RRLR Neighborhood News Spring 2016
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Neighborhood NEWS SPRING • 2016 RUXTON-RIDERWOOD-LAKE ROLAND AREA IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION Our Architectural Heritage – INSIDE Victorian Houses A Park Ranger’s Profile: by Patrick Jarosinski prevalent (such as fancy railings, ‘gingerbread’-type Jeffrey Ruark components, wood siding options and roof shingle PAGE 4 In my last article (Neighborhood NEWS Fall 2015) I shapes and colors). Also, building materials became talked about the Romantic style of architecture, gen- lighter and thus easier/quicker to work with and H erally spanning 1820 to 1880. In this fourth article I Dumpster Day less costly. Thus the Victorian style of architecture move on to the Victorian style, one that was popu- 2016 was more widely used and not restricted to expen- lar from roughly 1860 to1900. The Victorian style sive, landmark houses. There were also more writ- PAGE 5 occurred later during the reign of Britain’s Queen ten diagrams Victoria. As with all architectural H (pattern books) styles, there is overlap in the Greater Ruxton available to the periods and there are several Area Foundation average builder. sub-styles for each major design – Mission These provided Success style. standard design PAGE 7 Recall that I am following the elements which main architectural categories craftsmen could H listed in “A Field Guide to Ameri- show clients to Lake Roland can Houses” by Virginia & Lee help them se- Nature and McAlester. This book describes lect design ele- Environmental Education the styles and provides clear dia- ments for their Center Update grams of the designs and design homes – shape elements, as well as photographs. of the build- PAGE 8 The main design categories are: ing, roof type, H Folk houses (the earliest houses window design, Holiday Party in through ca. 1920), Colonial Photo #1 Second Empire sub-style All photos courtesy Jessica Paffenbarger construction the Woods houses (1600-1820), Romantic material, siding PAGE 12 houses (1820-1880), Victorian material and houses (1860-1900), Eclectic houses (1880-1940) pattern, etc. You will see commonality between the H and Post-1940 houses. The Victorian style is com- use of these design elements in each of the sub- Kids Corner prised of several sub-styles: Second Empire, Stick, styles of Victorian architecture. Victorian architecture PAGE 19 Queen Anne, Shingle, Richardson Romanesque and incorporated large tall windows, both on the first and Folk Victorian. Our neighborhoods have several second floor. The desire to bring as much light into H houses from five of the six sub-styles. As you drive the house was very important, one that homeowners Home Sales through the area take a careful look and perhaps still request today. PAGE 22 you’ll see some for yourself. Second Empire, the first sub-style that I will discuss, H The Victorian style included architecture that fea- was not commonly seen in the mid-Atlantic re- CZMP Proposed tured more complex shapes and detailed ornamen- gion, but Ruxton is lucky to have a fine example as Zoning Changes tation. The building shapes and basic features are highlighted in Photo #1. This house, ca. 1878, is the PAGE 23 borrowed from the previous medieval prototypes in- most formal of the Victorian styles and sits stately on cluding asymmetrical façades, multi-textured and/or its property. The traditional identifiers of this style H colored walls and steeply-pitched roofs. Due to rapid are the mansard (or dual-pitched hipped roof), fanci- industrialization and the growth of railroads, the ful dormer windows, varied roof shingle shapes and trend for less expensive building materials continued full height windows on the first floor. The sub-types and the mass production of decorative elements was Continued on p. 9 Ruxton-Riderwood- Lake Roland President’s Letter Neighborhood NEWS Dear Neighbors, broke ground late last fall. Please mark your calendars for the highly anticipated annual Spring 2016 Spring is finally here! Long gone are the days native plant sale! and days and days of shoveling from the Table of Contents Blizzard of 2016 – the largest snowfall on We celebrate the high achievements of a local 1 Our Architectural Heritage – record in Baltimore! Although I am sure most teacher who recently received her National Victorian Houses of you enjoyed the Blizzard in some way, if Board Certification from the National Board 2 President’s Letter for Professional Teaching Stan- 3 Upcoming Events not just for its natural beauty, 4 A Park Ranger’s Profile: it is especially nice to have dards. You will also read an update Jeffrey Ruark flowers budding again and the about water issues in the neigh- 5 Dumpster Day 2016 grass turning green. To me the borhood which follows our article 6 Cowboy Caviar “Water: the Fight Against Nature 6 Street Clean – May 14 most satisfying part of the snow 7 Greater Ruxton Area Foundation storm was to see neighbors out Continues” in the winter 2015- – Mission Success 2016 edition of Neighborhood 8 Lake Roland Nature and working with, and for, other Environmental Education neighbors, shoveling pathways NEWS. Center Update and even the streets at times. 12 Holiday Party in the Woods The next installment in the series 13 Congratulations to Local I want to acknowledge the about the historical styles of ar- Teacher Dana Levitt! chitecture in our neighborhoods is 14 Bare Hills Business brainchild of our Executive Community Happy Hour Director, Peggy Squitieri, who included in this newsletter and fea- 16 A New Vet in Town conceived and implemented tures the Victorian style, so please 19 Debris Clean-up a program to help Association members in enjoy the tour on these pages and look for 19 Kids Corner some of the mentioned details as you drive 20 Go Native! Third Annual need of shoveling assistance by connecting Native Plant Sale at Lake Roland them with various resources. Although we around our older neighborhoods. Many thanks 21 Bellona Avenue Storm Water will not formally publish our resources, we to the families who agreed to have their prop- Project Update erties photographed so we could illustrate the 21 Please Slow Down can provide them upon request should they 22 Home Sales in Ruxton / be required in the future. Our Association’s article with our own fine examples. Riderwood / Lake Roland residents definitely benefited from the 2015 23 CZMP Proposed Our committees continue to work on several Zoning Changes tree trimming and BGE Upgrade Project with ongoing projects including zoning requests Board of Governors few to no power outages reported in our area. for 2016 (article on p. 23), speeding on our President – Patrick Jarosinski The Association received many thanks from roadways and a number of miscellaneous 1st Vice President – Clark Parriott members for spearheading this project during requests from our members. During a recent 2nd Vice President – Laura Shmerler Treasurer – Linda Murphy the past two years. meeting with Councilwoman Vicki Almond we Secretary – Paddy Morton The Association’s focus is always on the com- were pleased to learn that she will include the Gina Adams Bellona Avenue storm water project on her Cynthia Allen munity and, therefore, we take great pride Art Arthur in highlighting its varied architecture, local list of requested capital improvement projects John Baer businesses, open spaces, streams and gardens, for the County’s 2016-2017 budget. We are Shannon Brown and very special residents. In this edition of hopeful this project will move forward. Thomas Brown Jeffrey Budnitz* Neighborhood NEWS you will read how some We look forward to our spring clean-up days Elise Butler businesses in our neighborhoods are help- for both streets (May 14) and streams, as well Kelley Keener ing others, either by providing donations of as Dumpster Day (April 30). Updated details Susan Law Lauren Madsen equipment, physical labor or moral support. can be found on our website at http://rrl- Tom McCord You will also read about the new veterinarian raia.org. Volunteers are always needed and Mary Brown McKenna leading the Ruxton Animal Hospital. welcome. As you can see, we live in a great Courtney Middelton Michael Muldowney There has been a lot of activity going on community with many varied assets and Jessica Paffenbarger* at Lake Roland even through the winter. dedicated Board members who support its Shannon Putman You will be introduced to the background, activities. I would like to thank them for their Anne Rouse efforts as stewards of our neighborhoods. See Rachel Seba interests and activities of Jeff Ruark, one of Carlton Sexton Lake Roland’s newest rangers, and read an you out and about this spring. *Emeritus update about the new Lake Roland Nature Patrick Jarosinski Executive Director and Environmental Education Center which Peggy Squitieri Newsletter Committee: Neighborhood NEWS is published three times a year by The Ruxton-Riderwood-Lake Roland Area Jessica Paffenbarger, Editor Bliss McCord Graphic Production: Improvement Association, Inc., P.O. Box 204, Riderwood, MD 21139, tel: 410-494-7757. Laura Shmerler, Advertising Courtney Middelton DesignConcept.com John Baer Shannon Putman Printing: Deadlines for copy, including announcements and calendar items, are February 15 for Spring issue, Barbara Guarnieri Rachel Seba MtRoyalPtg.com July 15 for Fall issue and October 15 for Winter issue. Advertisers contact: [email protected]. Nancy Horst Nettie Washburn Lauren Madsen 2 Location: Parade route includes the block around Bosley, Upcoming Events Allegheny and Washington Avenues. Enjoy parade floats, antique cars, costume characters, bands and Towson Gardens Day – Thursday, April 28 more. For more information please visit www.towsonparade. com or call 410-825-1144. Time: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Location: Towson Courthouse Plaza on Pennsylvania, Baltimore Volunteers are needed for Towson Gardens Day and the 4th of July and Washington Avenues Parade. Contact Nancy Hafford at the Towson Chamber of Com- Enjoy wonderful summertime foods including pit beef, ethnic merce (410-825-1144) to help.