UrbanDesign: Clipper Mill

This little community used to be a mill along the Jones Fall River. It's a mixed-use redevelopment and it packs a lot into one little area and somehow manages to feel incredibly secluded, all the while being right in the middle of Baltimore and along the light rail line. There's a bunch of really unique businesses, a great restaurant, some great historic buildings, awesome contemporary architecture...and some suburban looking townhomes. Yeah. Well not everything can be perfect, but they've got a pool to die for. Remember the last summer Olympics? The local news stations kept broadcasting from here, because the tops of columns around the pool light up on fire. Pretty awesome! Unfortunately I don't have any pics of the surbanish townhomes...I'll have to try and find some, because they're my only critique. But I'll discuss that later once I get some pics..

First up is the pool I love. Yes, it's small I realize that, I grew up in the suburbs, lifeguarded, was on swim team and dive team and those community pools were much larger. But in the middle of the city, this is golden. This is some rareeeee stuff. I spent every day of my life at the pool when I was younger and I miss it so much in the summer. And I would looove to go to this one...

Looking back towards some of the businesses in the rehabbed mill..

I love that street goes under this building, I wish I had a better shot. But it reminds me of a street in Sicily (I'll try and post that pic, but it's from the pre-digital days)

Below is one of the historic mill buildings, this one (last time I was there) hadn't been redeveloped into anything yet. They're just using it as parking. Not necessarily a bad thing! If I could pay to park somewhere in my neighborhood I'd do it in a sec! But look to the right, there's a faint glimpse of the oh-so-ugly-suburban townhomes I despise! The interior of this building is pretty awesome though, right?

I realize contemporary architecture is not for everyone. And while I am personally a fan of these homes, I think the important thing to realize is their context. I don't know the exact history of this area, and I'm unfortunately going to quote a Wikipedia search, which says the first mill in Woodberry was built in 1802 and were substantially expanded by 1870. That being said, one has to realize that today's architects are (for whatever reason) not skilled in building the historic styles of the past. Also, considering this was a mill, the only housing type I think is appropriate in this city is what is found in my own neighborhood, and that's a very simple rowhouse. And the many ways people have managed to ruin that simple prototype is a story for another day.

That being said, I think the best thing about these contemporary townhomes is that they are not trying to be anything other than what they are. They are new. They are not historic. They are not trying to look historic. Yeah, there's a slight use of a rubble stone facade material, not enough to warrant it pretending to be something its not. Moreover, it's not trying to compete with almost 200 year old brick (like those townhouses I don't like), but it's compatible with it. Because historic brick and new brick look nothing alike. Nothing. And they most likely didn't use it, for that reason. Oh, it's also important to note that the brick townhomes were built by a well-known homebuilder (who has a couple home designs that they stick to), it was sold out from the redevelopment...so it wasn't technically part of it.