The land that is now Ednor Gardens-Lakeside was once part of the 500 acre estate of General Samuel Smith, Revolutionary War hero, Congressman, Senator and Mayor of Baltimore. General Smith fought beside the French during the American Revolution and admiring their spirit, he renamed his home "Montebello" in honor to their victory at the Battle of Montebello in 1800. The lake east of Hillen Rd proudly retains the name.

In time, most of General Smith’s estate was acquired by John W. Garrett, President of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and later Ambassador to England. During Garrett’s ownership, Montebello included a private racetrack and extensive stables.

Close by Montebello was a stone quarry and Hertel’s Brickyard which provided bricks for an early generation of Baltimore rowhomes. The brickyard gave way to a wooden and earthen stadium in the 1920's which in turn was replaced by Memorial Stadium, built in 1954. Once the ball teams moved to their new home downtown, the Memorial Stadium was  replaced with a YMCA, a community playground and the award winning design of Stadium Place, an affordable retirement community.

Ednor Gardens was a development of Edward G. Gallagher and his sons Edward and Norman (hence Ednor). Building began after World War I and continued until the 1950's, these row homes are of varying styles, depending on the date of construction. Each were always of the most contemporary style at the time they were built.

Lakeside, geographically, named for nearby Lake Montebello, consists if mostly individual homes in a rich blend of styles. In addition to these single family homes you can find many semi-detached and row homes of colonial and traditional designs. While each of the homes in the area are distinctive, they all share a superior quality of craftsmanship and pride.

 

 

Links
Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) - Ednor Gardens Historic District

Lake Montebello
Andover Park
Gallagher Fountain
Map Archive


Architecture
Ednor Gardens is distinguished by its Tudor, Norman, and, later, Colonial style rowhouses that reflect national changes in residential architectural tastes between the mid 1920s into the late 1930s. Using his son as architect, Edward J. Gallagher set about to create a new kind of rowhouse community in Baltimore, "the English village in the city" with stylish houses aimed at a middle income market and offering all the modern construction made Ednor Gardens the most aesthetically successful of the several English style rowhouse of integrity and the terraced gardens planned by the developer as part of his overall concept have reached maturity. When the company began building again in 1936, after the worst years of the Depression, Gallagher, Jr. was designing "colonial" detached and rowhomes, reflecting a national design choice influenced by the opening of Colonial Williamsburg in the early 1930s.