City's historic district boundaries could expand

Aug. 26—More than 1,000 properties in the city of Frederick could find themselves inside an expanded national historic district, under a proposal presented to a city commission Thursday evening.

Historic Preservation Planner Lisa Mroszczyk Murphy presented the proposed expansion of the boundary for a national historic district within the city of Frederick at a workshop Thursday. She was speaking to Frederick's Historic Preservation Commission.

The National Register of Historic Places is mostly an honorary designation, although it can help make homeowners eligible for tax credits and other benefits, Mroszczyk Murphy said. The Frederick Historic District is part of the National Register of Historic Places.

The Frederick Historic District is different from the city's historic preservation overlay, which allows the commission to regulate changes to the exterior of properties.

Expanding the boundaries of the historic district doesn't mean properties would be subject to HPC review, she said.

Commissioner Elizabeth Burns asked whether the city planned to extend the historic preservation overlay to match the new boundaries of the historic district.

That's always a possibility, but any expansion would require a full overlay rezoning process and approval by the Board of Aldermen, Mroszczyk Murphy said.

The Frederick Historic District was first listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and covered 264 acres. It was expanded to about 690 acres in 1988.

The 1988 expansion covered 2,635 properties. The proposal is to add 1,033 properties, for a new total of 3,668.

The historic district includes the city's urban grid originally laid out by Daniel Delaney in 1745, roughly bordered by Bentz, 7th, East and South streets, as well as a pre-World War II expansion as far west as U.S. 15, according to a report prepared by staff members from the city.

The expanded district would cover 844 acres and stretch from east of U.S. 15 on Rosemont Avenue to East Church Street near County Lane, and from south of Rose Hill Manor Park in the north to a northern section of Mt. Olivet Cemetery on the south side of the city.

The district has a variety of architectural styles, including Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Richardsonian Romanesque, Queen Anne, American Foursquare, Craftsman, colonial Revival, and Art Deco.

"The visual continuity of the Frederick Historic District is due in part to the many modest vernacular dwelling that occupy the lots between higher-style and more individualized buildings," according to the staff report. "In these vernacular houses, Frederick's historic building stock is distilled into its most essential character-defining elements: contiguous two-to-three-story side-hall brick or wood-frame dwellings, two-to-three bays wide, capped by a side-gable or rear-sloping shed roof."

The boundary expansion is expected to come back before the commission at a meeting in September.

Follow Ryan Marshall on Twitter: @RMarshallFNP