Calling the demolition permits issued by the city “valid, legal and proper,” an administrative hearing officer has paved the way for the razing of a block of houses on Druid Hill Avenue that includes the childhood home of the world-famous bandleader Cab Calloway.

In a written decision, Debyn W. Purdie rejected an argument by Calloway’s grandson, Peter Brooks, and a nearby resident that federal and state funds were involved in plans to clear out the block of once-stately, now-vacant rowhouses, built in the 1890s, for a proposed park.

Use of such funds would trigger a review by the Maryland Historical Trust because the properties are part of the Old West Baltimore National Register Historic District.

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