Highlights of the 2010 Snowflake Tour of Charles Village Homes



Below, we list some of the featured homes and buildings that you will be able to visit on this very special holiday tour of Charles Village architectual treasures.

Bring friends and family for a festive day in Baltimore's historic Charles Village and see why our community was named one of America's 10 best neighborhoods by the American Planning Association in 2009.

• Refreshments and goodies will be offered in some houses.
• Charles Village cookbooks and historic caricature maps will be on sale at the tour headquarters.
• Tour starts at noon at the Village Learning Place, 2521 Saint Paul Street
• Tour ends at 4:00 PM sharp; some public buildings have limited hours.
• Tour is self-guided. You can start at any time. But we encourage you to start early because there is a LOT to see!
• Special Tour bonus is free admission to the Homewood house Museum. Its splendid gift shop will be open especially for you!
• Tour tickets may be purchase in advance here.

Victorians: featuring the first house built on the first block of the then-new Peabody Heights development in 1897. The corner house, distinguished by its tower, was once a notorious fraternity. Brought back from the brink of ruin in recent years, it was featured in This Old House magazine in 2008 (see more at houselove.org).



Edwardians: featuring porch-front homes in the painted lady style. View a stunning restoration that mixes old with new.





Johns Hopkins School of Education, formerly Historic Seton High School, has been fabulously restored by the university. Features a grand staircase and an auditorium with 20-foot-tall stained glass panels. Limited hours: 1-3:00 PM







Mid-Victoriana: the oldest block in the village, featuring an elgantly restored detached 3-story house that will take you back to the 1870s.


Park-front grand dames: Edwardian luxury row homes -- the largest in Charles Village. This block, 2900 North Charles, is celebrating its 101th anniversary.


Saints Philip and James Catholic Church: constructed under the direction of Fr. John Wade, designed by Theodore Pietsch and completed in 1930, the church is an excellent example of romanesque design.
Limited hours: 1-4:00 PM.



27th Street Rowhouses, featuring three examples of the Village's late 1890s, west-side development.


Friends Meeting House, 1917 Neo-Colonial.



University Baptist Church: designed by John Russell Pope (architect of the BMA and National Gallery), completed in 1926, an outstanding example of Neoclassical grandeur with Rennaisance detail.



Homewood Museum: a very special feature -- your ticket gains you free admission to the museum, circa 1800 Federal mansion built by the Carroll family and now part of the Johns Hopkins campus. Decorated for the holidays, the mansion is an historic treat.
Be sure to check out the museum's super gift shop!




The Village Learning Place: tour headquarters, a former branch of the Enoch Pratt library--built in 1896 and saved from demolition by the neighborhood in 1997, then restored and revived as a learning and resource center.

Proceeds from the house tour go to educational programming at the Village Learning Place and to neighborhood beautification by the Charles Village Civic Association.