.....Across
Montgomery (to the north) at 130 is one of the few wooden
houses left standing today in Baltimore.This two-story frame house was built in about 1796 by a boat
man named Mathew John Murray.It is a great example of the style of house that was
typical of Baltimore Town and Fells Point until 1799.
After
1804, new City Ordinances were enacted to forbid this type of
construction due to the fire hazard that resulted from using
wood as a primary construction material for home building.Given the high concentration of houses in the area, this
change in the law probably made a lot of sense.However, as we have already learned, the new ordinances
did little to mitigate the damages caused by the Great
Baltimore Fire of 1904.