Welcome to
  Harbor
     Ridge
  AT  JOPPATOWNE

Harbor Ridge
at Joppatowne
is one of several subdivisions in the planned community of Joppatowne. 

Joppatowne is one of the earliest Planned Unit Developments (PUD) in the U.S.  Established in 1961 by Panitz Bros. & Co., Joppatowne consists of attached and detached residential units, condominiums, apartments, schools, and commercial districts.


View current photos from Harbor Ridge at Joppatowne...

    HARBOR RIDGE
                             AT
        JOPPATOWNE       

                   J O P P A ,  M D .

Location: Near the Town of Joppa in Harford County, Md.

Part of the Planned Unit Development of Joppatowne, established in 1961 by Panitz Bros. & Co.

Constructed by Levitt and Sons, Inc. and Levitt and Sons, Inc. (Delaware)

Open for sales 1966.

Construction completed in 197x.

Harbor Ridge at Joppatowne Exhibit Center and sample homes located on Towne Center Drive off Joppa Farm Road.  Joppatowne community is located on Route U.S. 40, south of the Town of Joppa.

xxx homes planned.

xxx homes constructed.

While there is no official web site for Joppatowne, the community is well represnted at Harford Vista page for Joppatowne.  The official Harford County, Md. web site contains the Joppa/Joppatowne Community Plan.

The 1966 Houses:

HOUSES
Tour all five sample homes and select the style of your new home at Harbor Ridge in the planned community of Joppatowne.  Homesites are available for purchase separately.  Two-car garages on select models are available. 

KENSINGTON
Rancher.  3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, Columned Portico with dentil finish and Brick front, Formal Dining Room with Sliders to back lawn, Eat-in Kitchen with windowed countertop work area, Laundry-Utility Room with Garage access, One-car Garage.

BUCKINGHAM
Rancher.  3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, Brick front, Covered Entry, Entry Foyer with Dual Closet, Living-Dining Room with Optional Fireplace, Front-to-Rear Kitchen-Family Room with Sliders to back lawn, Laundry-Utility Room with Garage access, One-car Garage with Overhead Storage and Pull-down Stairway, Optional Two-car Garage.

NEWPORT
Bi-level (Hi-ranch, Split-foyer).  3 Bedrooms, 1-1/2 Baths, partial Brick front with Columned Portico, Entry Foyer, Formal Dining Room, Eat-in Kitchen, Lower Level Recreation Room with Sliders to back lawn, Laundry Room, and Garage Access, One-car Garage with Utility Area and Service Door to back lawn.

GRAMERCY
Center-hall Colonial.  4 Bedrooms, 2-1/2 Baths, Brick front, Entry Foyer, Front-to-Rear Living Room with box window, Formal Dining Room with box window, Family Room with Sliders to back lawn, Kitchen with Breakfast Alcove and Serving Counter, Laundry-Utility Room with Garage access and Service Door to side lawn, Two-car Garage with Overhead Storage and Pull-down Stairway.

NOTTINGHAM
Bi-level (Hi-ranch, Split-foyer).  4 Bedrooms, 3 Baths, partial Brick front with Columned Portico, Entry Foyer, Eat-in Kitchen, Lower Level Front-to-Rear Recreation Room with separate Laundry and Utility Areas, and Garage access, Bath 3, Oversized One-car Garage with Storage Area and Service Door to back lawn, Optional Two-car Garage with Sun Deck accessible from Master Bedroom.

The 1969 Brochure and Houses:
Courtesy Paul Lisicky

PRICE LIST
View the Price List for the homes and homesite options.

HOUSES
Tour all five sample homes and select the style of your new home in Harbor Ridge at Joppatowne.  Two-car garages on select models and premium homesites are available.  Harbor Ridge is Levitt's single-family home community in Joppatowne.
 

BUCKINGHAM
PROFILE   PLAN  
Rancher.  3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, Brick front, Covered Entry, Entry Foyer with Dual Closet, Living-Dining Room with Optional Fireplace, Front-to-Rear Kitchen-Family Room with Sliders to back lawn, Laundry-Utility Room with Garage access, One-car Garage with Overhead Storage and Pull-down Stairway, Optional Two-car Garage.

NEWPORT
PROFILE   PLAN

Bi-level (Hi-ranch, Split-foyer).  3 Bedrooms, 1-1/2 Baths, partial Brick front with Columned Portico, Entry Foyer, Formal Dining Room, Eat-in Kitchen, Lower Level Recreation Room with Sliders to back lawn, Laundry Room, and Garage Access, One-car Garage with Utility Area and Service Door to back lawn.

OVERBROOKE
PROFILE   PLAN
Rancher.  4 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, Brick front, Covered Entry, Entry Foyer with Dual Closet, Living-Dining Room, Front-to-Rear Family Room with adjoining Breakfast Alcove and Sliders to back lawn, Kitchen with Pass-through Counter to Family Room, Laundry-Utility Room with Garage access, One-car Garage with Utility and Storage Areas, Overhead Storage and Pull-down Stairway.

GRAMERCY
PROFILE   PLAN
Center-hall Colonial.  4 Bedrooms, 2-1/2 Baths, Brick front, Entry Foyer, Front-to-Rear Living Room with box window, Formal Dining Room with box window, Family Room with Sliders to back lawn, Kitchen with Breakfast Alcove and Serving Counter, Laundry-Utility Room with Garage access and Service Door to side lawn, Two-car Garage with Overhead Storage and Pull-down Stairway.

NOTTINGHAM
PROFILE   PLAN
Bi-level (Hi-ranch, Split-foyer).  4 Bedrooms, 3 Baths, partial Brick front with Columned Portico, Entry Foyer, Eat-in Kitchen, Lower Level Front-to-Rear Recreation Room with separate Laundry and Utility Areas, and Garage access, Bath 3, Oversized One-car Garage with Storage Area and Service Door to back lawn, Optional Two-car Garage with Sun Deck accessible from Master Bedroom.

HARBOR RIDGE IN THE NEWS
View press releases and news articles for Harbor Ridge.

New York Times
Article 1 "Levitt Opens Community Near Baltimore" (//1966)

ADVERTISING HARBOR RIDGE
View original newspaper sales advertisements for Harbor Ridge.

Baltimore Sun
Ad 1 "Levitt homes at Harbor Ridge are complete in every way!" (5/5/1968)
Courtesy, Paul Lisicky, F.M.
Ad 2 "Fun is big at Harbor Ridge" (//1969)
Courtesy, Paul Lisicky, F.M.

LEVITTOWNBEYOND ADDS...
Harbor Ridge features many of the models typically offerred in other Levitt communities.  However, two of the models were slightly modified in Harbor Ridge.  The Buckingham was typically offerred with a cut stone front.  In Harbor Ridge, the Buckingham has a brick front.  The Newport model was also offerred in the Willingboro, N.J. Garfield Park communities with an optional fourth bedroom and additional bath on the lower level, and a brick front portico.  In Harbor Ridge, the lower-level bedroom and bath were not an option, the lavatory is in a completely different location, and the partial brick front is around the garage door only.

At some point in the development of Harbor Ridge, the Kensington model was dropped from the houseline and the Overbrooke model was added.  The Kensington model was developed a few years prior to the Overbrooke, though it is not clear as to why one of the models would have been discontinued when both rancher models--in addition to the Buckingham--were often available in a community and the Kensington was generally a popular model.  Even more intriguing is the fact that two bi-level models were available in the same community, where one was usually a novelty.

Panitz Bros. & Co. and Joppatowne
Panitz Bros. was formed by brothers Stanley I. and Leon J. Panitz. Prior to World War II, Leon Panitz had worked with his grandfather, Joseph Berman, learning the business of building design, construction, and real estate. With the establishment of Panitz Bros., the company built more than 1,400 homes in metropolitan Baltimore during the post-war years. At the encouragement of friend Jim Rouse, who would later develop of the New Town of Columbia, Md., Leon Panitz became enthusiastic about creating a New Town himself. So from Baltimore County, Panitz Bros. purchased a sizeable plot of land in Harford County that formerly served as the county seat (then part of Baltimore County) and one of the busiest seaports on the East Coast--the former Joppa Town--whose major export was tobacco. With trade moving to the more expansive port at Baltimore while sedimentation from the Gunpowder River gradually filed in the harbor at Joppa Town, the area had become primarily farmland. Signs of life from the former port town had long since been vanished due to abandonment and neglect caused by the lack of economic activity generated by the port traffic that had once been the reason for the town's existence. Some 200 years later, Panitz Bros. would give the area a new reason to exist, now as Joppatowne. Panitz Bros.' plans called for a mix of housing types in a variety of price ranges, some on waterfront homesites, commercial facilities, and schools. In many ways, Panitz Bros.--having built homes before the war, then providing post-war housing, and finally moving on to planned communities--resembled Levitt and Sons on a smaller, local scale.

By the time Panitz Bros. had purchased the land, the only remaining structure of Joppa Town was the Rumsey Mansion, which still exists on the site today. In the mid-1960s, Levitt and Sons purchased 400 homesites from Panitz with options on additional land at Joppatowne and developed Harbor Ridge and Harbor View. Somewhat unique in its location, Joppatowne is a quiet community removed from, yet accessible to the thoroughfare of Route U.S. 40. Its location off the Chesapeake Bay at Gunpowder Cove provides a private, serene setting. The community is convenient to Baltimore to the south, and the Aberdeen Proving Ground adjoining Joppatowne to the north.

Page last revised 20 January 2013.