Roland Park Airbnb Photography: A Victorian Built for Guests

Roland Park Airbnb photography of a yellow Queen Anne Victorian with a wraparound porch and turret on a large lawn in fall

Roland Park Airbnb photography is a different job from listing photography. When I photograph a house for sale, the goal is to sell the property. When I photograph a short-term rental, the goal is to sell the stay: what a guest will do, where they will sleep and what they will enjoy once they arrive. This post is about a recent shoot of a Victorian on Roland Avenue, and how that goal changed the way I photographed it.

Roland Park Airbnb photography: selling the stay, not the property

A buyer wants to know what the house is, how big it is and what is wrong with it. A guest booking a weekend wants to know what they get to do. There is a lot of overlap. Both want bright, accurate photos of every room. But a guest is scrolling through a dozen rentals in the same city, and the photo that wins is the one that makes them picture themselves there.

For this shoot, that meant I paid attention to the amenities a guest would actually use. The bedrooms, the sitting room and the hot tub each got their own photos, because each one answers a question a guest has before booking. Where will I sleep? Where do we hang out? Is the hot tub real, and is it nice?

The house is listed on Airbnb by Superhost Gregory as a Victorian mansion with three bedrooms, a master suite and a hot tub.

A Queen Anne Victorian designed by George F. Barber

The house at 5607 Roland Avenue is a Queen Anne style Victorian, and it has a documented designer. It was designed in 1897 by George F. Barber, a self-taught architect based in Knoxville, Tennessee, who sold house plans by mail through catalogs such as The Cottage Souvenir. Barber's plans were built across the country, and his catalogs are the reason you can find his houses in towns far from Tennessee.

This one was part of a development called Normandy Heights, a group of large Victorians along north Roland Avenue, and it was built as the model home. The developer failed, and the house spent years in receivership before Lydia Hamill bought it in 1901. Her husband, Robert, was a vice president of the Roland Park Company, the firm that developed Roland Park itself.

The details that come with that history are the kind a guest notices: a turret, a wraparound porch, carved balustrades and arched windows in the gable. The house is on the north end of Roland Avenue, in the part of the area many people call North Roland Park or Poplar Hill.

Queen Anne Victorian on Roland Avenue in Baltimore with a wraparound porch, turret and a large front lawn in fall — The front of the house from the lawn, with the turret and wraparound porch

Drone view of a Victorian house in Roland Park with a round turret porch, covered porches and fall foliage — From the air, the turret, the round porch and the layers of roofline

What Roland Park is known for

Roland Park is one of the best-known neighborhoods in Baltimore. It was developed starting in the 1890s as a planned streetcar suburb, with the Olmsted firm and landscape architect George Kessler involved in laying out its streets. Curving roads, large lots, setbacks and mature trees were part of the plan from the beginning, and they are still what you see today. The neighborhood is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it is also known for the Roland Park Shopping Center, a Tudor-style group of shops from the 1890s that is often cited as one of the first planned shopping centers in the country.

It is also one of the more expensive places to own a house in the city. For a host, that matters in one practical way: guests who book a place here are often looking for something that feels like the neighborhood, which is old, handsome and green.

Why the drone photos matter in Roland Park

Roland Park looks better from above than almost anywhere else I shoot. The tree canopy, the old rooflines and the size of the lots do not show up from the street, where you see one house at a time. A drone photo shows the whole setting at once, including the house among mature trees and its neighbors, with the city skyline far off on the horizon.

For a short-term rental, that is useful in a way it is not for a typical listing. A guest cannot walk the block before booking. An aerial photo tells them what the surroundings feel like: quiet, leafy and residential, but not far from the city. I shot these in late fall, when the foliage was at its peak, and they show the neighborhood at its best.

Drone photo of a Victorian house in Roland Park surrounded by fall foliage with the Baltimore skyline on the horizon — The house in its setting, with the skyline on the horizon

Overhead drone photo of a neighboring Victorian mansion in Roland Park surrounded by colorful fall trees — Straight down on a neighboring Victorian mansion, one of several large historic houses nearby

Rear of a Victorian house in Baltimore from a drone showing covered porches, a round gazebo porch and the roofline — The porches and outdoor spaces a guest can use, seen from above

If you are considering aerial photos for a rental, see my page on drone photography in Baltimore.

Photographing the rooms a guest will use

Inside, the house has the details that make a Victorian worth booking: tall windows, wide crown molding, hardwood floors and leaded glass. The sitting room has fish-scale glass in the upper windows, which catches the light. The primary bedroom has a bay window with a small sitting area. The second bedroom has a painted bed and a brass ceiling fixture. I shot every bedroom, because a guest wants to see exactly where each person sleeps.

Sitting room in a Victorian with leaded glass transom windows, a chandelier and hardwood floors — The sitting room, with leaded glass in the upper windows

Second view of the Victorian sitting room with a bookcase, armchairs and a crystal chandelier — The same room from the other corner

Primary bedroom in a Victorian with a bay window, hardwood floors and a brass ceiling light — The primary bedroom, with the bay window at the far end

Second bedroom in a Victorian with a blue painted bed, a rug and hardwood floors — The second bedroom

Bathroom with blue and tan slate tile, two vanities and a window in a Victorian house — A bathroom with slate tile and two vanities

The hot tub, and a twilight edit

A hot tub is the kind of amenity that can decide a booking, so it needed to be photographed well. It sits under a white pergola with string lights, steps from the back porch. I shot it in daylight, which shows the setting clearly. For the second image I took the daytime photo and gave it a twilight edit, so the water glows and the windows of the house light up. That image says something the daylight photo cannot: this is what your evening looks like.

A twilight edit is a service a host or agent might like to know about. We do not have to schedule a second visit during the twilight hour. I turn the photo I took during the day into one that looks like it was shot at dusk. The difference is not noticeable, or at least not important, to the average guest or buyer looking at the listing, and it saves you a second visit.

Hot tub under a white pergola with string lights beside the back porch of a Victorian house — The hot tub in daylight, under the pergola

Hot tub glowing under a pergola with string lights and a lit Victorian house behind it, shown with a twilight edit — The same hot tub, photographed in daylight and given a twilight edit

The lower level is a separate rental

The lower level of the house is a different rental, with its own listing, so I photographed it as its own set. The goal is the same as upstairs: show a guest what they get.

Lower-level kitchenette with a coffee maker, cream cabinets, a stainless refrigerator and an exposed stone wall — The lower-level coffee bar and kitchenette

Lower-level lounge in a Victorian house with a yellow tufted sofa, a sectional and a striped rug — The lounge, with seating for a group

Lower-level lounge with exposed stone and brick walls, a television and a tufted yellow sofa — The lounge from the other end, with the exposed stone and timber

What makes a rental like this exceptional

Guests choose an Airbnb over a hotel for character, and this property has it at every level. The construction is high quality, the restoration is careful, and the house is full of artwork, antique furniture and thoughtful decorating. Every room feels collected rather than assembled. That is what makes Airbnb great when a host gets it right, and it is what a photographer has to capture: a hotel room looks like every other hotel room, and this house looks like nowhere else.

Nearby places belong in your description

Photos show what a guest gets on the property. The description is where you tell them what is around it. Guests plan a stay around what they can do, so name the places they will actually use, and say how far each one is. A guest who reads "a short trip to a walkable shopping center" or "next to a 2.9-mile trail" can picture the weekend before they book.

In Roland Park, that includes the Roland Park Shopping Center, a short trip south along Roland Avenue, and the Stony Run Trail, a 2.9-mile path along an old rail line that runs through the neighborhood and suits a guest who wants a walk or a run. Your own list will be different, but the same kinds of places apply anywhere: a park, a trail, a coffee shop, a main street or a restaurant a guest can get to easily.

Thanks to the host, Gregory

Gregory specializes in historic building restoration, and it shows. He has restored this house and added sections to it, and the work is beautiful. The added sections blend with the original house. It was a joy to shoot, because every room had something worth photographing. If you are looking for a place to stay in Baltimore, his listing is the Victorian mansion on Airbnb.

Photography for Airbnb hosts and short-term rentals

If you host guests in Baltimore, the photos are the first thing a guest sees, and they work hardest when they show the stay. Before a shoot, make the beds, set out fresh towels, and if you have a hot tub, turn it on early enough that the water is clear and warm, and open the cover. If you are an agent, the same approach helps when a client is buying a home to rent. If a property has an evening feature such as a hot tub, a fire pit or a lit porch, ask me about a twilight edit. For a house being sold, I shoot differently, and I wrote about a recent example in Overlea real estate photography. To understand why photos matter for any listing, see why professional photos matter in real estate.

I photograph rentals and listings across Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Central Maryland. See how real estate photography works, or look at the full list of services. If you have a rental that needs photos, book a shoot and tell me about the property.