Description:
The Anneslie Historic District is a suburban subdivision located east of York Road in Baltimore County, Maryland, immediately north of the Baltimore City line. The neighborhood developed during the period 1922-1961, and comprises 477 contributing resources representing a broad variety of residential types that characterize that period, including bungalow, cottage, Foursquare, Tudor, Colonial, and Cape Cod styles. A small cluster of commercial buildings is located at the western edge of the district. The Anneslie subdivision, platted in 1922, comprises fourteen blocks of uniform lots, created by a grid of five streets extending eastward from York Road, a major thoroughfare connecting Baltimore City with the Baltimore County seat of Towson. Generally speaking, development of Anneslie began in the northern and western area and proceeded to the south and east. Regester Avenue, Murdock, Anneslie, and Dunkirk Roads are lined with bungalows, cottages, and Foursquares from the 1920s and 1930s; more southerly streets such as Overbrook and Windwood are characterized by Tudors, Colonials, and Cape Cods from the 1930s through the 1950s. Villa Anneslie, the ca. 1855 Italian Villa which originally commanded the 119-acre tract, remains on a three-acre parcel on the south side of Dunkirk Road. Houses are uniformly set back from the street. Many of the properties include garages, detached or, in the southern part of the district where topography is more irregular, at basement level. Along York Road, a cluster of commercial buildings serves the community. Early free-standing one-story brick commercial buildings date to 1925, 1935, and 1940. Larger two-story commercial blocks were built in the Post-WWII period, including one from 1947 and one from 1950. Still later office buildings, and commercial conversions of residential structures, appear in the 6500 and 6600 blocks. The Anneslie Historic District retains a high degree of integrity. The overwhelming majority of the properties comprising the district clearly express their original form and massing, and most retain their period exterior materials and detailing. Alterations within the district are generally limited to the application of synthetic siding and replacement of windows. Some houses have been expanded with additions to the rear; in only a few cases are these additions so substantial as to compromise the integrity of the properties.
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Significance:
The Anneslie Historic District is historically significant for its association with the early 20th century suburbanization of the York Road corridor north of the Baltimore City line. Beginning in the early 1920s and extending to mid-century, this area was the focus of considerable residential development thanks to its proximity to the city and easy access via streetcar and later automobile. Anneslie was one of three adjacent subdivisions that developed during this period. Offering detached houses of modest scale, Anneslie complemented its neighbors Stoneleigh to the north (1922; NR listed 2003), which offered somewhat larger houses and lot sizes, and Rodgers Forge to the west (1931; NR listed 2009), a community of brick rowhouses. It derives architectural significance as a representative example of a type of early 20th century subdivision, characterized by uniform lots laid out in a gridiron plan. The neighborhood is primarily residential in character, and its properties reflect a variety of popular styles. Villa Anneslie, the Italianate mansion which was the centerpiece of the 119-acre tract prior to subdivision, remains in place among the later houses, a relatively rare surviving example of the rural retreats which characterized the York Road corridor in the latter half of the 19th century. The period of historic significance of the district begins in 1922 with the acquisition of the property by the Steffey company and the creation of the subdivision plan, and ends in 1961, by which date the neighborhood was essentially fully developed.
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