9 - Baltimore Painted Ladies (Abell)

3014 Guilford Ave Bike Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21218

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Visitor Experience

See the outside of these marvelous buildings and meet the residents of the Painted Ladies! They will be stationed outside their homes, and historical information will be available.

About

The brightly colored “Painted Lady” row houses in Charles Village were born in 1998 with a house-painting contest that reinvented the neighborhood. The history of these painted houses comes from WWI, where excess ‘battleship grey’ was used to paint the Victorian houses in San Francisco. An artist by the name of Butch Kardum was sick of his battleship grey house and painted it with loud and eye-popping colors. Fellow artists thought it was a good idea – and meticulously painted entire blocks in the years to come. The term comes from a book from the late 1980’s, “Painted Ladies, San Francisco’s Resplendent Victorians.” From there, Painted Ladies spread across the country.

Baltimore had their start in 1988 when neighbor Lisa S. painted her house. She pitched the idea to other neighbors, which ramped up when she met Steven and Linda Rivelis, and they got the Charles Village Benefit District to buy these books – which really got the neighborhood excited. There was even a “Painted Ladies” contest for up to $20,000 from the Annie E Casey Foundation! Some categories included “Door & Trim”, “Most Improved House”, “Show-Piece House” & “Best Business”. The contest went on for around 10 years. We now have over 60 houses in Waverly, Charles Village, and Abell.

– Fully handicap accessible
– On-site Free Parking
– Street Parking

• Accessibility: Fully handicap accessible (Entire building can be accessed via wheelchair)
• Parking: On-site Free Parking & Street Parking