Just two years ago the sky seemed to be falling on the artists’ studio compound known as Area 405. The old industrial building where 30 Baltimore artists created works in studios came up for sale.
Rumors circulated that Philadelphia developers were eyeing the place for a condominium conversion. Some thought gentrification was inevitable.
The situation turned around with the rapid intervention of the Central Baltimore Partnership, a behind-the-scenes organization that’s working in neighborhoods around and north of Pennsylvania Station.
The nonprofit partnership raised $4.7 million and (from the State of Maryland, the city’s Neighborhood Impact Investment Fund and foundation and nonprofit lenders) bought the complex of several conjoined buildings. Next was upgrading the electrical and safety systems.
The partnership took possession in March 2022 and spent more than a year clearing an artistic inventory of broken motorcycles, wooden stoves and cast off piping. There was even an old truck under all that stuff.
Area 405 has survived nicely with 32 artists working there in studios they rent from the partnership. Rents range from $250 to $550. Part of the complex includes a tool library and there’s room for another 10 studios and two maker spaces.
Artist Timothy Nohe said, “I’ve been in the building for over 15 years, and in that time I have seen new vitality come to the neighborhood.
“Years after manufacturing jobs left, there’s real vibrancy here. What does that look like? I’ve seen neighbor folks rehabbing homes [and] caring for community gardens… Artists and performers have played a key role in pouring creative energy, money and sweat equity into this place.”
Jon Malis, another artist, said, “Having a studio space among community has been game-changing for my work. After having spent so much of the past few years working in isolation at home, having had this studio over the past year had pushed me to make new work and our community at 405 has held me accountable in making that work to a higher standard than it might’ve been just working at home.”
Area 405 has a long backstory. For decades it was the C.M. Kemp Manufacturing Co., an industrial plant where workers turned out drains, screws, pipe vises, iron hydrants and something called the Kemp Automatic Gas System.
Kemp workers converted the plant to military production during World War II and were awarded for their “distinguished record in the production of essential war materials.” The factory turned out portable flame throwers and armor-piercing shell caps.
Somewhere in the building’s sub-basement is the remnant of the old Joseph Berger brewery (there was once ample water from the nearby Jones Falls, but the stream’s course was diverted in 1914 to a tunnel along the Fallsway).
The site also previously housed a plant that produced the small furnaces used to melt the lead in Linotype machines.
John Renner, a consultant on the project, said, “It’s definitely a place for serious working artists who care about their craft. Area 405 has been made safe while we retained the intrinsic character of the building.”
Area 405 takes its name from its address, 405 E. Oliver St., a location just west of the main gate of Green Mount Cemetery.
Ellen Janes, the Central Baltimore Partnership’s director, said, “We have to balance and maintain Area 405’s industrial, primitive aesthetic. We will not sanitize it. Yet it still needs a new roof, handicap access and HVAC upgrades. Our first improvement was an updated wireless access.”
No matter what you call the neighborhood — Station North Arts District or Greenmount West — the community alongside Green Mount Cemetery is one of the most resilient and successfully assisted parts of Baltimore today.
“We want every demographic to feel welcome and we want to preserve the affordability and the authenticity of the arts district,” Janes said.
She feels the 300 and 400 blocks of East Oliver Street set the tone and help define the area.
“To us, they are some of the most treasured arts blocks in the city,” she said.
The Central Baltimore Partnership, a neighborhood-based nonprofit, says it aims to create a multi-faceted investment strategy.
It recently worked with Waverly Main Street to assist Toki Underground, the new Japanese restaurant on Greenmount Avenue as well as the restoration of 31st Street’s Waverly Town Hall.
The partnership strives to connect dots — rescuing and protecting endangered neighborhood landmarks that are threatened by economic challenges.
As a result of the care taken, Oliver Street retains the feel of a 19th century industrial enclave surrounded by residential blocks where residents once walked to work.
Maggie Schneider, the building’s manager, describes Area 405’s well-trodden staircases and industrial corridors painted every variant of dull gray: “The place just smells of history.”
