Baltimore County Now
by Karin Brown
Chief of Preservation Services
Baltimore County Office of Planning and Community Conservation
Owners of historic buildings now have new, award winning design guidelines to help them preserve their buildings. Owners can learn how to properly rehabilitate a historic building, why repairs are superior to replacements, how the approval process works, and more. The Historic Preservation Design Guidelines are filled with photographs showing Baltimore County’s wealth of historic buildings.
Based on the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, the common sense historic preservation principles are presented in non-technical language and discuss the various components of historic buildings in great detail. For example, “Windows and Doors”, explains the different parts of a historic window and how it functions. Readers learn why the first choice should be to repair historic features rather than replacing them.
The Baltimore County Preservation Alliance, formerly known as the Baltimore County Historical Trust, recently presented its Government Award to the Department of Planning in recognition of the newly created guidelines.
Beautifully illustrated, the Historic Preservation Design Guidelines can be viewed online.