Just three days after a car crashed through the doors of Motor House, the historic car dealership turned Station North arts center will reopen Wednesday for regular building hours.

After days of the community rallying around the venue, Motor House received the “all clear” Tuesday that the building is structurally sound.

The car went through the front door and the showroom bar doors at the venue. On Facebook, Motor House expressed its gratitude that churchgoers from the nondenominational congregation of Village Church were uninjured during their Sunday morning worship.

According to Baltimore Police, officers responded to a carjacking at 2:30 a.m. Sunday by four unidentified males. At 11:20 a.m., officers discovered the stolen vehicle on West North Avenue and attempted a traffic stop. The suspects fled the scene and crashed into Motor House minutes later.

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The arts hub, which was purchased in 2013 by the Baltimore Arts Realty Corporation (BARCO) and reimagined as an affordable and sustainable place for local artists, mobilized quickly.

“Regardless, we’re never gonna stop the art,” said BARCO Program Director Tori Martin.

Police respond to the damage at Motor House following the car crash on June 29.
Police respond to the damage at Motor House following the car crash. (Baltimore Arts Realty Corporation)

Because of the organization’s realty background, BARCO knew to immediately reach out to permit offices and the structural engineers who revamped the historic building 10 years ago. Nearby Station North arts spaces like Parlor, Mobtown Ballroom & Cafe and The Club Car offered assistance as well. Across social media, individuals volunteered their spaces, time and connections to help.

The greatest struggle was the displacement of their tenants, Martin said. Motor House rents out offices on the second and third floor to artists and creators who temporarily lost access to their space, resources and even laptops.

BARCO also contacted artists, dancers, performers and anyone who had planned to use their bustling events space, including the organizers of Indie Fest, set to take place this long holiday weekend.

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The crash “felt like something happening to a family member’s home,” said Anthony Avery, the executive director and founder of Tony Aye Artistry, which hosts Indie Fest.

There were talks of moving the three-day music festival to the Baltimore Theater Project in the wake of the crash if Motor House’s doors remained boarded up, but the festival will now proceed as planned.

Martin is choosing to see the accident as a “season of opportunity.” The team, which was already planning on refreshing the building’s facade for Motor House’s 10th anniversary, is having conversations about what the new doors will look like.

“Now we have this giant, blank canvas — an open doorway,“ Martin said. ”We could reinvent.”