David Holden remembers taking his two boys for a walk in the Wyman Park Dell in the mid-1980s.
“Well, first, you couldn?t even see the Union Soldiers and Sailors statue from Charles Street,” Holden said. “And we didn?t even know the lower dell existed, it just looked a forest ? it was so overgrown.
The 16-acre green space tucked between Charles, 29th, Howard and Art Museum Drive, has dramatically improved in large part thanks to Holden, his wife, Marcia, president of the Friends of Wyman Park Dell, and community activists such as Suzanne Rexing and Betty Hill. Designed by the Olmsted Brothers, the landscape architecture firm responsible for Baltimore?s first comprehensive park system plan in 1904, the dell now appears ready for a major face-lift.
Tonight, the Friends of Wyman Park Dell will announce the completion of their master plan, a yearlong study and draft led by Tom McGilloway of Mahan-Rykiel Associates Inc., at a celebration at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The $5 million proposal, likely to be implemented over 10 to 15 years, includes remaking the Northeast gateway between Art Museum Drive and Charles Street, adding a cafe pavilion, and bringing in electric and water lines to accommodate an amphitheater. The focus, however, is improving the sight lines and accessibility of the dell.
“Probably the biggest thing is improving the visibility, because it sits down hidden behind overgrown vegetation many people don?t even know it?s there,” McGilloway said. “We?ve found studying similar parks in Europe and New York that creating a place where people caneat and get something to drink is important. It becomes a gathering spot and increases overall use of the park.”
The next step will be guiding the plan through formal adoption by the city. The process includes a review by the Commission on Historic Architecture Preservation, tentatively scheduled for July 18, and then a vetting and public hearing, expected in August or September, by the Department of Planning commission.
“I expect it to get approval,” said Tamara Woods, the Northern District?s chief planner with Baltimore city.
The master plan was funded through a grant from the Goldseker Foundation, plus contributions from the BMA, Johns Hopkins University, Friends of Wyman Park Dell, the Remington Neighborhood Alliance, the Charles Village Civic Association, the Friends of Maryland Olmsted Parks and Landscapes, the city Department of Recreation and Parks, and the Baltimore Community Foundation.
