Lake Evesham – Small Jewel of a Baltimore Neighborhood

Tucked into the northern section of Baltimore, just a couple of blocks south of the Baltimore County Line, is a neighborhood of about 250 homes. Residents are within walking distance of the the Senator Theatre

, Belvedere Square, and restaurants, grocery stores, and shopping areas. Towson is just a five minute drive to the north, and downtown Baltimore only about 15 minutes to the south.

Lake Evesham was originally part of a larger estate called Midwood. When the property was divided in the 1890's, the largest parcel was called Chestnut Park, and this was the area that is Lake Evesham today. There was little development until the early part of the 20^th Century. The first homes date from the 1900's, and a building boom after World War I added many more. By the 1930's, most of the homes and streets were in place.

This small neighborhood with a diverse population gained Historic District status in 2003 when the National Park Service officially added it to the National Register of Historic Places. The Register includes districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture.

The Lake Evesham Historic District has several different architectural styles. The most frequently occurring style is the Bungalow, a one and one half story style that features a low-pitched gabled roof with wide unenclosed eave overhang. Others styles include Victorian Gothic with multiple gables, Folk Victorian with Victorian decorative detailing on simple folk house forms, American Foursquare with two stories and multi-windowed dormers on the front, Dutch Colonial, Tudor revival, Federal Revival and Cape Cod Revival. Several houses in this district were constructed by an early African-American Baltimore builder, John B. Smith.

Surrounded by the neighborhoods of Homeland and Cedarcroft, Lake Evesham is a community of diverse homes and residents. Accessible to both city and county, this historic neighborhood retains the quiet of its earlier days.

http://homerome.com