‘A lonely memory’
Restoration study shows path forward for historic Burtis House
Gone are the days of a City Dock waterfront packed with lumber yards, oyster houses and steamboat wharves in the area known as Hell Point. But one relic of that industrious past remains — the Captain William H. Burtis House.
Constructed in the 1880s by the Burtis family, it once hosted a popular charter service for pleasure cruises in the Chesapeake Bay. It was sold to the state in the 1970s, becoming home for the Department of Natural Resources and later the National Sailing Hall of Fame. It has been vacant since 2019. The building will soon be in the hands of the City of Annapolis, which acquired the property in November.
In a report published this month by Historic Annapolis and the National Park Service, the organizations laid out a feasibility study for a lengthy restoration and preservation process to protect the nearly 150-year-old building from encroaching floodwaters. It also would return the building’s exterior to the design and function of its founding and help find its place in an area that is expected to be heavily redeveloped in the coming years.
In all, the effort could take years and an estimated $4.4 million to complete, a large chunk of which would go to building an addition to increase floor space and elevating the original building to meet FEMA standards.
“Resiliency considerations have become an increasingly important issue for historic coastal communities,” Historic Annapolis President and CEO Robert Clark said. “The report outlines a thoughtful concept for elevating and stabilizing the building. We hope this report can be a model for other waterfront historic districts who are dealing with sea-level rise.”
A goal of the report was to integrate Burtis into the larger City Dock redevelopment project currently underway, said Michael Dowling, an Annapolis architect who helped draft the report. Dowling also published a historic structures report for the property in 2017 that helped inform the study.
The larger City Dock plan will begin with the rebuilding of Hillman Garage and eventually include resiliency infrastructure along the waterfront near the Burtis property. The house also represents one of the few remaining buildings from a thriving working-class neighborhood and recalls the city’s rich maritime history as it slowly transitioned from a working harbor to a
recreational one.
“It’s a lonely memory of what the neighborhood was like,” Dowling said. “In some ways that makes it even more important to save.”
Once the city takes possession, Historic Annapolis recommended establishing a perpetual historic easement on the property before executing a two-phase restoration plan.
The first phase of restoration would be dedicated to protecting the property from flooding and stabilizing the structure, which has started to deteriorate from periodic flooding and regular use. The building would be raised to 9.2 feet to meet current FEMA standards. The recommendation is one of several made by a subgroup of the City Dock Action Committee.
The building would be temporarily moved to an adjacent lot so a new foundation could be built to raise the building. Additional protections known as mothballing would occur where the interior is dehumidified, modern electrical, lighting and fire suppression systems are installed, and any archaeological studies are completed on the site as needed. The process would take about two to three years and cost an estimated $252,000.
Funding for this phase is already underway from sources that include the Maryland Heritage Area Authority, National Park Service Chesapeake Gateways Program and state bond funding, according to the report.
Such a drastic change in the building’s make-up is part of a larger conversation the preservation community has been having in the face of rising sea levels and increased frequency of flood events, Dowling said.
“Traditionally, the idea for preservation is to keep the historic structure with the same relationship that has always had to the ground,” he said. “But in certain circumstances, you have to make the decision (to go further) if the building’s worth saving.”
In phase two, the report recommends building a 3,000 square-foot addition on the property that retains the design of the original building as much as possible and integrates the property into the larger redevelopment of City Dock. On the outside, the building would echo the architecture of the since-demolished Hells Point neighborhood. Inside, it could host a museum, new harbormaster offices or general meeting or reception spaces.
The report estimates the total cost of the second phase at $4.2 million.
While there is much more work to be done, the report shows that saving these kinds of historical landmarks can be done if enough time and resources are put into it, Dowling said.
“It’s not pie in the sky. It’s something that could really happen.”