Despite a community?s claims to the contrary, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore County government says officials have no interest in demolishing the former Loch Raven Elementary School.
“We have no intention of knocking it down,” Ellen Kobler told The Examiner late Tuesday. “The county has no problem if the community wants to landmark it.”
Controversy has brewed the past 10 years over the fate of the school. Community members contend the county Department of Recreation and Parks, which operates programs at the school, intends to tear it down in favor of a 27,000-square-feet tin shed.
But nearby residents who believe razing the building defies logic want it preserved as a historical site. They plan to make their concerns known Thursday in a meeting with the county, where they also will hear about the school?s nomination as a landmark.
Leslea Knauff, who sits on the Loch Raven Village Association board of directors, said her group hopes to keep the school in the planned community where it was built in 1947.
“The Loch Raven community was built in post World War II, and the school was built for the community,” Knauff said. “The construction of the school is irreplaceable. It was crafted from stone by immigrant workers who were trained in Europe. There are less than five people on the Eastern seaboard who can do that kind of work.”
The school, at 1801 Glen Keith Blvd., closed in the mid-1980s due to diminished enrollment, Knauff said. The school was turned over to the state, which had funded its construction, and eventually to the county.
Riborg Norman said she and her husband, Paul, have lived in the community for 31 years and are among those fighting to preserve the building.
“Recreation and Parks proposed to tear it down and put up a pre-fab building,” Norman said. “However, the building has more than 70,000 square feet of usable space, and if allowed to be upgraded and maintained properly, it will remain a hub of the community.”
IF YOU GO
The Landmark Committee meeting is slated for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Baltimore County Courts Building, 401 Bosley Ave., Towson
