Baltimore County has agreed to transfer the historic Perry Hall Mansion to a local preservation nonprofit, closing the book on a years-long saga that once saw the county try to sell the landmark for just $5,000. Contracts were signed at the Historic Courthouse this afternoon, sealing a deal that will put the mansion in the hands of the Preservation Alliance of Baltimore County.
County Councilman David Marks announced the agreement, which includes a $250,000 grant along with roughly $93,000 raised by the Perry Hall Recreation Council, according to NottinghamMD.com. Baltimore County Government has owned the mansion since 2001, and in preparation for the handoff it made structural repairs and installed a heating and air conditioning system, the outlet reported.
“The goal is to stabilize and restore the restoration,” Marks said, per the same account. He pointed to the construction of Angel Park as evidence that a nonprofit can coordinate donations more easily than Baltimore County Government can on its own.
A Deal Two Years in the Making
The transfer caps off a bumpy stretch for the 18th-century estate that gives Perry Hall its name. In May 2024, the Baltimore County Council voted 6-0 to sell the mansion for $5,000, a move The Baltimore Banner noted applied to what many historians consider the cradle of American Methodism. That sale would have gone to Harford Road Building LLC, which planned to convert the property into a bed-and-breakfast that could also host small events, according to WYPR.
But the deal fell apart. By August 2024, Harford Road Building LLC had decided not to purchase the property for $5,000, WYPR reported. The station noted that Baltimore County had already spent more than $1 million keeping the aging building from falling apart since buying it, and that the county had bought the home and its four-acre property back in 2001 for $335,000.
Funding Has Trickled In for Decades
Money for the mansion's upkeep has arrived in fits and starts over the years. The county completed the first stage of restoration in 2004, according to Baltimore Heritage, which noted that a Friends organization has continued restoration work at the property. By January 2011, that Friends group had $100,000 on hand and had just received a $10,000 gift from the Perry Hall Woman's Club, the Baltimore Sun reported at the time — part of nearly $1.3 million in county and state contributions already allocated toward the mansion's restoration.
County officials have previously estimated that at least $1 million more would be needed just to open the mansion to the public, per The Baltimore Banner's reporting. The county also received $400,000 in state funds specifically to repair and stabilize the structure, the outlet noted. The mansion's exact construction date remains disputed in historical accounts, with the Baltimore Sun citing 1773 and NottinghamMD citing 1775 in earlier coverage.
Local Groups Turn Out for the Signing
The contract signing drew a crowd of officials and community representatives to the Historic Courthouse. County Executive Kathy Klausmeier attended, along with Baltimore County Government officials, representatives of the Woman's Club of Perry Hall, the Perry Hall Improvement Association, and members of the Preservation Alliance of Baltimore County itself.
Bryan Fischer, chair of the Preservation Alliance, said the organization is proud to support the project, which he said will showcase the importance of protecting historic landmarks. The mansion remains subject to its historic-landmark and zoning restrictions, and the county plans to transfer it to the nonprofit, which would take on the task that eluded a private buyer two years ago: finding a sustainable path forward for an 18th-century structure in northeastern Baltimore County.
