/items/browse/hsbakery.com/about-us/page/16?output=atom <![CDATA[Explore 91ĘÓƵ]]> 2025-03-16T17:10:17-04:00 Omeka /items/show/89 <![CDATA[Congress Hotel]]> 2021-02-22T09:43:05-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Congress Hotel

Subject

Music
Entertainment

Creator

Emma Marston
Theresa Donnelly

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Known originally as the Hotel Kernan, the Congress Hotel was built in 1903 by James L. Kernan. Kernan was a savvy businessman who sought to capitalize on the ways in which immigration had influenced the tastes of wealthy visitors and Baltimore natives alike. By the 1970s, the hotel also housed the Marble Bar - a nightclub that hosted many early punk and New Wave groups through the mid 1980s. When first built, the hotel included a luxurious Turkish bath and a massive rathskeller, a traditional German bar located in the basement of a building, and two theaters - the Auditorium and the Maryland - connected to the hotel by covered passageways. Thanks to entrepreneurial innovations from low ticket prices to an ever-changing roster of vaudeville performers, Kernan's "Million Dollar Triple Enterprise" soon proved to be a rousing success. Charlie Chaplin, Will Rogers, and Eddie Cantor - just to name a few - all appeared at the Hotel Kernan. The hotel remained an important part of Baltimore's entertainment history until it was sold in 1932. The Congress Hotel became a nightclub in the late 1970s. Roger and Leslee Anderson, a pair of local musicians, saw potential in the space and began to operate a nightclub located in the old rathskeller in the basement. Now called the Marble Bar, the music club played from 1978 to the mid-eighties. The Marble Bar was one of the first clubs in Baltimore to book emerging punk and new wave bands, and encouraged the growth of all kinds of music; the unofficial motto became "The Marble is the first place you play on the way up, and the last place you play on the way down." Although dark and dank, the Marble Bar still represented a place where musicians and members of the underground punk scene could gather and commiserate - the Marble Bar was not just a nightclub, but the center of a community. At its peak, bands like the Psychedelic Furs, REM, and Iggy Pop played the Marble Bar before becoming nationally recognized, and underground Baltimore stars like Edith Massey found her way to the Marble Bar as well. While the new sound of punk was not setting any trends – the style had already caught on in other cities across the nation – the Marble Bar remained one of the few to embrace that sound, creating a space for underground music in the city amid the more popular disco movement.

Watch on this site!

Related Resources

Official Website

Street Address

306 W. Franklin Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/88 <![CDATA[Hackerman House]]> 2020-10-21T10:19:04-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Hackerman House

Subject

Architecture

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Subtitle

Former Thomas-Jencks-Gladding House now part of the Walters Art Museum

Story

Built around 1848 for Dr. John Hanson Thomas, the great-grandson of John Hanson, President of the Continental Congress, The Hackerman House represented the height of elegance and convenience in the mid-nineteenth century. Renowned guests include the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and General Kossuth. In 1892, Mr. and Mrs. Francis M. Jencks purchased the home and remodeled it extensively under the direction of Charles A. Platt. The graceful circular staircase was widened and the oval Tiffany skylight installed in the coffered dome. The bow window in the dining room was added and the entire house was decorated in the Italian Renaissance style. Following the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Jencks, the house was used as headquarters for various civic organizations and fell into a state of neglect and disrepair. Mr. Harry Leo Gladding purchased the building in 1963 and painstakingly restored it to its former elegance. Willard Hackerman purchased the building at 1 West Mount Vernon Place in the late 1980’s from the estate of its last owner, Harry Gladding. Mr. Hackerman was concerned with the possibility that the architectural anchor of Mount Vernon Place might be converted to commercial use. Story has it that he took the keys and placed them on the desk of then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer. In true Schaefer fashion, the Mayor held a contest to determine the best use of the historic structure. The Walters won the competition with a proposal to convert the house into galleries for its growing and important collection of Asian Art. Hackerman House opened in the spring of 1991. Mr. and Mrs. Hackerman have generously supported the Walters for many years and his firm, Whiting-Turner, has been the contractor for many of our additions and renovations. Over the years, he was a friend and mentor to our directors and Board members.

Watch our on Gladding!

Watch on the Hackerman House! 

Related Resources

, Walters Art Museum

Official Website

Street Address

1 W. Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD 21202
]]>
/items/show/86 <![CDATA[Mount Vernon Club]]>
In 1941, The Mount Vernon Club, previously located across the street at 3 West Mount Vernon Place merged with The Town Club in the Washington Apartments and purchased the property, then home to Mr. Blanchard Randall, to serve as their club house. The Club has remained at the property through the present.]]>
2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Mount Vernon Club

Subject

Architecture

Description

Built around 1842, the Mount Vernon Club is one of the oldest homes on Mount Vernon Place. Previously known as the Blanchard Randall House and the Tiffany-Fisher House, the home was built by William Tiffany, a wealthy Baltimore commission merchant. The building is a fine example of the Greek Revival architectural style and set a high standard for the new homes being built around the Washington Monument.

In 1941, The Mount Vernon Club, previously located across the street at 3 West Mount Vernon Place merged with The Town Club in the Washington Apartments and purchased the property, then home to Mr. Blanchard Randall, to serve as their club house. The Club has remained at the property through the present.

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Lede

Built around 1842, the Mount Vernon Club is one of the oldest homes on Mount Vernon Place.

Story

Previously known as the Blanchard Randall House and the Tiffany-Fisher House, the home was built by William Tiffany, a wealthy Baltimore commission merchant. The building is a fine example of the Greek Revival architectural style and set a high standard for the new homes being built around the Washington Monument.

In 1941, The Mount Vernon Club, previously located across the street at 3 West Mount Vernon Place merged with The Town Club in the Washington Apartments and purchased the property, then home to Mr. Blanchard Randall, to serve as their club house. The Club has remained at the property through the present.

Official Website

Street Address

8 W. Mt. Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/84 <![CDATA[President Street Station]]>
The mob continued their attack with bricks, paving stones, and pistols, leading the Union troops to respond by firing into the crowd, starting a violent skirmish that left four soldiers and twelve civilians dead, 36 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians wounded, along with the loss of much of the regiment’s equipment. One of the soldiers killed, Corporal Sumner Needham of Company I, is often considered to be the first Union casualty of the war.

President Street Station, where the infamous Pratt Street Riot began, was built in 1850 as the Baltimore terminus of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. Largely replaced in 1873 by Union Station (now known as Penn Station) which connected the Pennsylvania Railroad and Western Maryland Railway, President Street Station continued to serve a limited number of passenger trains through 1911, later serving as a freight station and then warehouse. By 1970, a fire had destroyed the train shed leaving only the head house. In the 1990s, President Street Station started a new life as the Baltimore Civil War Museum.]]>
2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

President Street Station

Subject

Transportation
Civil War

Description

On April 19, 1861, just one week after the attack on Fort Sumter by Confederate forces marked the beginning of the Civil War, a train carrying Union volunteers with the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment pulled into the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad's President Street Station. At the time, railroad cars traveling south of Baltimore had to be pulled by horses along Pratt Street to Camden Station on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to the west. However, a mob of Southern sympathizers started to attack the train cars and forced the Union troops to get out and start marching through the city streets.

The mob continued their attack with bricks, paving stones, and pistols, leading the Union troops to respond by firing into the crowd, starting a violent skirmish that left four soldiers and twelve civilians dead, 36 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians wounded, along with the loss of much of the regiment’s equipment. One of the soldiers killed, Corporal Sumner Needham of Company I, is often considered to be the first Union casualty of the war.

President Street Station, where the infamous Pratt Street Riot began, was built in 1850 as the Baltimore terminus of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. Largely replaced in 1873 by Union Station (now known as Penn Station) which connected the Pennsylvania Railroad and Western Maryland Railway, President Street Station continued to serve a limited number of passenger trains through 1911, later serving as a freight station and then warehouse. By 1970, a fire had destroyed the train shed leaving only the head house. In the 1990s, President Street Station started a new life as the Baltimore Civil War Museum.

Creator

Eli Pousson

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Subtitle

Railroad relic with a Civil War history

Story

On April 19, 1861, just one week after the attack on Fort Sumter by Confederate forces marked the beginning of the Civil War, a train carrying Union volunteers with the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment pulled into the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad's President Street Station. At the time, railroad cars traveling south of Baltimore had to be pulled by horses along Pratt Street to Camden Station on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to the west. However, a mob of Southern sympathizers started to attack the train cars and forced the Union troops to get out and start marching through the city streets.

The mob continued their attack with bricks, paving stones, and pistols, leading the Union troops to respond by firing into the crowd, starting a violent skirmish that left four soldiers and twelve civilians dead, 36 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians wounded, along with the loss of much of the regiment’s equipment. One of the soldiers killed, Corporal Sumner Needham of Company I, is often considered to be the first Union casualty of the war.

President Street Station, where the infamous Pratt Street Riot began, was built in 1850 as the Baltimore terminus of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. Largely replaced in 1873 by Union Station (now known as Penn Station) which connected the Pennsylvania Railroad and Western Maryland Railway, President Street Station continued to serve a limited number of passenger trains through 1911, later serving as a freight station and then warehouse. By 1970, a fire had destroyed the train shed leaving only the head house. In the 1990s, President Street Station started a new life as the Baltimore Civil War Museum.

Official Website

Street Address

601 President Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
]]>
/items/show/83 <![CDATA[Five and Dimes on Lexington Street]]> 2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Five and Dimes on Lexington Street

Subject

Commerce

Creator

Theresa Donnelly

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Subtitle

McCrory's, Kirby-Woolworth, and Schulte United

Story

In contrast to the high-end shopping at Stewart's or Hochschild-Kohn's on Howard Street, West Lexington Street offered goods of all kinds at affordable prices thanks to a row of five-and-tens from Read's Drug Store down to Kresge's on the other side of Park Avenue.

McCrory's at 227-229 West Lexington stands out with a colorful early twentieth century tile facade built over a structure that likely dates back to late nineteenth century. John Graham McCrorey started the chain in Scottsdale, Pennsylvania in 1882 and soon expanded with locations across the country. Noting McCrorey's reputation as a smart and thrifty businessman, in 1887 The New York Times reported that he had legally changed his name, dropping the e, because he did not want to pay the cost of the extra gilt letter on his many store signs. McCrory's on Lexington Street opened in the late 1920s and was one of over 1,300 McCrory's outlets operating around the country by the 1950s.

The more modest Kirby-Woolworth Building east of McCrory's began as two buildings put up by two close competitiors - Frederick M. Kirby and the H.G. Woolworth & Co. In retrospect, the reunion of the two buildings feels inevitable as Kirby and Woolworth pioneered the five-and-ten cent store business together in the 1870s and early 1880s, opening a store together in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1884 before parting ways in 1887. The two buildings came up side by side on Lexington Street in 1907 and likely combined into a single structure after the merger of H.G. Woolworth & Company and F. M. Kirby & Company in 1912.

Schulte United Five and Dime offers a unique façade with shining gold eagles and incised lettering along the top of the building. The building began as the Eisenberg Underselling Store, later known as the Eisenberg Company, with the determined motto that they offered "prices that are irreproachable everywhere." By 1928, 600 employees worked for the Eisenberg Company at several locations throughout the city. Within a few years, however, Schulte United – established by David A. Schulte, a "tobacco store potentate," who decided to enter the five-and-dime business in 1928 with the ambitious goal of investing $35,000,000 in 1,000 stores around the country – purchased the store on Lexington Street.

Street Address

200 W. Lexington Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/82 <![CDATA[Bromo Seltzer Tower]]>
The tower was built by Captain Isaac Emerson, a chemist and inventor of the headache remedy and alleged hangover cure, Bromo Seltzer, as part of the company's factory. Emerson was a wealthy and well regarded Baltimorean, known as a generous philanthropist and world traveler. He had been a lieutenant in the Navy during the Spanish-American war and a post-war visit to Florence's tower on the Palazzo Vecchio provided the inspiration for the design of this tower created by local architect Joseph Evans Sperry.

Though the factory was torn down in 1969, the 289 foot tower survived several threats of demolition and in 2007 philanthropists Eddie and Sylvia Brown worked with Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts to transform the structure into 33 artists' studios. The tower is open once a month for public 91ĘÓƵ and while much has changed visitors can still ride the 1911 Otis elevator to the clock room on the 15th floor and view the still-functioning clock works.]]>
2020-10-16T11:23:18-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Bromo Seltzer Tower

Subject

Architecture
Industry

Description

While few remember the slogan of the Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Company - "If you keep late hours for Society's sake Bromo-Seltzer will cure that headache" - the iconic Bromo-Seltzer Tower has been a Baltimore landmark since its construction in 1911. At 15 stories, the tower made the Bromo-Sltzer factory the tallest building in the city boasting a four-dial gravity clock that was the largest in the world (bigger, even, than London's Big Ben) and an illuminated, rotating 51-foot blue steel bottle that immediately secured the tower's spot as a favorite of city residents and visitors alike. Ship captains traveling up the bay reportedly used the bottle as a beacon to guide them toward the Light Street docks and the removal of the blue bottle in 1936 is still a sore point with many Baltimoreans.

The tower was built by Captain Isaac Emerson, a chemist and inventor of the headache remedy and alleged hangover cure, Bromo Seltzer, as part of the company's factory. Emerson was a wealthy and well regarded Baltimorean, known as a generous philanthropist and world traveler. He had been a lieutenant in the Navy during the Spanish-American war and a post-war visit to Florence's tower on the Palazzo Vecchio provided the inspiration for the design of this tower created by local architect Joseph Evans Sperry.

Though the factory was torn down in 1969, the 289 foot tower survived several threats of demolition and in 2007 philanthropists Eddie and Sylvia Brown worked with Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts to transform the structure into 33 artists' studios. The tower is open once a month for public 91ĘÓƵ and while much has changed visitors can still ride the 1911 Otis elevator to the clock room on the 15th floor and view the still-functioning clock works.

Creator

Theresa Donnelly

Relation

, Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Lede

While few remember the slogan of the Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Company—"If you keep late hours for Society's sake Bromo-Seltzer will cure that headache"—the iconic Bromo-Seltzer Tower has been a Baltimore landmark since its construction in 1911.

Story

While few remember the slogan of the Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Company—"If you keep late hours for Society's sake Bromo-Seltzer will cure that headache"—the iconic Bromo-Seltzer Tower has been a Baltimore landmark since its construction in 1911. At fifteen stories, the tower made the Bromo-Seltzer factory the tallest building in the city. The tower boasted a four-dial gravity clock that was the largest in the world (bigger, even, than London's Big Ben) and an illuminated, rotating 51-foot blue steel bottle. The iconic design immediately secured the tower's spot as a favorite of city residents and visitors alike. Ship captains traveling up the bay reportedly used the bottle as a beacon to guide them toward the Light Street docks and the removal of the blue bottle in 1936 is still a sore point with many Baltimoreans. The tower was built by Captain Isaac Emerson, a chemist, and inventor of the headache remedy and alleged hangover cure, Bromo-Seltzer. Emerson was a wealthy and well-regarded Baltimorean, known as a generous philanthropist and world traveler. He had been a lieutenant in the Navy during the Spanish-American war and a post-war visit to Florence's tower on the Palazzo Vecchio provided the inspiration for the design of this tower created by local architect Joseph Evans Sperry. Though the factory was torn down in 1969, the 289-foot tower survived several threats of demolition and in 2007 philanthropists Eddie and Sylvia Brown worked with Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts to transform the structure into 33 artists' studios. The tower is open once a month for public 91ĘÓƵ and while much has changed visitors can still ride the 1911 Otis elevator to the clock room on the 15th floor and view the still-functioning clock works.

Watch our on this building!

Related Resources

, Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts

Official Website

Street Address

21 S. Eutaw Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/80 <![CDATA[Green Mount Cemetery]]> 2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Green Mount Cemetery

Subject

Architecture

Parks and Landscapes

Creator

Nathan Dennies

Relation

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Officially dedicated on July 13, 1839 and born out of the garden cemetery movement, Green Mount Cemetery is one of the first garden cemeteries created in the United States. After seeing the beautiful Mount Auburn Cemetery in Connecticut in 1834, Samuel Walker, a tobacco merchant, led a campaign to establish a similar site in Baltimore. During a time in which overcrowded church cemeteries created health risks in urban areas, Walker's successfully garnered support and commissioned plans from architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, II to establish the Green Mount Cemetery on sixty acres of the late merchant Robert Oliver's estate.

During his life, Walker spared no expense tailoring the beauty of the estate, and left the grounds highly ornamented upon his death. Latrobe's design incorporated all the beautiful features associated with garden cemeteries including dells, majestic trees, and numerous monuments and statues. Amongst the towering hardwood trees in the cemetery is a rare, small-flowered red rose known as the Green Mount Red. Created by Green Mount Cemetery's first gardener, James Pentland, the Green Mount Red can only be found here at Green Mount and on George F. Harison's grave at Trinity Church Cemetery in New York.

Walking into Green Mount Cemetery, the first thing visitors notice is the imposing Entrance Gateway designed by Robert Cary Long, Jr. An example of the Gothic style, the gateway features two towers reaching forty feet and beautiful stained glass windows. The haunting chapel, designed by John Rudolph Niernsee and James Crawford Neilson, is made of Connecticut sandstone and features flying buttresses and an impressive 102 foot spire.

Green Mount Cemetery is famously known as the resting place of a large number of prominent historical figures ranging from John Wilkes Booth, to local philanthropists Johns Hopkins and Enoch Pratt. The graves and sculptures that scatter the cemetery make Green Mount Cemetery a treasury of nineteenth century art.

William Henry Rinehart, considered the last important American sculptor to work in the classical style, had many commissions at Green Mount, and is credited with some of the cemeteries most awe-inspiring pieces. Commissioned by Henry Walters for the grave of his wife, Ellen Walters, Rinehart's "Love Reconciled as Death" depicts a classical Grecian woman cast in bronze strewing flowers. Poetically resting on Rinehart's own grave is his bronze statue of Endymion: the beautiful young shepherd boy who Zeus granted both eternal youth and eternal sleep.

Perhaps the most striking sculpture in the Green Mount Cemetery is the Riggs Memorial, created by Hans Schuler. Schuler was the first American sculptor to win the Salon Gold Medal in Paris, and his mastery shows in the Riggs Monument depicting a grieving woman slouched over a loved one's grave, holding a wreath in one hand and a drooping flower in the other.

Official Website

Street Address

1501 Greenmount Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21202
]]>
/items/show/79 <![CDATA[Copycat Building]]>
Maryland native William Painter invented the "crown cork" bottle cap - a predecessor of the bottle cap still common today - at Murrill & Keizer's machine shop on Holliday Street in 1891. A prolific inventor with over 85 patents, Painter established the Crown Cork & Seal Company in 1892 and started producing both bottle caps and bottling machines. The business quickly outgrew their factory on East Monument Street and moved north to Guilford Avenue in September 1897 into a grand six-floor factory with handsome Victorian details.

As with all industrial enterprises in Baltimore, their growth was driven by the labor of thousands of men, women and children who worked at the factory and frequently organized to seek improved conditions and wages. In 1899, for example, 65 boys between the ages of 13 and 18 employed feeding the machines that placed the cork seals into the caps went on strike. Company officials remained unconcerned, remarking that the "places of any who may not come back will be easily filled by other boys." The firm continued to expand, adding a machine shop (now known as the Lebow Building) next door on Oliver Street in 1914, and building new factory buildings in Highlandtown where they moved in the 1930s.

The building on Guilford Avenue remained in use by a wide range of tenants from the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s through a whole host of over twenty industrial enterprises occupying the building in the 1960s. In 1983, Charles Lankford purchased the building and converted the industrial space to art studios. Soon artists began illegally converting their studio spaces into apartments and by the mid-1980s, the Copycat began to host a vital community of local artists and musicians. The building remains an anchor in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District - rezoned as "mixed-used" to accommodate the diverse tenants - and offers a unique perspective on the history of industry in central Baltimore.]]>
2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Copycat Building

Subject

Architecture
Industry

Description

For over twenty years, the Copycat - named for the roof top billboard of the Copycat printing company - has offered studio space and living space for countless artists, musicians, and performers. The history of creativity in this local landmark has a long history extending back to the construction of the Copycat Building in the 1890s as a factory complex for Baltimore's Crown Cork & Seal Company.

Maryland native William Painter invented the "crown cork" bottle cap - a predecessor of the bottle cap still common today - at Murrill & Keizer's machine shop on Holliday Street in 1891. A prolific inventor with over 85 patents, Painter established the Crown Cork & Seal Company in 1892 and started producing both bottle caps and bottling machines. The business quickly outgrew their factory on East Monument Street and moved north to Guilford Avenue in September 1897 into a grand six-floor factory with handsome Victorian details.

As with all industrial enterprises in Baltimore, their growth was driven by the labor of thousands of men, women and children who worked at the factory and frequently organized to seek improved conditions and wages. In 1899, for example, 65 boys between the ages of 13 and 18 employed feeding the machines that placed the cork seals into the caps went on strike. Company officials remained unconcerned, remarking that the "places of any who may not come back will be easily filled by other boys." The firm continued to expand, adding a machine shop (now known as the Lebow Building) next door on Oliver Street in 1914, and building new factory buildings in Highlandtown where they moved in the 1930s.

The building on Guilford Avenue remained in use by a wide range of tenants from the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s through a whole host of over twenty industrial enterprises occupying the building in the 1960s. In 1983, Charles Lankford purchased the building and converted the industrial space to art studios. Soon artists began illegally converting their studio spaces into apartments and by the mid-1980s, the Copycat began to host a vital community of local artists and musicians. The building remains an anchor in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District - rezoned as "mixed-used" to accommodate the diverse tenants - and offers a unique perspective on the history of industry in central Baltimore.

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

For over twenty years, the Copycat - named for the roof top billboard of the Copycat printing company - has offered studio space and living space for countless artists, musicians, and performers. The history of creativity in this local landmark has a long history extending back to the construction of the Copycat Building in the 1890s as a factory complex for Baltimore's Crown Cork & Seal Company.

Maryland native William Painter invented the "crown cork" bottle cap - a predecessor of the bottle cap still common today - at Murrill & Keizer's machine shop on Holliday Street in 1891. A prolific inventor with over 85 patents, Painter established the Crown Cork & Seal Company in 1892 and started producing both bottle caps and bottling machines. The business quickly outgrew their factory on East Monument Street and moved north to Guilford Avenue in September 1897 into a grand six-floor factory with handsome Victorian details.

As with all industrial enterprises in Baltimore, their growth was driven by the labor of thousands of men, women and children who worked at the factory and frequently organized to seek improved conditions and wages. In 1899, for example, 65 boys between the ages of 13 and 18 employed feeding the machines that placed the cork seals into the caps went on strike. Company officials remained unconcerned, remarking that the "places of any who may not come back will be easily filled by other boys." The firm continued to expand, adding a machine shop (now known as the Lebow Building) next door on Oliver Street in 1914, and building new factory buildings in Highlandtown where they moved in the 1930s.

The building on Guilford Avenue remained in use by a wide range of tenants from the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s through a whole host of over twenty industrial enterprises occupying the building in the 1960s. In 1983, Charles Lankford purchased the building and converted the industrial space to art studios. Soon artists began illegally converting their studio spaces into apartments and by the mid-1980s, the Copycat began to host a vital community of local artists and musicians. The building remains an anchor in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District - rezoned as "mixed-used" to accommodate the diverse tenants - and offers a unique perspective on the history of industry in central Baltimore.

Official Website

Street Address

1501 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21202
]]>
/items/show/78 <![CDATA[Peale Museum]]>
In September of 1814, Baltimore turned back the British invasion on land and sea, providing a critical turning point in the war and likely sparing the city from destruction. The British, after all, had burned the nation's capital just a few miles south after Washington fell the month before. The Peale Museum capitalized on patriotic fervor, and put a number of bombs and shells that were collected from the failed British bombardment on display. In doing this, Peale became the first person to display samples of Britain's firepower, which of course Francis Scott Key immortalized as the bombs bursting in air in the Star Spangled Banner. Some years later, in 1830, Peale's museum was still capitalizing on the War of 1812 when they displayed the original flag that flew over Ft. McHenry, borrowed from a willing Mrs. Louisa Armistead, the widow of Lt. Colonel George Armistead. Lt. Colonel Armistead commanded Ft. McHenry during the war and reportedly ordered an extra large flag to fly at the Fort as a pointed challenge to the British.

From its earliest days embracing Baltimore's war effort, the Peale Museum has been intertwined with the city's history. The building served as a museum from 1814 until 1830. It then became the Baltimore City Hall until 1875 when the current city hall building was erected. After 1875, the museum had various uses, including as the Colored School Number 1 for African American children, and then in 1931, it returned to its origins as a museum, becoming the "Municipal Museum of Baltimore." Fittingly, the Municipal Museum focused on Baltimore City history.

In 1985, the museum underwent a physical renovation and was reborn as the center of the "City Life Museums." With exhibits on Baltimore's historic gems, such as the H.L. Mencken House and Phoenix Shot Tower, to the rowhouses and front steps that help define working class life in Baltimore, the City Life Museums lasted until 1997 when the enterprise closed. Today, the Peale Museum is empty and awaiting the next chapter in its long and storied service to Baltimore.]]>
2020-10-16T12:58:29-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Peale Museum

Subject

Museums
Architecture

Description

On August 14, 1814, almost exactly one month before the Battle of Baltimore and the bombing of Ft. McHenry in the War of 1812, Rembrandt Peale opened "Peale's Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Paintings" on Holliday Street in downtown Baltimore. Designed by noted Baltimore architect Robert Carey Long, the building is the first purpose-built museum in the western hemisphere. Taking after a natural history museum that his father, Charles Wilson Peale, started in Philadelphia in 1786, Rembrandt Peale displayed collections of fossils and other specimens, as well as portraits of many of the country's founding fathers that his family had painted. As the British made plans to attack and the War of 1812 was on the city's threshold, portraits of the Revolutionary War heroes were highly popular, and Peale was able to charge 25 cents for admission.

In September of 1814, Baltimore turned back the British invasion on land and sea, providing a critical turning point in the war and likely sparing the city from destruction. The British, after all, had burned the nation's capital just a few miles south after Washington fell the month before. The Peale Museum capitalized on patriotic fervor, and put a number of bombs and shells that were collected from the failed British bombardment on display. In doing this, Peale became the first person to display samples of Britain's firepower, which of course Francis Scott Key immortalized as the bombs bursting in air in the Star Spangled Banner. Some years later, in 1830, Peale's museum was still capitalizing on the War of 1812 when they displayed the original flag that flew over Ft. McHenry, borrowed from a willing Mrs. Louisa Armistead, the widow of Lt. Colonel George Armistead. Lt. Colonel Armistead commanded Ft. McHenry during the war and reportedly ordered an extra large flag to fly at the Fort as a pointed challenge to the British.

From its earliest days embracing Baltimore's war effort, the Peale Museum has been intertwined with the city's history. The building served as a museum from 1814 until 1830. It then became the Baltimore City Hall until 1875 when the current city hall building was erected. After 1875, the museum had various uses, including as the Colored School Number 1 for African American children, and then in 1931, it returned to its origins as a museum, becoming the "Municipal Museum of Baltimore." Fittingly, the Municipal Museum focused on Baltimore City history.

In 1985, the museum underwent a physical renovation and was reborn as the center of the "City Life Museums." With exhibits on Baltimore's historic gems, such as the H.L. Mencken House and Phoenix Shot Tower, to the rowhouses and front steps that help define working class life in Baltimore, the City Life Museums lasted until 1997 when the enterprise closed. Today, the Peale Museum is empty and awaiting the next chapter in its long and storied service to Baltimore.

Creator

Johns Hopkins

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

On August 15, 1814, almost exactly one month before the Battle of Baltimore and the bombing of Ft. McHenry in the War of 1812, Rembrandt Peale opened "Peale's Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Paintings" on Holliday Street in downtown Baltimore. Designed by noted Baltimore architect Robert Carey Long, the building is the first purpose-built museum in the western hemisphere. Taking after a natural history museum that his father, Charles Wilson Peale, started in Philadelphia in 1786, Rembrandt Peale displayed collections of fossils and other specimens, as well as portraits of many of the country's founding fathers that his family had painted. As the British made plans to attack and the War of 1812 was on the city's threshold, portraits of the Revolutionary War heroes were highly popular, and Peale was able to charge 25 cents for admission. In September of 1814, Baltimore turned back the British invasion on land and sea, providing a critical turning point in the war and likely sparing the city from destruction. The British, after all, had burned the nation's capital just a few miles south after Washington fell the month before. The Peale Museum capitalized on patriotic fervor, and put a number of bombs and shells that were collected from the failed British bombardment on display. In doing this, Peale became the first person to display samples of Britain's firepower, which of course Francis Scott Key immortalized as the bombs bursting in air in the Star Spangled Banner. Some years later, in 1830, Peale's museum was still capitalizing on the War of 1812 when they displayed the original flag that flew over Ft. McHenry, borrowed from a willing Mrs. Louisa Armistead, the widow of Lt. Colonel George Armistead. Lt. Colonel Armistead commanded Ft. McHenry during the war and reportedly ordered an extra large flag to fly at the Fort as a pointed challenge to the British. From its earliest days embracing Baltimore's war effort, the Peale Museum has been intertwined with the city's history. The building served as a museum from 1814 until 1830. It then became the Baltimore City Hall until 1875 when the current city hall building was erected. After 1875, the museum had various uses, including as the Colored School Number 1 for African American children, and then in 1931, it returned to its origins as a museum, becoming the "Municipal Museum of Baltimore." Fittingly, the Municipal Museum focused on Baltimore City history. In 1985, the museum underwent a physical renovation and was reborn as the center of the "City Life Museums." With exhibits on Baltimore's historic gems, such as the H.L. Mencken House and Phoenix Shot Tower, to the rowhouses and front steps that help define working class life in Baltimore, the City Life Museums lasted until 1997 when the enterprise closed. Today, the Peale Museum is empty and awaiting the next chapter in its long and storied service to Baltimore.

Watch our on the museum!

Official Website

Street Address

225 N. Holliday Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
]]>
/items/show/77 <![CDATA[Edgar Allan Poe House]]> 2021-02-15T16:43:07-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Edgar Allan Poe House

Subject

Literature
Museums

Creator

Ryan Artes

Relation

, Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore

, Maryland Historical Society

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Edgar Allan Poe, writer, poet, inventor of detective fiction, is probably most famous for his poem “The Raven.” He spent time in Baltimore off and on through his entire life. Though born in Boston, he first arrived in Baltimore on a family visit to his paternal grandparents when he was just five weeks old in 1809.

Poe's association with this house began around the beginning of 1833, when Maria Clemm moved her family to this modest 2 ½ story rowhouse on Amity Street (originally number 3, now 203 North Amity Street). The household consisted of Maria, her daughter Virginia Clemm, her mother Elizabeth Poe, her nephew Edgar Allan Poe, and perhaps her son Henry. The small, five-room house was situated quite differently than today, surrounded by a few scattered houses and mostly open fields. Poe likely slept on the top floor, under low, slanted ceilings, accessed by a narrow, winding staircase.

Over the next two years, Poe continued to unsuccessfully explore various careers, and wrote for various publications. Notably, he was awarded first and second place for a fiction and poetry contest, respectively, sponsored by the Baltimore Saturday Visiter. He also established contact with the Southern Literary Messenger, and submitted both fiction and editorial pieces for publication, as well as providing technical advice to the editor.

In addition to the numerous poems and short stories, he wrote for the Visiter and Messenger at 203 Amity Street. It is also presumed that he penned a poem titled “To Elizabeth,” dedicated to a cousin, and "Latin Hymn," which is a comment on the Egyptian-Ottoman War (1831-1833). The war was called for by Mohammad Ali, who demanded control of Syria from the Ottoman Empire as a reward for his assistance with other battles.

The family was forced to move from Amity Street in 1835 after the death of the grandmother, Elizabeth Poe, and the loss of her pension.

The house was scheduled for demolition in 1938 to make way for a public housing project, but was saved by the Edgar Allan Poe Society, which was established in 1923 to promote Poe’s works through readings and lectures. The Society provided 91ĘÓƵ of the house from 1950 to 1977 when operation of the museum was taken over by Baltimore City’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP). It is operated today by Poe Baltimore, a non-profit organization.

Related Resources

, Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore

, Maryland Historical Society

Official Website

Street Address

203 N. Amity Street, Baltimore, MD 21223
]]>
/items/show/76 <![CDATA[Carrollton Viaduct]]> 2021-02-15T16:57:01-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Carrollton Viaduct

Subject

Transportation

Creator

Gwynns Falls Trail Council

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Subtitle

1829 Railroad Bridge Named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Story

On July 4, 1828, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence and a director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, laid the cornerstone for the Carrollton Viaduct and remarked, "I consider this among the most important acts of my life, second only to my signing the Declaration of Independence."

Completed in 1829, the railroad named the 300-foot stone structure for Charles Carroll of Carrollton. This bridge over the Gwynns Falls was the first major stream crossing as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad headed west from its Pratt Street terminus. Worried about competition from canals, Baltimore's business leaders cast their lot with a new untested technology, railroads. Horses initially pulled the loads, but the B&O successfully introduced steam-powered locomotives and became known as "the Railroad University of the United States"

By 1880, the railroad helped make Baltimore a major livestock and coal terminal and the second largest port for grain in the nation. Carrollton Viaduct has endured and is now the world's oldest active railroad bridge.

Street Address

2100 Washington Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21230

Access Information

Street address is the location of Gwynns Falls Trail South trailhead at Carroll Park. The viaduct is located a short walk north along the trail from Washington Boulevard.
]]>
/items/show/75 <![CDATA[Public School No. 103]]> 2019-03-19T16:27:43-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Public School No. 103

Subject

Education

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Built in 1877, this historic school on Division Street originally served only white students until 1910 when the building was first used for black students from Public School No. 112. In March 1911, the school was officially designated Public School 103 and later named in honor of abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet. The building contained twelve classrooms; the spaces separated by sliding doors that could open and combine two or three classrooms into an auditorium.

While the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson had held that racial segregation, such as in Baltimore's public school system, was legal when the public facilities were "separate but equal", schools for black students in Baltimore were anything but. The academic year for black children was one month shorter than the school year for white students, with the expectation that children would leave school to find agricultural work. The prejudice and racist beliefs that undlie this approach is evident in a 1913 remark by Baltimore school commissioner Richard Biggs: “Stop at once the so-called high education that unfits Negroes for the lives that they are to lead and which makes them desire things they will never be able to reach.”

Public School 103 is best known for its' most famous student, Thurgood Marshall (1908- 1993), who attended the school from 1914 to 1920. It was at this school that Thurgood shortened his name from the original Thoroughgood. Thurgood sat in the first row, as his classmate Agnes Peterson later recalled, “he was always playing, and so they had to keep right on top of him.”

When he began attending PS 103 at age six, Thurgood's family lived with his Uncle Fearless Mentor (or Uncle Fee) at 1632 Division Street. Mentor worked as the personal attendant to the president of the B&O Railroad, wearing a suit and a bowtie to work daily, and was home nearly every afternoon to talk with Thurgood and his brother Aubrey. Marshall later attended the Colored High School which opened in January 1901 at the northeast corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Dolphin Street occupying a building erected in 1891 for the English-German School No. 1 previously located on Druid Hill Avenue.

Official Website

Street Address

1315 Division Street, Baltimore, MD 21217
]]>
/items/show/74 <![CDATA[Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church]]>
George Brown was the son of investment firm founder Alexander Brown, a businessman and civic leader who according to an 1873 account by local historian George Washington Howard, "regarded religion as preeminent above all other things and loved his church with all the ardor of his noble nature." After his death in 1859, his wife Isabella McLanahan Brown made a gift of $150,000 to construct and furnish the Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church.

The architects were Nathaniel Henry Hutton and John Murdoch, who were among the 18 charter members of the Baltimore Chapter of the AIA. They created a Gothic Revival masterpiece with numerous stained glass windows by artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. Murdoch was both a neighbor to the church, living at 1527 Bolton Street, and his funeral was held at the church after his death in 1923.]]>
2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church

Subject

Religion
Architecture

Description

Dedicated on December 4, 1870, Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church stands as a monument both to George Brown, whose wife Isabella McLanahan Brown supported the construction of the church in his memory, and the generations of Baltimoreans who have worshipped, performed music, and more in this treasured architectural landmark. While many early congregations left Bolton Hill, Brown Memorial has endured and invested in the preservation of the historic church with a $1.8 million restoration from 2001 to 2003.

George Brown was the son of investment firm founder Alexander Brown, a businessman and civic leader who according to an 1873 account by local historian George Washington Howard, "regarded religion as preeminent above all other things and loved his church with all the ardor of his noble nature." After his death in 1859, his wife Isabella McLanahan Brown made a gift of $150,000 to construct and furnish the Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church.

The architects were Nathaniel Henry Hutton and John Murdoch, who were among the 18 charter members of the Baltimore Chapter of the AIA. They created a Gothic Revival masterpiece with numerous stained glass windows by artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. Murdoch was both a neighbor to the church, living at 1527 Bolton Street, and his funeral was held at the church after his death in 1923.

Creator

Eli Pousson

Relation

, Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Dedicated on December 4, 1870, Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church stands as a monument both to George Brown, whose wife Isabella McLanahan Brown supported the construction of the church in his memory, and the generations of Baltimoreans who have worshipped, performed music, and more in this treasured architectural landmark. While many early congregations left Bolton Hill, Brown Memorial has endured and invested in the preservation of the historic church with a $1.8 million restoration from 2001 to 2003.

George Brown was the son of investment firm founder Alexander Brown, a businessman and civic leader who according to an 1873 account by local historian George Washington Howard, "regarded religion as preeminent above all other things and loved his church with all the ardor of his noble nature." After his death in 1859, his wife Isabella McLanahan Brown made a gift of $150,000 to construct and furnish the Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church.

The architects were Nathaniel Henry Hutton and John Murdoch, who were among the 18 charter members of the Baltimore Chapter of the AIA. They created a Gothic Revival masterpiece with numerous stained glass windows by artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. Murdoch was both a neighbor to the church, living at 1527 Bolton Street, and his funeral was held at the church after his death in 1923.

Official Website

Street Address

1316 Park Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21217
]]>
/items/show/73 <![CDATA[Roland Park Apartments]]>
Baltimore native Edward Livingston Palmer, Jr. was born in 1877, graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1899 and went on to receive a degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1903. Palmer returned to Baltimore and by June 1907, he had become an architect for The Roland Park Company. In this position he contributed to the design and development of Homeland, Roland Park, and Guilford. Roland Park Apartments was converted to condominiums in 1980. ]]>
2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Roland Park Apartments

Subject

Architecture

Description

Designed by architect Edward L. Palmer, Jr. in 1925, the handsome Roland Park Apartments, now known as the Roland Park Condominium, is a significant example of Beaux Arts architecture in North Baltimore. The building was erected by the M.A. Long Company, owned by the same M.A. Long who served as President of the Roland Park Apartments Company. The garage, originally known as the "Roland Park Stables," was designed by architects Wyatt & Nolting in 1903.

Baltimore native Edward Livingston Palmer, Jr. was born in 1877, graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1899 and went on to receive a degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1903. Palmer returned to Baltimore and by June 1907, he had become an architect for The Roland Park Company. In this position he contributed to the design and development of Homeland, Roland Park, and Guilford. Roland Park Apartments was converted to condominiums in 1980.

Creator

Eli Pousson

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Designed by architect Edward L. Palmer, Jr. in 1925, the handsome Roland Park Apartments, now known as the Roland Park Condominium, is a significant example of Beaux Arts architecture in North Baltimore. The building was erected by the M.A. Long Company, owned by the same M.A. Long who served as President of the Roland Park Apartments Company. The garage, originally known as the "Roland Park Stables," was designed by architects Wyatt & Nolting in 1903.

Baltimore native Edward Livingston Palmer, Jr. was born in 1877, graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1899 and went on to receive a degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1903. Palmer returned to Baltimore and by June 1907, he had become an architect for The Roland Park Company. In this position he contributed to the design and development of Homeland, Roland Park, and Guilford. Roland Park Apartments was converted to condominiums in 1980.

Street Address

6 Upland Road, Baltimore, MD 21210
]]>
/items/show/72 <![CDATA[Maryland Club]]>
The Club re-opened following the Civil War and prospered along with the economic success of Baltimore merchants and industrialists. The group purchased a vacant lot at Charles and Eager Streets, and hired architect, Josias Pennington of the firm Baldwin and Pennington, to design a new building. The new club house features heavy blocks of white marble from Baltimore County in a Romanesque style. The new Maryland Club opened on New Year's Day, 1892 and has a center of activity through the present.]]>
2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Maryland Club

Subject

Architecture

Description

First established in 1857, the Maryland Club started in a residence designed by Robert Mills on the northeast corner of Franklin and Cathedral streets and many of the Club's members lived in the area around Mount Vernon Place. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, many members of the Club sympathized with the Confederacy and Unionist members resigned, including Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, the President of the group. Eventually shut down by Union military officials in Baltimore, the building re-opened in 1864 as "Freedman's Rest," offices for the new Freedmen's Bureau and a place to offer support to any "sick, helpless and needy" former enslaved people.

The Club re-opened following the Civil War and prospered along with the economic success of Baltimore merchants and industrialists. The group purchased a vacant lot at Charles and Eager Streets, and hired architect, Josias Pennington of the firm Baldwin and Pennington, to design a new building. The new club house features heavy blocks of white marble from Baltimore County in a Romanesque style. The new Maryland Club opened on New Year's Day, 1892 and has a center of activity through the present.

Creator

Eli Pousson

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

First established in 1857, the Maryland Club started in a residence designed by Robert Mills on the northeast corner of Franklin and Cathedral streets and many of the Club's members lived in the area around Mount Vernon Place. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, many members of the Club sympathized with the Confederacy and Unionist members resigned, including Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, the President of the group. Eventually shut down by Union military officials in Baltimore, the building re-opened in 1864 as "Freedman's Rest," offices for the new Freedmen's Bureau and a place to offer support to any "sick, helpless and needy" former enslaved people.

The Club re-opened following the Civil War and prospered along with the economic success of Baltimore merchants and industrialists. The group purchased a vacant lot at Charles and Eager Streets, and hired architect, Josias Pennington of the firm Baldwin and Pennington, to design a new building. The new club house features heavy blocks of white marble from Baltimore County in a Romanesque style. The new Maryland Club opened on New Year's Day, 1892 and has a center of activity through the present.

Official Website

Street Address

1 E. Eager Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
]]>
/items/show/71 <![CDATA[Preston Gardens]]> 2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Preston Gardens

Subject

Parks and Landscapes

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Built between 1914 and 1919, Preston Gardens is a linear park along Saint Paul Street. Few people know that Preston Gardens was once the site of a thriving black community up through the early twentieth century. Black lawyers, religious leaders, and countless others occupied a mix of homes, offices and social halls built on Saint Paul, Hamilton, and Courtland Streets from the early to mid-nineteenth century.

The neighborhood originally developed as an affluent district just north of downtown back when Mount Vernon Place was still a forest and a dueling ground. As the city’s African-American population grew following the U.S. Civil War, black household largely moved to south Baltimore and central Baltimore – keeping close to both the black institutions that predated the war and potential places to find work around the harbor. By the late 1890s and early 1900s, the district passed out of fashion with many middle-class African Americans as they followed white Baltimoreans in moving out into the northwestern suburbs now known as Bolton Hill, Madison Park, and Druid Heights.

Unfortunately, this out-migration and a series of “improvements” to St. Paul Street between the 1910s and 1930s resulted in the demolition of nearly all of the buildings in this area. The creation of Preston Gardens and Saint Paul Place began in 1914 as a project of then Mayor James H. Preston. An ordinance passed that year gave the city authority to condemn and tear down what Preston called "blighted" buildings in the area. Critics called the plan “Preston’s Folly” after the Mayor used loan money originally designated for harbor improvements to pay for the costly improvements. The park was designed by architect Thomas Hastings and the was dedicated in 1919.

In 1926, an article in the Afro-American newspaper recalled:

"When you pass through the beautiful Preston Gardens, now almost the heart of Baltimore’s humming business section, you are passing through a section where some beautiful brown-skinned girls and chivalrous youth who glided across hardwood floors to the tune of the old-time waltz while proud matrons and father looked on."

Mercy Hospital tore down a row on St. Paul Street containing some the few surviving buildings from this district in 2008.

Related Resources

Street Address

Saint Paul Place and E. Pleasant Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/67 <![CDATA[Baltimore City Hall]]> 2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Baltimore City Hall

Subject

Architecture

Creator

Jack Breihan

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Although it imitates the arrangement of the U.S. Capitol with a central dome and symmetrical wings, the Baltimore City Hall is covered in French architectural elements, including banded rustication, arched windows, and a crowning Mansard roof. How did this come about?

Between 1861 and 1865, the U.S. Civil War stopped most building projects. By the time the war ended, tastes had changed. Although the Italianate style remained popular (especially in conservative Baltimore), the antebellum Greek and Gothic Revival styles faded away. Indeed, this whole era in American architecture bears a European name: “Victorian,” for the queen of Great Britain between 1837 and 1901. Victorian buildings showed off the new products of the industrial revolution then creating out a wealth of new building products: cheaper bricks and cut stone, encaustic tiles and terracotta, various forms of structural iron.

The Victorian style from France is named for the Second Empire of the Emperor Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, who styled himself Napoleon III. It was this Napoleon who extended the Louvre and laid out the boulevards and sewers that made Paris the most modern city in the world in the late nineteenth century. The Second Empire style became very popular for government buildings after the Civil War; it was sometimes called the “General Grant” style after the eighteenth President. In Baltimore, George A. Frederick’s design, completed in 1875, employed a good deal of cast iron, including the 227-foot tall dome designed by Wendel Bollman and cast by Bartlett, Robbins, and Company.

About seventy-five years after their construction, Victorian buildings inevitably came to be seen as downright ugly. In Baltimore, the construction of the Abel Wolman Municipal Building overshadowed City Hall, blocking any views from the north. In the 1970s, city officials seriously discussed demolishing City Hall. But wiser heads prevailed, and a prize-winning renovation equipped City Hall for continued use as the center of Baltimore’s government.

Official Website

Street Address

100 N. Holliday Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
]]>
/items/show/66 <![CDATA[Baltimore Equitable Society]]> 2019-05-09T21:20:24-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Baltimore Equitable Society

Subject

Architecture
Economy

Creator

Theresa Donnelly

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

First established in 1847 by a group of prominent businessmen, the Eutaw Savings Bank spent its first decade operating out of the Eutaw House Hotel located on the same site as the Hippodrome Theater. In 1856, the Eutaw Savings Bank purchased a lot across the street on the corner of Eutaw and Fayette Street from the estate of Michael F. Keyser, a director of the Eutaw Savings Bank who died in 1855. The bank demolished the grand old mansion that occupied the corner to make way for a "more modern and beautiful edifice" designed by Baltimore architect Joseph F. Kemp in an Italian Renaissance Revival style and built at a cost of around $22,000.

The Building Committee of the Board of Directors for the bank praised their own work with the statement that, "for neatness, convenience, and durability, it is at its cost unequaled by any other banking house in our city." Within a few years, the reportedly "popular and thriving" bank had outgrown their building and decided to purchase a lot directly across Eutaw Street. Their new brownstone bank, later adapted for use as part of the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center in 2004, opened in 1889.

The Baltimore Equitable Society (still operating in Baltimore City under the name Baltimore Equitable Insurance) purchased the building in 1889 and maintained offices in the building for over 114 years, until 2003. Founded in 1794 as the first fire insurance company in Baltimore, the "Baltimore Equitable Society for Insuring of Houses from Loss By Fire" was modeled after The Philadelphia Contributorship, a fire insurance company founded by Benjamin Franklin, among others. The Baltimore Equitable Society remains the oldest corporation in Maryland, and the nation's fourth oldest fire insurance company.

The Baltimore Equitable Society endured many challenges over the decades, from the War of 1812, the Civil War, economic depressions and other calamities. The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 resulted in a loss of $1.5 million but the firm still paid all of its policyholders' claims in full, with an officer of the bank later explaining, "we were hit hard, but are still strong." When the Great Depression caused other banks and insurance companies to close down, the Baltimore Equitable Society actually thrived, increasing assets by 23% and even opened a Fire Museum in the second floor of its building. After the 1968 riots that led to the loss of buildings due to fire, some insurance companies refused to cover homes and businesses in the City of Baltimore. However, the Society continued insuring properties within the City regardless of the perceived increased risk.

Although the Baltimore Equitable Society left the building in 2003, it remains a handsome reminder of Baltimore's early financial history on the West Side. Looking at the first floor windows, you can still read the words "Baltimore" and "Insurance" painted in gold on its lower panes, the remnants of a "Baltimore Equitable Insurance" sign and inside the decorative wood work and grand tall windows remain in excellent shape.

Official Website

Street Address

21 N. Eutaw Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/65 <![CDATA[Penn Station]]> 2020-10-21T10:07:24-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Penn Station

Subject

Transportation

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Subtitle

A Beaux-Arts Landmark by Architect Kenneth Mackenzie Murchison

Story

Penn Station is a unique combination of a classic Beaux-Arts architectural design from architect Kenneth Mackenzie Murchison and a functional, adaptable train station that serves as the eighth busiest station in the United States. Originally known as the Union Station, named for the Union of northern and southern railroads that came together at the station, this 1911 ornate granite, terracotta, and cast iron building is the third structure to exist on the site. In 1873, the Northern Central Railway built the first station on this site, a wooden structure, replaced in 1886 by a hulking Victorian brick structure. After critics declared the station overcrowded, uncomfortable, dangerous, and unsuitable for Baltimore's booming passenger traffic, the building was torn down in 1910 to be replaced by a new modern station. The architect, Kenneth Mackenzie Murchison, had extensive experience creating railroad stations around the nation and brought a stylish Beaux-Arts style to the job. Murchison's design incorporated an innovative waiting area illuminated by three large domed skylights directly connected to the boarding platforms. The Pennsylvania Railway Company took over the station in the 1920s and renamed it Pennsylvania Station to match the other Penn Stations along the line. The building deteriorated over the years and during World War II blackout paint was applied to the skylight and windows. This remained through the early 1980s, when a $5 million facelift restored the mosaic flooring, glazed wall tile, marble detailing, and the windows. In 2015, the station served more than 993,721 Amtrak passengers and even more MARC train commuters.

Watch on this building!

Related Resources

Official Website

Street Address

1500 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/64 <![CDATA[Brewers Exchange]]> 2019-05-09T21:21:10-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Brewers Exchange

Subject

Architecture

Creator

Bill Carroll
Theresa Donnelly

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

The Brewers Exchange, a gorgeous, three story terra cotta Renaissance Revival building designed by noted local architect Joseph Evans Sperry (who designed the Bromo Seltzer Tower, as well as many other Baltimore buildings) that stands at the corner of Park Avenue and Fayette Streets, was built in 1895 by the ale and beer brewers guild of Baltimore and constructed to serve as a forum for negotiating securities and commodities associated with the local brewing industry.

This handsome building, which features a host of elaborate decorative touches, including two-story half-round Ionic pilasters, cartouches, pediments, window surrounds, and a garland frieze. stands as a monument to the efforts of local Maryland brewers, many of whom were German immigrants who brought brewing techniques and technology with them across the Atlantic and whose hard work established Baltimore as the national center for their trade. Though the exchange only occupied this building for a decade, the still visible "BH" etched in the building's façade serves as a solid reminder of the prominent role brewing had in the economy and culture of Baltimore in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Street Address

20 Park Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/63 <![CDATA[Lexington Market]]>
The city kept the price to rent a stall at the market low to encourage aspiring business owners to get their start. This practice was particularly beneficial for immigrants who had few job opportunities upon entering the United States. As a result, immigrant communities grew around Lexington Market and helped establish a diverse community in West Baltimore. The new products offered at the market contributed to the international fame it would attain at the turn of the century.

While the form of Lexington Market has changed dramatically over the decades -- the early frame market shed was replaced in 1952 following a 1949 fire and the city significantly expanded the market in the 1980s -- the community of vendors and locals continues to draw crowds of residents and tourists daily.]]>
2023-02-01T12:44:22-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Lexington Market

Subject

Food
Baltimore's Slave Trade

Description

The "gastronomic capital of the world" declared Ralph Waldo Emerson on a visit to Lexington Market. Established in 1782 on land donated by John Eager Howard, Lexington Market was an overnight success as local farmers flocked to the site to sell their produce. Although the original intention of the market was to sell only Maryland-grown produce by the turn of the twentieth century, the market offered an international selection as thousands of immigrants moved to Baltimore and became both vendors and customers at Lexington Market.

The city kept the price to rent a stall at the market low to encourage aspiring business owners to get their start. This practice was particularly beneficial for immigrants who had few job opportunities upon entering the United States. As a result, immigrant communities grew around Lexington Market and helped establish a diverse community in West Baltimore. The new products offered at the market contributed to the international fame it would attain at the turn of the century.

While the form of Lexington Market has changed dramatically over the decades -- the early frame market shed was replaced in 1952 following a 1949 fire and the city significantly expanded the market in the 1980s -- the community of vendors and locals continues to draw crowds of residents and tourists daily.

Creator

Keegan Skipper
Theresa Donnelly
Richard F. Messick

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Lexington Market, originally known as Western or New Market, was started at the western edge of the city at the turn of the 19th century to take advantage of the trade with the recently opened Northwest Territory. The first market shed was built c. 1805 on land once belonging to John Eager Howard. It grew quickly along with the city, which was advantageously situated on the western most harbor along the East Coast. This access to transatlantic trade routes, then the railroads, were major factors to the growth of Baltimore through the 19th century. After a visit to the market, Ralph Waldo Emerson dubbed it the “gastronomic capital of the world.”

The larger and more established public markets, like Centre, Hanover, and Broadway markets, were often used for court ordered auctions of enslaved people. Having been located at the edge of the city, there is not much evidence that such sales were common at Lexington Market. The only information found so far indicates that at least one such auction did take place here in 1838. A monument was recently erected here to memorialize the woman sold at that court-ordered auction and a runaway enslaved man who had worked at the market. Their names were Rosetta and Robert.

Hotels and taverns proliferated near public markets, including this area around Lexington Market. It was a common practice during this time to arrange business meetings in hotels and taverns, to such an extent that bartenders and inn keepers would take and relay messages for regular customers. The meetings could be business or social. Transactions discussed could be anything from starting a chapter of a fraternal organization to the selling and buying of real estate, farm animals, or enslaved people. Many slave traders got their start in this manner--Slatter, Woolfolk, and Purvis to name a few. An example of an ad from the early 19th century informed buyers of people “to apply at Mr. Lilly’s Tavern, Howard Street” and another directed buyers to “Fowler’s Tavern near the New Market, Lexington Street.” The latter of these might be William Fowler’s Sign of the Sunflower, which was located in this area.

Although the original intention of the market was to sell Maryland-grown produce, by the turn of the twentieth century, the market offered an international selection as thousands of immigrants moved to Baltimore, becoming both vendors and customers. The city kept the price to rent a stall at the market low to encourage aspiring business owners. This practice was particularly beneficial for immigrants who had few job opportunities upon entering the country. As a result, immigrant communities grew around Lexington Market and helped establish a diverse community in West Baltimore. The new products offered at the market contributed to the international fame it would attain at the turn of the century.

While the form of Lexington Market has changed dramatically over the decades — an early frame market shed was replaced in 1952 following a 1949 fire and the city significantly expanded the market in the 1980s — the community of vendors and locals continues to draw crowds of residents and tourists daily.

Official Website

Street Address

400 W. Lexington Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/61 <![CDATA[Maryland State Medical Society (MedChi) Building]]>
The society became the seventh of its kind in the country, and some of its notable achievements include the creation in 1807 of what became the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the establishment in 1830 of a medical library, and the creation of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 1839 that was the first institution of its kind in the world. MedChi has been in its current building since 1909 and Dr. William Osler, co-founder of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is given credit for the creation of the MedChi library that is still housed there today.

When Dr. Osler arrived in Baltimore in 1889 he was disappointed to find that the Society's library consisted of only 7,000 volumes of outdated and dilapidated books. He convinced the Society to purchase a building on Eutaw Street for use as a library but the collection soon outgrew the location.

The Society purchased a lot at 1211 Cathedral Street and dedicated the current building in 1909. Modeled after the medical society libraries of Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City, the building included a roof-top apartment (described by the Baltimore Sun as the "first penthouse in Baltimore") and a garden for a full-time, live-in librarian. The building was later renovated in 1962 by University of Maryland architect Henry P. Hopkins.]]>
2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Maryland State Medical Society (MedChi) Building

Description

In January 1799, the Maryland Legislature approved a petition for a charter to incorporate a society of physicians in Maryland to be known as the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland. As written, this special act of the Maryland Legislature was intended to "prevent the citizens (of Maryland) from risking their lives in the hands of ignorant practitioners or pretenders to the healing art."

The society became the seventh of its kind in the country, and some of its notable achievements include the creation in 1807 of what became the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the establishment in 1830 of a medical library, and the creation of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 1839 that was the first institution of its kind in the world. MedChi has been in its current building since 1909 and Dr. William Osler, co-founder of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is given credit for the creation of the MedChi library that is still housed there today.

When Dr. Osler arrived in Baltimore in 1889 he was disappointed to find that the Society's library consisted of only 7,000 volumes of outdated and dilapidated books. He convinced the Society to purchase a building on Eutaw Street for use as a library but the collection soon outgrew the location.

The Society purchased a lot at 1211 Cathedral Street and dedicated the current building in 1909. Modeled after the medical society libraries of Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City, the building included a roof-top apartment (described by the Baltimore Sun as the "first penthouse in Baltimore") and a garden for a full-time, live-in librarian. The building was later renovated in 1962 by University of Maryland architect Henry P. Hopkins.

Creator

Johns Hopkins

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

In January 1799, the Maryland Legislature approved a petition for a charter to incorporate a society of physicians in Maryland to be known as the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland. As written, this special act of the Maryland Legislature was intended to "prevent the citizens (of Maryland) from risking their lives in the hands of ignorant practitioners or pretenders to the healing art."

The society became the seventh of its kind in the country, and some of its notable achievements include the creation in 1807 of what became the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the establishment in 1830 of a medical library, and the creation of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 1839 that was the first institution of its kind in the world. MedChi has been in its current building since 1909 and Dr. William Osler, co-founder of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is given credit for the creation of the MedChi library that is still housed there today.

When Dr. Osler arrived in Baltimore in 1889 he was disappointed to find that the Society's library consisted of only 7,000 volumes of outdated and dilapidated books. He convinced the Society to purchase a building on Eutaw Street for use as a library but the collection soon outgrew the location.

The Society purchased a lot at 1211 Cathedral Street and dedicated the current building in 1909. Modeled after the medical society libraries of Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City, the building included a roof-top apartment (described by the Baltimore Sun as the "first penthouse in Baltimore") and a garden for a full-time, live-in librarian. The building was later renovated in 1962 by University of Maryland architect Henry P. Hopkins.

Official Website

Street Address

1211 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/60 <![CDATA[Everyman Theatre]]>
By 1915 it had switched to a single screen movie theater with seats for over 1500. Movies did not fare well either, and after a brief stint back as a burlesque theater, the building was shuttered in 1927. In 1937 it reopened, but as a parking garage. For some reason, this use also did not stick, and in 1947 the building was rebuilt back into a theater. With architects Lucius White and John Zinc in the lead, the new theater was fully modern, with Art Moderne styling, amoeba-shaped wall decorations, and even a concession stand selling new fangled orange-coated ice cream treats called Dreamsicles.

The Town Theater, as it was then renamed, opened with a premier showing of "It's a Wonderful Life," complete with Jimmy Stewart in the audience. From the 1960s into the 1970s, the Town was Baltimore's only "Cinerama," a film technique where multiple film strips are shown on a single projector. This run didn't last either, and the theater closed again in 1990, about a week before the Hippodrome a block away also went dark.

Everyman Theatre has now taken over the Town and is conducting a thorough transformation of the interior and restoration of the exterior. Construction will include a 250 to 300 seat theater, a rehearsal hall, classrooms, and more. Construction has begun for an expected opening in 2011.]]>
2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Everyman Theatre

Subject

Entertainment

Description

Constructed across from the venerable Ford's Theater in 1911, the Empire Theater (as the Everyman was first called) was designed in the Beaux Arts style by Baltimore architects William McElfatrick and Otto Simonson. Although its advertising slogan was appealing, "Better Burlesque," and it boasted its own soda fountain and billiard parlor, the theater never caught on with burlesque or a few years later, with vaudeville.

By 1915 it had switched to a single screen movie theater with seats for over 1500. Movies did not fare well either, and after a brief stint back as a burlesque theater, the building was shuttered in 1927. In 1937 it reopened, but as a parking garage. For some reason, this use also did not stick, and in 1947 the building was rebuilt back into a theater. With architects Lucius White and John Zinc in the lead, the new theater was fully modern, with Art Moderne styling, amoeba-shaped wall decorations, and even a concession stand selling new fangled orange-coated ice cream treats called Dreamsicles.

The Town Theater, as it was then renamed, opened with a premier showing of "It's a Wonderful Life," complete with Jimmy Stewart in the audience. From the 1960s into the 1970s, the Town was Baltimore's only "Cinerama," a film technique where multiple film strips are shown on a single projector. This run didn't last either, and the theater closed again in 1990, about a week before the Hippodrome a block away also went dark.

Everyman Theatre has now taken over the Town and is conducting a thorough transformation of the interior and restoration of the exterior. Construction will include a 250 to 300 seat theater, a rehearsal hall, classrooms, and more. Construction has begun for an expected opening in 2011.

Creator

Johns Hopkins

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Constructed across from the venerable Ford's Theater in 1911, the Empire Theatre (as the Everyman was first called) was designed in the Beaux Arts style by Baltimore architects William McElfatrick and Otto Simonson. Although its advertising slogan was appealing, "Better Burlesque," and it boasted its own soda fountain and billiard parlor, the theatre never caught on with burlesque or a few years later, with vaudeville.

By 1915 it had switched to a single screen movie theatre with seats for over 1500. Movies did not fare well either, and after a brief stint back as a burlesque theatre, the building was shuttered in 1927. In 1937 it reopened, but as a parking garage. For some reason, this use also did not stick, and in 1947 the building was rebuilt back into a theatre. With architects Lucius White and John Zinc in the lead, the new theatre was fully modern, with Art Moderne styling, amoeba-shaped wall decorations, and even a concession stand selling new fangled orange-coated ice cream treats called Dreamsicles. The Town Theatre, as it was then renamed, opened with a premier showing of "It's a Wonderful Life," complete with Jimmy Stewart in the audience.

It was during this period that a real life drama took place in 1953 when the FBI received a tip that a wanted criminal, John Elgin Johnson, was at the theatre. He was in a phone booth when the FBI approached and he opened fire, wounding agents J. Brady Murphy and Raymond J. Fox. Additional agents returned fire, killing Mr. Johnson. Agent Murphy later died from his wounds.

From the 1960s into the 1970s, the Town was Baltimore's only "Cinerama," a film technique where multiple film strips are shown on a single projector. This run didn't last either, and the theatre closed again in 1990, about a week before the Hippodrome a block away also went dark.

The building was given to the Everyman Theatre in 2006, which was then in search of a new home. After raising considerable capital for a major renovation, the restoration included both the historic exterior and a wholly new interior to accommodate modern performance requirements. The theatre now has 250 seats and a host of other spaces: a scene shop, dressing rooms, a green room, a rehearsal hall, classrooms, offices, costume shop, and a prop shop. The company's first performance in the new space was in January 2013.

Official Website

Street Address

315 W. Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/59 <![CDATA[Miller's Court]]>
The H.F. Miller & Son Company building represented a significant era in the city's industrial history. In the late 19th century the company was one of the largest manufactures of tin boxes in the United States. Between 1890 and 1895 the company erected a state of the art industrial facility which incorporated new types of mechanization that greatly improved the efficiency of the can making industry. The company distributed its wares widely to Canadian, Mexican, European, African and South American markets, as well as in the U.S.

In 1953 the company ceased operations on the North Howard Street site. Between 1954 and 1985 the Miller Factory building was divided into several spaces. A series of businesses including the Commander Garment Company, Rombro Brothers, Ember Reuben and the Majestic Furniture Company occupied the building. During the 1990 census, the building served as the local headquarters of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Since the completion of the census, the building stood vacant until Seawall Development Company began renovations. Combining green construction and a focus on creating apartments for teachers, Miller's Court combines great historic preservation work with an interesting new approach to finding a new life for older buildings.]]>
2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Miller's Court

Subject

Industry
Historic Preservation

Description

Erected in stages between 1890 and 1910, the former H.F. Miller & Son Company building consists of a 77,000 square foot brick manufacturing plant that occupies half of the city block bounded by 26th Street on the south, 27th Street on the north, North Howard Street on the west and Mace Street on the east. The complex incorporates the original, four story, "L" shaped brick building (1890-1895), a large three story brick addition (1910) and a two story brick stable that was remodeled as an open storage shed in 1928.

The H.F. Miller & Son Company building represented a significant era in the city's industrial history. In the late 19th century the company was one of the largest manufactures of tin boxes in the United States. Between 1890 and 1895 the company erected a state of the art industrial facility which incorporated new types of mechanization that greatly improved the efficiency of the can making industry. The company distributed its wares widely to Canadian, Mexican, European, African and South American markets, as well as in the U.S.

In 1953 the company ceased operations on the North Howard Street site. Between 1954 and 1985 the Miller Factory building was divided into several spaces. A series of businesses including the Commander Garment Company, Rombro Brothers, Ember Reuben and the Majestic Furniture Company occupied the building. During the 1990 census, the building served as the local headquarters of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Since the completion of the census, the building stood vacant until Seawall Development Company began renovations. Combining green construction and a focus on creating apartments for teachers, Miller's Court combines great historic preservation work with an interesting new approach to finding a new life for older buildings.

Creator

Johns Hopkins

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Erected in stages between 1890 and 1910, the former H.F. Miller & Son Company building consists of a 77,000 square foot brick manufacturing plant that occupies half of the city block bounded by 26th Street on the south, 27th Street on the north, North Howard Street on the west and Mace Street on the east. The complex incorporates the original, four story, "L" shaped brick building (1890-1895), a large three story brick addition (1910) and a two story brick stable that was remodeled as an open storage shed in 1928.

The H.F. Miller & Son Company building represented a significant era in the city's industrial history. In the late nineteenth century the company was one of the largest manufactures of tin boxes in the United States. Between 1890 and 1895 the company erected a state of the art industrial facility which incorporated new types of mechanization that greatly improved the efficiency of the can making industry. The company distributed its wares widely to Canadian, Mexican, European, African and South American markets, as well as in the U.S.

In 1953 the company ceased operations on the North Howard Street site. Between 1954 and 1985 the Miller Factory building was divided into several spaces. A series of businesses including the Commander Garment Company, Rombro Brothers, Ember Reuben and the Majestic Furniture Company occupied the building. During the 1990 census, the building served as the local headquarters of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Since the completion of the census, the building stood vacant until Seawall Development Company began renovations. Combining green construction and a focus on creating apartments for teachers, Miller's Court combines great historic preservation work with an interesting new approach to finding a new life for older buildings.

Official Website

Street Address

2601 N. Howard Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
]]>
/items/show/58 <![CDATA[Charles Theatre]]> 2020-10-16T13:02:17-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Charles Theatre

Subject

Entertainment

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

The Charles Theatre began not as a movie house but as a street car barn and powerhouse designed by architect Jackson C. Gott and built in 1892. The building then became a popular dance club hosting national acts such as Tommy Dorsey and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. The Times Theatre opened in the building in 1939 taking its name from its role as the city’s first “all newsreel movie house.” In 1959, the owners renamed the business the Charles Theatre. During the theatre’s early history it showed art house films and frequently screened early works by John Waters. The theatre was managed by Pat Moran, who went on to become a notable casting director, and the projectionist was Garey Lambert, a gay rights activist who John Waters called “the Harvey Milk of Baltimore.” In 1999, the theatre was expanded adding four additional screens with modern auditorium style seating and large concession area.

Watch our on this building!

Official Website

Street Address

1711 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/57 <![CDATA[North Avenue Market]]> 2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

North Avenue Market

Subject

Food and Drink

Creator

Elise Hoffman

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Touted as "modern market in the country," and now considered an early prototype for suburban shopping centers, the North Avenue Market opened in 1928 with twelve retail stores and twenty-two lane bowling alley on the second floor at a cost of $1,850,000.The site of the market between Charles Street and Maryland Avenue had originally been the site of two country houses (including one used by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) but thanks the rapid development of north Baltimore in the early twentieth century the new market drew in fifty thousand visitors on its opening day and soon attracted more than two hundred grocery vendors.

After WWII, however, as many industrial businesses began to leave the area, the market began to decline and only thirty of the stalls were occupied when a destructive six-alarm fire in August 1968 shut down a portion of the market and led to substantial changes for the building. The fire, which started in the Woodlawn Lunch stall, was so hot that it cracked glass display cases and caused canned food to explode. A crowd of eight hundred residents gathered to watch the fire, tragically including elderly market manager, George Horshoff, suffered a heart attack and collapsed while viewing the damage and died shortly after. Two of the main factors in the extensive destruction caused by the fire were a lack of a sprinkler system and the sheet metal window guards, which obstructed fire fighters trying to enter the building.

After the fire, the market was purchased by James and Carolyn Frenkil, owners of the Center City, Inc., development company, who planned to reopen a portion of the market over the next six years and sold the northern portion of the building to be developed into high-rise senior citizen housing. The northern portion of the market was razed to accommodate the seventeen-story retirement home. The remaining part of the building was turned into a supermarket which opened in 1974.

Despite efforts to rejuvenate the building or redevelop any of the property, the heart of the building was closed off and vacant for nearly forty years following the fire. In 2008, a $1 million project for the building was launched to restore the building as an "arts-focused mix of shops, eateries, and offices." The rehabilitation process for the property is still ongoing, but has been successful so far. In 2012 the continued rehabilitation project for the market was awarded grant money from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development as well as from the Central Baltimore Partnership. The newest plans for the space include new paint, addition lighting, and re-opening exterior windows that were covered decades ago.

Related Resources

Street Address

12-30 W. North Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21218
]]>
/items/show/56 <![CDATA[First & Franklin Presbyterian Church]]> 2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

First & Franklin Presbyterian Church

Subject

Architecture
Religion

Creator

Johns Hopkins

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

In 1761, a group of Scots-Irish "Dissenters" (opponents of the Church of England) came to Baltimore Towne from Pennsylvania to escape the French and Indian War. They founded the First Presbyterian Church, appropriately named as it really was the first, and remains the oldest, Presbyterian church in the city. The founding minister, Rev. Patrick Allison (1740 – 1802), was a Chaplain to the Continental Congress and was a personal friend of George Washington.

After locating in several places downtown, the congregation moved to Mount Vernon and built the current church between 1854 and 1859. With its New Brunswick freestone exterior and 273-foot tall steeple (still the tallest in the city), this Gothic Revival church dominates Midtown Baltimore.

Construction started in 1854 under the supervision of architect Nathan G. Starkweather, a native of Oxford, England, and finished by his assistant Edmund G. Lind. Famed bridge engineer Wendell Bollman and the Patapsco Bridge and Iron Works of Baltimore produced the structural cast iron used throughout the church including the spire, which was not added until 1873.

The church is a notable example of Gothic Revival architecture and a landmark in the City of Baltimore. The interior boasts a triple-vaulted sanctuary with massive plaster pendants and is considered one of the finest Victorian plaster interiors in the country. To pile on to this beauty, the church has many windows from Tiffany Studios, as well as a host of other companies from England, Italy, New York and Boston. In 2009, the church embarked on an extensive restoration plan under the guidance of Murphy and Dittenhafer architects.

In 1973, the First Presbyterian Church united with the Franklin Street Presbyterian Church to form The First and Franklin Street Presbyterian Church, and in 2012 the congregation voted to change it to the simpler First & Franklin Presbyterian Church.

Official Website

Street Address

210 W. Madison Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/55 <![CDATA[Garrett-Jacobs Mansion]]> 2019-05-08T11:05:30-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Garrett-Jacobs Mansion

Subject

Architecture

Creator

Johns Hopkins

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Beginning in 1872, the mansion was the home of Robert Garrett, president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and his wife Mary Frick Garrett. After Robert Garrett's death, Mrs. Garrett married Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs and the couple added the ballroom by purchasing the neighboring house and converting it into an space for entertaining.

The mansion is exceptional for many things, including that it can boast of being the product of two renowned architects, Stanford White and John Russell Pope. The building, and particularly the ballroom, was the location of many society balls and Gilded Age parties that included dinner, dancing, live music, theater, and other festivities often for hundreds of people.

After Mrs. Garrett passed in 1936 and Dr. Jacobs in 1939, the Mansion had a series of different owners. In 1961, The Engineer's Club leased the building from the City of Baltimore. The city had acquired the property as part of an urban renewal plan to demolish the south side of Mt. Vernon Place and make way for an expansion of the Walters Art Gallery. Fortunately, these plans never received the funding required and in 1962 the Engineer's Club purchased it outright beginning a dedicated effort to preserve and maintain the historic structure.

Related Resources

Official Website

Street Address

11 W. Mt. Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD 21201
]]>
/items/show/54 <![CDATA[Peabody Institute]]>
Inspired by the many cultural and educational opportunities available to residents in London, Peabody set out to bring these same opportunities to the United States through philanthropy. The most significant of these efforts remains the Peabody Institute, founded in 1857 through a donation of $1,400,000. The construction of a home for the new Peabody Institute was delayed by the start of the Civil War, the Conservatory building opened in 1866.

The Conservatory was joined in 1878 by the George Peabody Library, directly to the east, opened in 1878 and is one of the most spectacular enclosed spaces in our city. Designed by architect Edmund G. Lind, in collaboration with the first provost Dr. Nathaniel H. Morison, the library is distinguished by the unique interior architectural ironwork fabricated by the Bartlett-Robbins & Company. The Peabody Stack Room features five tiers of ornamental cast-iron balconies that rise to a skylight set 61 feet above the floor. The building is a rare example of Edmund Lind's architectural work as only a few other surviving buildings remain from his prolific 40-year career.]]>
2020-10-16T14:38:53-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Peabody Institute

Subject

Education, Philanthropy, Music

Description

Established in 1857, the Peabody Institute is the second-oldest conservatory in the United States and a landmark at the southeast corner of the Washington Monument. Born in 1795 in Massachusetts, George Peabody lived briefly in Washington, DC, fought in the War of 1812, and, in 1816, settled in Baltimore where he lived for the next 20 years. Starting in the wholesale dry goods business and later through banking and finance, Peabody accumulated a tremendous fortune eventually moving to London to direct the banking firm of George Peabody & Co.

Inspired by the many cultural and educational opportunities available to residents in London, Peabody set out to bring these same opportunities to the United States through philanthropy. The most significant of these efforts remains the Peabody Institute, founded in 1857 through a donation of $1,400,000. The construction of a home for the new Peabody Institute was delayed by the start of the Civil War, the Conservatory building opened in 1866.

The Conservatory was joined in 1878 by the George Peabody Library, directly to the east, opened in 1878 and is one of the most spectacular enclosed spaces in our city. Designed by architect Edmund G. Lind, in collaboration with the first provost Dr. Nathaniel H. Morison, the library is distinguished by the unique interior architectural ironwork fabricated by the Bartlett-Robbins & Company. The Peabody Stack Room features five tiers of ornamental cast-iron balconies that rise to a skylight set 61 feet above the floor. The building is a rare example of Edmund Lind's architectural work as only a few other surviving buildings remain from his prolific 40-year career.

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Established in 1857, the Peabody Institute is the second-oldest conservatory in the United States and a landmark at the southeast corner of the Washington Monument. Born in 1795 in Massachusetts, George Peabody lived briefly in Washington, DC, fought in the War of 1812, and, in 1816, settled in Baltimore where he lived for the next 20 years. Starting in the wholesale dry goods business and later through banking and finance, Peabody accumulated a tremendous fortune eventually moving to London to direct the banking firm of George Peabody & Co. Inspired by the many cultural and educational opportunities available to residents in London, Peabody set out to bring these same opportunities to the United States through philanthropy. The most significant of these efforts remains the Peabody Institute, founded in 1857 through a donation of $1,400,000. The construction of a home for the new Peabody Institute was delayed by the start of the Civil War, the Conservatory building opened in 1866. The Conservatory was joined in 1878 by the George Peabody Library, directly to the east, opened in 1878 and is one of the most spectacular enclosed spaces in our city. Designed by architect Edmund G. Lind, in collaboration with the first provost Dr. Nathaniel H. Morison, the library is distinguished by the unique interior architectural ironwork fabricated by the Bartlett-Robbins & Company. The Peabody Stack Room features five tiers of ornamental cast-iron balconies that rise to a skylight set 61 feet above the floor. The building is a rare example of Edmund Lind's architectural work as only a few other surviving buildings remain from his prolific 40-year career.

Watch our on George Peabody!

Official Website

Street Address

1 E. Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD 21202
]]>
/items/show/53 <![CDATA[Baltimore Design School]]>
Founded by prolific inventor William Painter in 1892, the Crown Cork & Seal Company centralized their operations on the 1500 block of Guilford Avenue in a new Romensque six-story warehouse in May 1897. William Painter died in 1906 but the business continued to grow and the Lebow Building was built in 1914 to serve as a machine shop. The design by architect Otto G. Simonson featured vast expanses of glass – windows made up nearly 75% of the exterior facade – and a unique ventilation system. Simonson had arrived in Baltimore in 1904 to work as the superintendent for the construction of the U.S. Custom House located at South Gay and East Lombard Streets. Born in Dresden, Germany, Simonson immigrated to Hartford, Connecticut at age 21 and worked for many years in the office of supervising architect of U.S. Treasury Department in the early 1880s, eventually becoming the superintendent of construction of public buildings.

The builder, Herbert West, had supervised the construction of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York before moving his architectural career to Baltimore in the aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 to focus on developing fireproof buildings. West became a leader in the local architectural community and helped to develop city building codes as president of the Building Congress and Exchange of Baltimore.

By the 1920s, the Crown Cork & Seal Company provided a full half of the world's supply of bottle caps. Between two and three hundred people worked at the machine shop and employees benefited from amenities including an outdoor rooftop recreation area for ladies and a separate area for men in the building's courtyard. In 1930, however, the company began to consolidate operations at their 35-acre factory complex in Highlandtown.

In 1950, the machine shop was leased to Lebow Brothers Clothing Company – a preeminent manufacturer of men's clothing at the time and especially well-known for their coats and suits. In 1982, private developer Abraham Zion purchased both the company and the building. However, Lebow Clothing ceased manufacturing and the building was shuttered in 1985.

In 2013, the abandoned building was transformed into the Baltimore Design School. The school focuses on creating a collaborative and progressive educational environment. The former loading dock is now an outdoor performance space for fashion shows. Salvaged equipment from the clothing factory is exhibited in the former freight elevator to honor the building’s previous life. The project met the Secretary of Interior Standards for historic preservation and received state and federal tax credits and is a LEED Silver certified green building.]]>
2018-11-27T10:33:49-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Baltimore Design School

Subject

Industry
Education

Description

A survivor that has endured decades of abandonment, the 1914 Lebow Building is an impressive example of early 20th century industrial architecture that is just starting a new future as the Baltimore Design School. While it takes its popular name from the Lebow Brothers Clothing factory that occupied the building from the 1950s through 1985, the Lebow Building actually shares a common history with the Copycat Building next door and the artist-owned Cork Factory – all three were built by Baltimore's Crown Cork & Seal Company.

Founded by prolific inventor William Painter in 1892, the Crown Cork & Seal Company centralized their operations on the 1500 block of Guilford Avenue in a new Romensque six-story warehouse in May 1897. William Painter died in 1906 but the business continued to grow and the Lebow Building was built in 1914 to serve as a machine shop. The design by architect Otto G. Simonson featured vast expanses of glass – windows made up nearly 75% of the exterior facade – and a unique ventilation system. Simonson had arrived in Baltimore in 1904 to work as the superintendent for the construction of the U.S. Custom House located at South Gay and East Lombard Streets. Born in Dresden, Germany, Simonson immigrated to Hartford, Connecticut at age 21 and worked for many years in the office of supervising architect of U.S. Treasury Department in the early 1880s, eventually becoming the superintendent of construction of public buildings.

The builder, Herbert West, had supervised the construction of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York before moving his architectural career to Baltimore in the aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 to focus on developing fireproof buildings. West became a leader in the local architectural community and helped to develop city building codes as president of the Building Congress and Exchange of Baltimore.

By the 1920s, the Crown Cork & Seal Company provided a full half of the world's supply of bottle caps. Between two and three hundred people worked at the machine shop and employees benefited from amenities including an outdoor rooftop recreation area for ladies and a separate area for men in the building's courtyard. In 1930, however, the company began to consolidate operations at their 35-acre factory complex in Highlandtown.

In 1950, the machine shop was leased to Lebow Brothers Clothing Company – a preeminent manufacturer of men's clothing at the time and especially well-known for their coats and suits. In 1982, private developer Abraham Zion purchased both the company and the building. However, Lebow Clothing ceased manufacturing and the building was shuttered in 1985.

In 2013, the abandoned building was transformed into the Baltimore Design School. The school focuses on creating a collaborative and progressive educational environment. The former loading dock is now an outdoor performance space for fashion shows. Salvaged equipment from the clothing factory is exhibited in the former freight elevator to honor the building’s previous life. The project met the Secretary of Interior Standards for historic preservation and received state and federal tax credits and is a LEED Silver certified green building.

Creator

Elise Hoffman
Johns Hopkins

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

A survivor that has endured decades of abandonment, the 1914 Lebow Building is an impressive example of early twentieth century industrial architecture that is just starting a new future as the Baltimore Design School. While it takes its popular name from the Lebow Brothers Clothing factory that occupied the building from the 1950s through 1985, the Lebow Building actually shares a common history with the Copycat Building next door and the artist-owned Cork Factory – all three were built by Baltimore's Crown Cork & Seal Company.

Founded by prolific inventor William Painter in 1892, the Crown Cork & Seal Company centralized their operations on the 1500 block of Guilford Avenue in a new Romensque six-story warehouse in May 1897. William Painter died in 1906 but the business continued to grow and the Lebow Building was built in 1914 to serve as a machine shop. The design by architect Otto G. Simonson featured vast expanses of glass – windows made up nearly 75% of the exterior facade – and a unique ventilation system. Simonson had arrived in Baltimore in 1904 to work as the superintendent for the construction of the U.S. Custom House located at South Gay and East Lombard Streets. Born in Dresden, Germany, Simonson immigrated to Hartford, Connecticut at age 21 and worked for many years in the office of supervising architect of U.S. Treasury Department in the early 1880s, eventually becoming the superintendent of construction of public buildings.

The builder, Herbert West, had supervised the construction of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York before moving his architectural career to Baltimore in the aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 to focus on developing fireproof buildings. West became a leader in the local architectural community and helped to develop city building codes as president of the Building Congress and Exchange of Baltimore.

By the 1920s, the Crown Cork & Seal Company provided a full half of the world's supply of bottle caps. Between two and three hundred people worked at the machine shop and employees benefited from amenities including an outdoor rooftop recreation area for ladies and a separate area for men in the building's courtyard. In 1930, however, the company began to consolidate operations at their 35-acre factory complex in Highlandtown.

In 1950, the machine shop was leased to Lebow Brothers Clothing Company – a preeminent manufacturer of men's clothing at the time and especially well-known for their coats and suits. In 1982, private developer Abraham Zion purchased both the company and the building. However, Lebow Clothing ceased manufacturing and the building was shuttered in 1985.

In 2013, the abandoned building was transformed into the Baltimore Design School. The school focuses on creating a collaborative and progressive educational environment. The former loading dock is now an outdoor performance space for fashion shows. Salvaged equipment from the clothing factory is exhibited in the former freight elevator to honor the building’s previous life. The project met the Secretary of Interior Standards for historic preservation and received state and federal tax credits and is a LEED Silver certified green building.

Official Website

Street Address

1500 Barclay Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
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