The exhibits in Poe House are modest: some china and glassware from the household of Poe’s foster father, in Richmond; a telescope reputedly used by Poe; locks of Poe’s and Virginia’s hair; and a fragment of his coffin, though some of the items are only occasionally on display, for conservation reasons.

The Poe House, which is owned by the Baltimore City Housing Authority, is designated a landmark, so it’s in no danger of being torn down, even if it closes as a museum. It is about a mile from Poe’s grave in the Westminster Burying Ground, where for decades a mysterious visitor left a half-filled bottle of cognac and three roses every year on his birthday, Jan. 19.

Several cities boast Poe-related sites. Richmond, Va., where he spent much of his childhood, has an Edgar Allan Poe Museum. In Philadelphia a house where Poe lived with Maria and Virginia from 1843 to 1844 is owned and operated by the National Park Service. Poe Cottage, in the Bronx, where Poe spent the last three years of his life, is owned by New York City but operated by the Bronx Historical Society. (It is currently closed while undergoing a major restoration, paid for largely by the city.)

Jeffrey A. Savoye, the secretary and treasurer of the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, said it would be hard for the house here to be self-supporting because of its location, and because it does not have space that it can rent out for events.

“I really see only two probable avenues,” he said. “One is the city comes to its senses and realizes they’re not saving a lot of money, so they might as well keep running it. And the other is some angel with a lot of money steps forward and can cover the costs.”

Jeffrey L. Nichols, the executive director of the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, which has had its own financial setbacks, said that the house might get a boost from the forthcoming release of a movie about Poe, titled “The Raven” that stars John Cusack. “Those things help,” he said, noting that last year’s publication of Twain’s unexpurgated autobiography brought a record number of visitors to his house.