The builders sold these homes at a profit, while the Patterson heirs collected ground rent on the leased land.

[2] Affectionately known as "marble houses," the typical Patterson Park rowhouse was built in Renaissance Revival, or Italianate, style.

They have restrained flat roofs; flat, brown or red brick façades; molded and galvanized sheet-metal exterior cornices, often stamped with neoclassical decoration and dressed up with ball finials; stained glass transoms; and marble steps and trim.

In the latter half of the 19th century, immigrant European laborers as well as free blacks like Frederick Douglass flocked to Baltimore seeking jobs in the waterfront factories, rail yards and wharves.

Interiors often feature pressed tin ceilings, hardwood floors, stained glass windows and ornate moldings.

This is a characteristically American settlement pattern, stimulated by the advent of the electric trolley (streetcar) in 1888, and accelerated by social and economic transitions since then.

The fabric of Southeast Baltimore's working class communities was woven from the availability of good blue-collar jobs in the manufacturing industries surrounding the waterfront.

Changes in the city's demographic composition fed fears and prejudice among residents who were suffering economic hardships.

Profound social shifts arising from the civil rights movement strengthened the case for elimination of residential housing segregation, but the unintended consequence was white flight.

Such efforts slowed but did not halt housing abandonment and disinvestment in Southeast Baltimore in general, and Patterson Park in particular.

In 1996, the Patterson Park Community Development Corporation (PPCDC) was created to increase ownership rates and decrease vacancies in the area.