Frank Novak (architect)

Frank Joseph Novak Sr. (March 17, 1877 – October 11, 1945) was an American architect, real estate developer and builder.

His prolific construction of housing for working-class immigrants earned him the nickname, "The Two-Story King of East Baltimore".

[1][2] Novak was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of immigrants from Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic (formerly part of Austria-Hungary).

[4] The Frank Novak Realty Company built the western portion of Coldstream Homestead Montebello in northeastern Baltimore.

[6] Prior to the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, racially restrictive covenants were used in Baltimore to exclude African-Americans and other minority groups.