page_title: Charles Village, Baltimore
section_title: Housing stock
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Village, Baltimore / Housing stock
context_page_description: Charles Village is a neighborhood located in the north-central area of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It is a middle-class area with many single-family homes that is in proximity to many of Baltimore's urban amenities. The neighborhood began in 1869 when 50 acres of land were purchased for development. The land was divided and turned over to various builders who constructed home exteriors, leaving the interiors to be custom built according to buyer specifications. The area was first developed as a streetcar suburb in the early 20th century, and is thought to be the first community to employ tract housing tactics. At the time, the area was known as Peabody Heights; the moniker Charles Village, derived from Charles Street, the area's major north-south corridor, was coined in the 1970s as the beginning of a process of conceptually grouping a large and somewhat heterogeneous area. The neighborhood history has been researched and published by Gregory J. Alexander and Paul K. Williams in their book Charles Village: A Brief History.
  Charles Village in a strict sense consists of the area immediately to the east and south of the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus.
context_section_description: Though there are a number of apartment buildings, much of Charles Village's housing stock consists of two- and three-story rowhouses built in the early 20th century.  Many of the houses have been well maintained and, along with the rest of the city, the neighborhood has seen a boom in real estate prices in the first half of the 2000s.  Some of the larger rowhouses have been converted into multi-unit apartment houses in more recent decades.
  In 1998, Charles Village residents were challenged to take up a paint brush and choose vividly uncommon colors for the facades and front porches of their Victorian rowhouses. Within five years, residents had enlivened more than 100 homes, including several which the owners have repainted more than once. More was at stake, though, than just neighborly relations; the contest offered $3,000 for the best front porch, $2,000 for the best flush front facade and even $500 for the best front door. And as the painters increased, so did the number of competitions, to up to three times a year with new prizes. City blocks, best railings, and entire homes were up for judging. The contests ended in 2003, but Charles Village homeowners say they are looking for the funding to restart the contest. The contests' lasting result is that the neighborhood is now part of iconic Baltimore, with pictures of the "Painted Ladies", as the homes are known, appearing on travel guides and magazine covers.
caption: Calvert Street
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