We’ve probably passed by the intersection of N Howard St. and Cecil B. Moore Ave. dozens of times in the past, but we somehow never noticed that there’s a building at this intersection that looks a lot like a castle without a moat. Have you seen this building before?
1625 N. Howard St. is built on a self-contained triangular block, and is bordered by Cecil B., Howard, and Turner Streets. And while it may resemble an urban take on a medieval dwelling, it was actually built as a fire house in 1927 for Engine 15. It replaced a much more elaborate fire house, pictured below in 1896.
The garage door was previously the entry point for the fire truck, and the spire was used as a hose tower (and probably to locate fires from a distance, as well). But according to legeros.com, the building hasn’t been home to a fire company since Engine 15 disbanded in 1964. For at least the last decade, the building has been used as a residence.
According to a couple of old listings, there’s a residential space on the second floor with a master bedroom suite and a couple of bathrooms. The first floor is a combination garage and workshop space, and there’s a large finished basement as well. The property was purchased by the current owner for about $225K back in 2003. It was back on the market in 2011 for just under $550K, but it didn’t sell.
Which we’d say is just as well for the owners. Sure, they couldn’t sell a property that it seems they wanted to sell. But if the penalty is having to live in such an awesome building for a couple more years, that doesn’t sound too bad at all. Think the addition of a drawbridge might make the place easier to sell?