Frank Novak (architect)

{{Short description|American architect}} {{infobox person | name = Frank Joseph Novak Sr. | image = Frank Novak.png | birth_date = {{Birth date|1877|03|17}} | birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1945|10|11|1877|03|17}} | death_place = | occupation = Architect and builder | spouse = | relatives = Frank Novak Jr., Gertrude Herr }}

'''Frank Joseph Novak Sr.''' (March 17, 1877 – October 11, 1945) was an American architect, real estate developer and builder. Active in Baltimore, he was known for constructing many of East Baltimore's famous rowhouses with marbled steps. He was the most prominent builder in Baltimore's Czech-American community. His prolific construction of housing for working-class immigrants earned him the nickname, "The Two-Story King of East Baltimore".<ref name="800 Block">{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/md2022/ |title=800 Block of North Collington Avenue (Rowhouses), 801-847 North Collington Avenue, Baltimore, Baltimore (Independent City), MD |publisher=Library of Congress |accessdate=2024-01-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.maryland.gov/dhcd/2017/03/29/a-new-canvas-for-baltimore-eager-street-townhomes-bring-affordable-options-to-historic-area-of-east-baltimore/ |title=A New Canvas for Baltimore: Eager Street Townhomes Bring Affordable Options to Historic Area of East Baltimore |publisher=Maryland.gov |accessdate=2024-01-23}}</ref>

==Early life== Novak was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of immigrants from Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic (formerly part of Austria-Hungary). His parents had immigrated to Baltimore two years prior to his birth. He had an adopted son, Frank Novak Jr., and an adopted daughter, Gertrude Herr.

==Career== Novak began to study as a carpenter's apprentice at the age of 13. In 1914, Novak established the Frank Novak Realty Company. He predominantly built homes for Czech, Slovak, and other Eastern European Catholic immigrants in Baltimore. Many row houses built by Novak are part of the East Monument Historic District. The establishment of St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church and the St. Wenceslaus Lyceum, followed by Novak and other builders constructing houses for Bohemian immigrants on nearby streets, cemented the neighborhood as Baltimore's Little Bohemia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chap.baltimorecity.gov/historic-districts/maps/eastmonument |title=East Monument |date=15 November 2015 |publisher=City of Baltimore |accessdate=2024-01-23}}</ref> Novak built a home purchased by the Czech-American inventor of screen painting, William Oktavec, which Oktavec converted into a grocery store.<ref name="800 Block"/>

Many of the houses in the community of Ednor Gardens-Lakeside were built by Novak. Actually two neighborhoods, Novak built Lakeside. Constructed in the 1920s, these were Novak's first detached single family houses.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1998/06/28/there-used-to-be-a-ballgame-right-here-ednor-gardens-lakeside-looks-ahead/ |title=There used to be a ballgame right here Ednor Gardens-Lakeside looks ahead |date=28 June 1998 |publisher=Baltimore Sun |accessdate=2024-01-25}}</ref> The Frank Novak Realty Company built the western portion of Coldstream Homestead Montebello in northeastern Baltimore.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chap.baltimorecity.gov/coldstream-homestead-montebello |title=Coldstream Homestead Montebello |date=13 December 2018 |publisher=City of Baltimore |accessdate=2024-06-11}}</ref> Novak donated the land for Herring Run Park to the City of Baltimore.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2726&context=mlr |title=The Unwisdom of Allowing City Growth to Work out Its Own Destiny |publisher=Maryland Law Review |accessdate=2024-06-11}}</ref>

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. A 1923 article in the Baltimore Sun mentions that Novak built "restricted" houses in the Montebello neighborhood.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://baltimoresun.newspapers.com/image/373400075/?match=1&terms=Frank%20Novak%20restricted |title=Real Estate Section |publisher=Baltimore Sun |accessdate=2024-06-17 |quote=The north side of the boulevard is ready for extensive development. This section Mr. Novak has set aside for the construction of cottages under restricted conditions.}}</ref> A 1926 advertisement in the ''Baltimore Sun'' describes Novak's Lakeside development as a "carefully restricted suburban home development".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://baltimoresun.newspapers.com/image/373083702/?match=1&terms=Frank%20Novak%20restricted |title=Novak Built Homes |publisher=Baltimore Sun |accessdate=2024-06-18 |quote=Lakeside was opened up six years ago as a carefully restricted suburban home development...}}</ref>

==Death== Novak died on October 11, 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/373647176/ |title=Frank Novak, Builder, Dies |work=The Baltimore Sun |accessdate=2025-09-10}}</ref> He left almost all of his estate of over $500,000 to the Roman Catholic Church and Johns Hopkins Hospital. Novak specified in his will that he deliberately avoided giving more of his estate to his adopted children, claiming that they were already adequately cared for and claiming ill will from his son. Other family members and relatives were provided for in the will. Frank Novak Jr. contested the will in court.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun/42953846/ |title=Church, Hopkins Get $500,000 In Novak Will |work=The Evening Sun |date=15 October 1945 |page=26 |publisher=The Evening Sun |accessdate=2024-01-23}}</ref>

==Gallery== <gallery class="center" widths="162px" heights="200px"> File:Lakeside Novak.png|A September 26, 1926 advertisement in the ''Baltimore Sun'' for a racially restricted "Novak Built" development in Lakeside, Baltimore. File:Novak Montebello.png|April 15, 1923 article in the Baltimore Sun about a racially restricted development in Montebello built by Frank Novak. File:Frank Novak Realty Company Telegraf.png|Frank Novak Realty Company advertisement in the ''Telegraf'', December 28, 1928. </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commonscat|Frank Novak (architect)}} *[https://baltimorebrickbybrick.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/so-who-built-our-houses/ So Who Built Our Houses?], Baltimore Brick by Brick *[https://belair-edison.org/belair-edison/history/ A Rich History of Family Homes and Commerce], Belair-Edison Neighborhoods Inc.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Novak, Frank}} Category:1877 births Category:1945 deaths Category:American businesspeople in the real estate industry Category:American people of Bohemian descent Category:American architects Category:American Roman Catholics Category:History of racism in Maryland Category:Architects from Baltimore Category:Real estate and property developers from Maryland