At first, you think it’s a misprint.
Afterall, what home has 10 fireplaces?
Ten woodburning fireplaces with marble mantels?
But the historic, three-level, home located at 828 Carrolton Ave. in Baltimore City’s Lafayette Square really does have 10 fireplaces, plus all the modern amenities.
“Most of the large homes on the square were built in the 1850s and ’60s. We’re not sure of the exact date of the house as all the records were at City Hall and were destroyed in the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904,” said Realtor Stan Zerden of Simone Real Estate.
Previous owners have included Parren J. Mitchell, the first African-American elected to Congress from Maryland. The home is sometimes referred to as the “Mitchell Mansion.”
“You walk in, and it’s amazing. There are 12-foot ceilings on the first floor. The home has been fully restored and has a federal tax credit of $58,000 that goes with it. And with the city, since the home is historic, you don’t have to pay taxes on the improvements for 10 years,” he said.
According to Zerden, if the home were located in another neighborhood like Bolton Hill or Homeland, “it would be worth a couple million dollars.” The approximately 6,000-square-foot home, complete with hardwood floors, a spiral staircase, two Latrobe stoves, and gold leaf Victorian mirrors — all original — lists for $595,000.
Built for the “merchant prince class,” the wealthy businessmen of Baltimore in the late 19th century, the six-bedroom home “would have competed with homes of the times in Mount Vernon. The basement has brick walls, floors and archways, even three fireplaces, which were used for cooking,” Zerden said.
According to Richard Wagner, principal with the architectural firm of David H. Gleason in Baltimore and formerly with the National Historic Trust for Historic Preservation, the “high Victorian” home was likely built by “a wealthy individual who wanted to move out of the city center due to the heat. Lafayette Square is on a slight rise, and in the summer, you’d get breezes from the west so it wasn’t as hot,” Wagner said.
While the “widow’s walk, or watch” that was accessible from the third floor “has long since disappeared” in the restoration, it indicated that the home was likely “owned by people associated with the shipping industry as it would allow a merchant to look toward the harbor and see when their ships were coming in,” Wagner said.
“Looking at the exterior, you see high-end bricks with a butter joint — that’s a very thin setting plane, the work of a highly skilled mason, meant to mimic stonework because you can’t see the vertical and horizontal joint lines — another indication this home was built by a person of taste and wealth,” Wagner said.
Other features include large bay windows, “the bays being large enough to sit in so that the owner could look up and down the street.”
“The dining room features an Eisenglass stove or heater. Eisenglass is a very thin natural mineral, related to mica, that has an opaque, almost orange look and was used as a glazing screen for the fire behind it. Originally coal fired and later converted to gas, with the Eisenglass screen you don’t see the flames directly, but this neat, yellowing glow that comes through,” Wagner said.
“It’s a very solid building, no cracks, no settling to it. And on the roof, you have a wonderful view of downtown Baltimore and the Harbor, you can still see it,” he said.
ABOUT THE PROPERTY
Details: High Victorian historic home, 6-bedrooms, 3-baths, at 828 Carrollton Ave., in Baltimore City at Lafayette Square
List Price: $595,000
Contact: Stan Zerden, Simone Real Estate, 410-602-1320
