Stanley Keyser, Baltimore developer known for historic preservation, dies

Frederick N. Rasmussen, Baltimore Sun
·5 min read

Stanley Keyser, a Baltimore developer known for his historically sensitive restorations of Victorian-era buildings, died Feb. 13 from Lewy body dementia at Stella Maris in Lutherville. The Towson resident was 79.

“Stan was an ardent preservationist and someone who sought perfection in the smallest details,” said Alfred W. Barry III, a Baltimore planning consultant, who worked with Mr. Keyser on the restoration of the old Northern District police station. “I think his most notable achievement was the Queen Ann apartments on Charles Street that he renovated as a partner with the late H. Mebane Turner’s University of Baltimore Foundation.”

“He was an early person when it came to rehabilitating buildings in Mount Vernon Historic District,” said Edward Gunts, former architectural critic for The Baltimore Sun. “He was a pioneer in that regard. He saw potential in buildings that were languishing and staked out Mount Vernon as his territory.”

Stanley Keyser, the son of Melvin Keyser, owner of a commercial roofing company, and Jean Keyser, a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on Rubin Avenue.

After graduating from Baltimore City College in 1963, he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1967 from the University of Maryland, College Park, and then served in the Navy as a yeoman first-class of the admiral’s staff in San Diego, California.

After being discharged, Mr. Keyser held public relations positions with Hutzler’s department store, Shepherd-Pratt Hospital and the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center before changing careers and becoming a developer.

He and his wife, the former Essie Sody, whom he married in 1970, moved to a townhouse on historic Tyson Street in the city’s Mount Vernon neighborhood.

“His hobby was architecture,” Ms. Keyser said. “He studied and read everything he could about Victorian buildings and how he could restore them. That was his love.”

Mr. Keyser abandoned the world of public relations and advertising and in 1975 established the Keyser Development Corp. One of his earliest successes was the restoration of the 76-unit Queen Ann Belvedere row of apartments in the 1200 block of N. Charles St., which The Sun in 2001 described as a “rare intact block of late Victorian architecture” that was constructed in the late 1880s.

“It was the partnership’s goal to maintain the character of the 19th-century buildings while incorporating the conveniences of the 21st-century,” Mr. Keyser told the newspaper. “Our historic restoration project combines the best of both worlds.”

Mr. Keyser scoured the internet and toured Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia in search of the perfect giant turn-of-the century brass chandelier, which he finally located in Connecticut.

“I think it is a piece that belongs there,” he explained.

Another project was restoring and renovating 35 units in seven recycled brownstones along Calvert and Preston streets that dated to the 1890s.

“Our philosophy is to restore what’s good to its original grandeur, such as the mahogany fireplace mantels, the tile, the woodwork, the etched glass, the wall moldings,” Mr. Keyser told The Sun.

One of Mr. Keyser’s more notable conversions took him out of Mount Vernon in 2002 when he renovated the old Gothic landmark Northern District police station in the 3000 block of Keswick Road in Hampden, which he and his partner, Wendy L. Blair, acquired from the city for $225,000 and included horse stables.

Built in 1899, the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was in use until 2001 when city police relocated to a new building on West Cold Spring Lane, was filled with asbestos as well as lead deposits in the indoor shooting range.

“It’s a Cinderella story,” Mr. Keyser told the Sun. “We’ll have to dress up the beauty and send her to the ball.”

The renovation took four years to complete and the Community Law Center became its first tenant.

Once again, Mr. Keyser brought his meticulous sense of accuracy to the $7 million restoration.

“Keyser has spent more than five years suffering over the details; matching the design of the new steel ceiling to the original, buying stone from Germany and getting it milled in New Hampshire, traveling to a farm in Pennsylvania to get handmade window pulls,” reported The Sun.

“He hired students and paid them from the Maryland Institute, who used toothbrushes to clean the building’s brick by hand one by one,” Ms. Keyser said.

He had a 3-by-11-foot stained-glass window made to match the three original windows on the first floor. He installed solid brass light fixtures in the hallway while replica Baltimore gas lights were fixed to the building’s exterior.

“I don’t deal with anything artificial,” he told the Sun. “There’s no plastic on this job. I’m nuts like that.”

Mr. Keyser’s restorations were recognized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Like developer Marty Azola, Stan made neighborhoods grow while preserving them,” Mr. Gunts said. “He may have been a small developer but he made a big impact and he set the tone for others to follow. And he wasn’t an absentee landlord. He was always around and you could find him.”

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Due to failing health, he retired several years ago.

Mr. Keyser and his wife enjoyed traveling in Southeast Asia.

“He loved old buildings and the craftsmanship and he did all he could to restore and bring them back,” his wife said.

Services were private.

In addition to his wife, former director of admissions at the old Baltimore Hebrew University, he is survived by two daughters, Jennifer Erin Keyser, of Homeland, and Hillary Meaghan Gerlings, of Lafayette, California; a brother, Harvey Keyser, of Florida; and four grandchildren.