Life of the Block Party

SWEET SERENDIPITY: I found Fells Point through pure luck. I knew nothing about Baltimore and just happened to come down 83 and made a left. 

ANCIENT HISTORY: The building is unique because of its size and larger front windows. It used to be a Polish bakery. Before that, someone once told me that his parents owned it at one time and it was some sort of delicatessen. 

PARTY OF TWO: I’ve had people even walk in thinking it’s a store or a restaurant. One time, a nice couple came in and sat down on the couch, and my [late] wife was making sauce and they had smelled it and thought they would come for dinner. They did not have dinner with us, but they did have drinks. 

BLANK CANVAS: When we bought the property it had just been rehabbed and everything was white—the trim, the walls, and the doors. And then my wife got a hold of it. 

EYE FOR DESIGN: My wife had eclectic taste. She knew what she liked and she had a ball decorating this house. We would get a minimum of 30 catalogs a week and she just searched until she found stuff that she wanted. The chandeliers were a part of this process. The deal was that it was her job to do it and my job to pay for it. 

PERSONAL RENAISSANCE: The wallpaper has the Creation of Adam by Michelangelo on it. Now that was one of the things I really had to pay for. 

FURNITURE FUSION: Some of the furniture is antique. I have an older chestnut ice chest in the room, but then there is leather furniture that my wife and I  purchased in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that is not antique. But everything does have one thing in common—they are big. 

SPACE OUT: When they first started showing me houses in the area, they were showing me different rowhomes and every time I walked in I would tell them, “It’s nice, but what happens when I put furniture in here?” And so luckily my Realtor said, “Okay, well I’m going to show you one of the biggest places in Fells Point,” and we walked in and bought it. 

TRICK OR TREAT: I have a chandelier in the room that is all candles. It’s lit seldomly, like around certain holidays. On Halloween, I light it and I open up both front doors and I bring a casket in. I lay in the casket as Dracula with the candy on my stomach, so the kids come in and get it. Most of the neighbors are also over with their candy so when the kids come it’s a bonanza. 

ALL IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: I just love living here. My kids come down and we bar hop. We like to go to Ale Mary’s, 1919, and Canton Liquor House.