill.net
Healthy Neighborhoods Data
After decades of deterioration, a healthy housing market has been established on target blocks and beyond. The number of homes sold has risen. Reservoir Hill has seen a significant increase in the median sale price of its homes as well as a large jump in the percent of homes that underwent rehab investment activity above $5,000. The neighborhood has a high amount of vacant houses, but has developed strategies to manage and eventually eliminate this issue.
On the target blocks,
- Median days on the market have decreased 16% dropping from 58 days in 2001 to 49 in 2006. From 2005 to 2006, median days have increased from 27 to 49 days.
- Median sales prices have increased 180% rising from $71,386 in 2001 to $200,000 in 2006. From 2005 to 2006, sales prices decreased slightly from $207,250 to $200,000.
- The number of houses sold annually has decreased from 94 in 2005 to 60 in 2006.
- Rehab investments of over $5,000 have soared, going from 1.76% in 2001 to 10.14% in 2006. This is a slight increase from 9.78% in 2005.
- Foreclosures have decreased from 3.64% in 2001 to 0.44% in 2006. From 2005 to 2006, foreclosures have decreased from 2.09% to 0.44%.
A complete report with profiles and updated data on this and several other Healthy Neighborhoods is available for download.