Maryland's National Register Properties



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Day Village Historic District
Inventory No.: BA-3340
Other Name(s): Day Village Townhomes (Current)
Date Listed: 3/27/2020
Location: 501-505, 511, 521 Avondale Road; 100-110, 101-111, 112-130, 113-123 Anjeu Reuss Court; 100-112, 101-107, 109-121, 116-122, 124-132, 125-131 Calvin Hill Court; 100-110; 101-111; 112-118; 113-119; 121-129 Glenard Middleton Court; 100-110, 112-126 Juniper Lane; 100-110, 101-117, 112-128, 121-127, 129-137 Kweisi Mfume Court; 100-112, 101-111, 113-125, 116-132, 136-144 Lee Lawrence Court; 600-606, 601-619, 608-646, 621-641, 645-655, 657-675, 700-714, 701-719, 716-734, 721-731, 733-743, 745-753, 800, 801-819, 821-839, 841-859, 861-879 N. Avondale Road; 600-610, 612-618, 620-630, 632-648, 700-710, 712-722, 724-742, 800-808, 812-826, 828-842, 844-854 Peach Orchard Lane; 100-110, 112-122 Rogers Cockrell Lane; 101-111, 113-123 Robert L. Curbeam Jr. Lane; and 601-623, 625-637, 641-651, 653-675, 677-687, 689-703, 705-713, 717-725, 729-741, 745-751 S. Avondale Road, Dundalk, Baltimore County
Category: District
Period/Date of Construction: 1944
Architect/Builder: Gustave W. Iser (Architect) Joseph P. Day Construction Corporation (Builder)
Description: Day Village is a planned garden-apartment community which opened in 1944 located at 511 Avondale Road in Dundalk, Maryland. It sits on a 37-acre peninsula fronting both Peach Orchard Cove and Clement Cove off Bear Creek, a branch of the Patapsco River. Avondale Road forms a loop within the development leading to the development and serving as its main thoroughfare. Originally providing 500 two-bedroom units, today some of these units have been combined or divided to form studio, one-, three-, and four-bedroom units for a total of 440 units. The garden-apartment community consists of low blocks of apartment buildings divided into two-story townhouse units. Two commercial buildings, located at the entrance to the community, were originally a shopping center for the community. The complex is made up of 72 buildings, including 68 two-story masonry building blocks divided into individual townhouse units. Additional buildings on the site include a brick caretaker’s house (now a stand-alone rental unit), and the two commercial buildings, one of which contains the leasing office, and the other a daycare, convenience store, and laundromat. There is also a single structure, a small pumping station, owned and occupied by the Baltimore County Department of Public Works. The rectangular-massed apartment blocks are arranged in response to their setting, taking advantage of extensive landscape and waterfront views. Inland building blocks are grouped together to form U-shaped garden courtyards, while blocks located along the edge of the peninsula are oriented towards the water. The apartment blocks are organized into eleven groups, or courts. The building blocks at Day Village all share the Colonial Revival-style architectural vocabulary and design details, but are of varying sizes and roof forms. Originally, each block had between four and twelve units, which still is evidenced on the building exteriors. Buildings have either hipped, gable, or cross gable roofs. The Colonial Revival-style buildings are clad in red brick laid in common bond with Flemish headers every seventh course. Windows are 1/1 double-hung vinyl and are either single or paired. Window headers on the first floor are arched brick, while the flat-headed windows on the second floor abut the wood soffit, which is painted white. Both window types have brick headers and sills. Each building contains the same basic components; however, these components differ slightly on each building providing visual variation. Each unit commonly has three or four windows on the front elevation. On the first story, end units commonly have a single window to the left or right of the entrance, while interior units have a pair of windows. On the second story, each unit typically has two single windows or a pair of windows. On the rear elevation, each unit typically has two windows at the second story, one shorter and narrower than the other. Some units also have one or two windows flanking the door on the first story. End units typically have four windows on the side elevation, two on each floor. There are four roof types: hipped, end-gabled, gabled with cross gables at each end, or hipped with two cross gables. All four types are clad in gray asphalt shingle, while the end gables, where they exist, are filled by white vinyl siding that replaced the original wood siding and have central, rectangular vents or semi-circular vents. Each unit features a front entrance off a courtyard or main street and a rear entrance off a service drive. Entrance doors are typically paired with that of the adjacent unit, though some end units have individual unit entrances. Significance: Day Village is nationally significant as one of the first privately developed garden apartment communities for African-American residents with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) funds during a time when housing for African Americans was in critically low supply and significantly inferior to housing developments for white residents. Opening in 1944, it was designed to provide housing for African-American war-workers at nearby industrial plants and army facilities in the Dundalk area such as Bethlehem Steel, Edgewood Arsenal, and the Holabird Signal Depot. The project responded to an acute demand for worker housing during World War II, when military production ramped up in the factories around Dundalk, and Baltimore County experienced a population surge. In contrast to publicly financed temporary housing developments in the region. Day Village was privately planned and developed to alleviate the housing crisis and to provide permanent and superior quality housing for African-American workers in war-related industries. Day Village is architecturally significant as an outstanding example of a Colonial Revival-style garden apartment development built to the standards of the FHA. Day Village offered a housing option for African Americans equal to many of the garden apartment complexes developed for white residents across the country during the 1930s and 1940s that utilized FHA underwriting. The success of Day Village showed government agencies and other interests that a privately financed development for African-American residents could successfully support and meet FHA underwriting criteria and standards, opening the door to make FHA housing available to minorities nationwide.

District Resources

Resources not specifically itemized in a list within NR nomination form.