Living in An Historic Community

The ornate pole left. Well despite being roughed by tropical storm Agnes last summer. Feb 26, 1973. Baltimore Sun

Dickeyville was designated as an “historic district” of Baltimore City in 1969 and placed on the Federal government’s “National Register of Historic Places”  in 1972.

According to the Maryland National Register Listing, Dickeyville is a rare example of a complete 19th century mill town, including residential buildings, public buildings, and mill structures, which have survived unchanged to the present time.

“Period/Date of Construction: c. 1790-1909. The town of Dickeyville is a unique survival of four periods of growth from the late 18th century through the Victorian era. It is also Baltimore’s earliest example of a community restoration project.”  [Source: Maryland National Register Listing]

Living in a historic community comes with certain responsibilities that each homeowner needs to adhere to and preserve the charm and architectural character of the village.

 Quick Navigation

Chairman’s Welcome Message
Overview of the Architectural Guidelines
Planning a Project: In-depth Guidelines
Timeline of Project Approval Process
Other Homeowner Recommendations
Accessing Other Architectural Info & Forms
Contacting the Architectural Committee

A message to all New & Prospective Dickeyville residents 

Upper Pickwick ladies gathering, summer 2015 Photo – Sheridan Jones McCrae

Welcome to our lovely, friendly, unique village. It’s a place where most of us know and are friends with our neighbors, and enjoy spending time with them either in the organized village events, or informally as we walk around and can’t resist the temptation of “come and join us on the porch for a drink”.

As a new homeowner you may think about painting, fixing up, altering or adding to your newly acquired home and its yard. The architectural committee encourages all of these activities to keep our historic village looking beautiful and inviting, and exists to help you with ideas, find contractors and meet the historic architectural and preservation guidelines.

• CHAP or the “Commission for Historic and Architectural Preservation” is the body with legal authority in the City of Baltimore to enforce these guidelines which help to maintain the unique, appealing and inviting appearance of our historic district.

You may already know this, but please remember that since we are an historic community, there are procedures which you should follow before starting any exterior work. And FYI, because we’re in a historic district, property tax credits are available for us too (see below for further details). 

Exterior Painting

• If you are doing exterior painting in existing colors which meet current Dickeyville Architectural Guidelines, you should make application directly to CHAP for a notice to proceed. This will enable your painting contractor to get the permit he requires to do exterior painting in a City historic district.
• If your existing colors do not meet current Dickeyville Architectural Guidelines or you wish to change the colors, please contact the Dickeyville Architectural Committee.

Exterior Repairs, Alterations or Additions

• For clarification, “exterior” refers to your house, additional structures, hard features in the yard and mature trees. Please contact the Dickeyville Architectural Committee before contracting for or starting any work.
• Even if you’re making a repair which will replicate the existing feature or color it’s still preferred that you do this. We may have some helpful ideas. If any alteration or addition is planned, you do this before applying to CHAP for the required notice to proceed and a City permit.

We’re here to help with your exterior projects and avoid any unfortunate surprises as we all work to maintain the charm of Dickeyville.

Dickeyville Architecture Committee  

Next look at:

Overview of the Architectural Guidelines
Planning a Project: In-depth Guidelines
Timeline of Project Approval Process
Other Homeowner Recommendations
Accessing Other Architectural Info & Forms

Contact the Architecture Committee

For questions to the Chairman of Dickeyville’s Architectural Committee, please submit the Architectural Contact Form (here) or send an email to pfbaily [at] gmail[dot]com