Baltimore ‘Christmas card house’ is for sale
Address: 5701 Roland Ave., Baltimore
List price: $1,200,000
Year built: 1889
Real estate agent: Lee Tessier and Reed Stupalski of EXP Realty, LLC
Last sold date/price: For $325,000 on October 22, 2002
Property size: 8,700 square feet with eight bedrooms and five full and two half-bathrooms. There are two kitchens, two laundry rooms and seven fireplaces
Unique features: This is one of several Queen Style Victorian houses along North
Roland Avenue between Northern Parkway and Lake Avenue that have inspired several Christmas card designs and at least one dollhouse.
The homes were designed by father and son architects George F. Barber and Charles Barber and feature such period flourishes as gothic pillars, cupolas, chandeliers dripping with crystals, Tiffany-inspired stained glass doors and windows, carved balustrades and marquetry wood floors. This home features seven fireplaces (and one with two sides), enough for every member of a large family to claim their own private hearth, while members of smaller families can each have two. Snakewood, one of the most expensive woods in the world, has been incorporated in the fireplaces and floors. There’s a wraparound front porch, two decks and a rear patio.
But in other respects, the home is fully modernized with central air conditioning, a high-speed cable system, a heated kitchen floor and a built-in espresso machine in the butler’s pantry. The chef ’s kitchen features a professional stove, 42 inches of cabinets and a granite-topped kitchen island large enough to seat four. The bathroom off the master’s suite has a jetted soaking tub, walk-in shower, double vanity, dressing table, double walk-in closets and a private laundry.