Built in 1845 at the center of what was a thriving Jewish community in East Baltimore, the Lloyd Street Synagogue was the first synagogue erected in Maryland and today is the third-oldest standing synagogue in the country.
In building the synagogue, the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation commissioned noted Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long, Jr. Long chose a Greek Revival style. Architect William H. Reasin expanded the building in 1861, maintaining the original fa莽ade and the classical style of the sanctuary. The building was home to the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation from its beginning through 1889, when it transitioned into a catholic church. St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, one of the first Lithuanian "ethnic" parishes in the United States, owned and worshiped there through 1905.
In another flip, Shomrei Mishmeres HaKodesh, one of the leading Orthodox Jewish congregations of the Eastern European immigrant community, bought the building in 1905 from the Catholic church. The new congregation occupied the building until the early 1960s, when it moved out. The vacant building was threatened with demolition at that time and the Jewish Museum of Maryland was formed to purchase and care for this historic landmark. In 2008, the Museum began an ambitious $1 million restoration project with the help of the national Save America's Treasure's Program. The work restored the building to its 1864 appearance and created a multimedia exhibit, The Building Speaks, to interpret this history. The work also won a Historic Preservation Award from 91视频 in 2009.
"My library shall be for all, rich and poor without distinction of race or color, who, when properly accredited, can take out the books if they will handle them carefully and return them."These were the words of Enoch Pratt in 1882 when he gave a gift of over $1 million to Baltimore City to create a central library and four branches. By 1894, the Pratt Library had the fourth largest collection in the country and one of the most active circulations. With assistance from Andrew Carnegie, the library system and its branches grew tremendously in the early 1900s, expanding to over 20 neighborhood branches. In 1927, the citizens of Baltimore voted to spend $3 million in city funds to build a new Central Library building. The construction of the current central library building on Cathedral Street began in 1931 and was completed in 1933. Architect Clyde N. Friz hoped to avoid the old-fashioned institutional character of the past in his design and instead to give the library "a dignity characterized by friendliness rather than aloofness," as Pratt Director Joseph Wheeler stated. The new building allowed the library to form specialized departments, such as "education, philosophy, and religion," "industry and technology," as well as the "popular library," now known as the fiction section. Although allowing for expansion, the design of the new building retained one of Pratt's steadfast requirements: that there be no stairs leading into the main entrance. This seemingly odd requirement, and one that certainly went against the grain of architectural design for grand civic institutions at the time, was based Pratt's philosophy that the library should be open to all people. Pratt saw grand stairs as an impediment, especially to a growing segment of the reading population: women who may be pushing babies in strollers. Far before the advent of the Americans with Disabilities Act and its accessibility requirements for public buildings, the main entrance to the library pointedly tell the story of Pratt's vision and commitment to inclusivity. Watch our on the building!
Founded in 1791, St. Mary's Seminary and University was the first Catholic seminary in the United States. It was granted a civil charter by the State of Maryland in 1805 and in 1822, Pope Pius VII established it as the first seminary in the U.S. to grant ecclesiastical degrees, which it still does to this day. Originally on Paca Street, the seminary moved to its present location on Roland Avenue and Northern Parkway in Roland Park in 1929.
This massive building, designed by Boston architects Maginnis and Walsh, has a classical entrance. Immediately inside stands a statue of Mary, the patroness of the seminary, called Sedes Sapientiae, or Our Lady Seat of Wisdom. The main chapel, fitted in marble and oak, contains a Casavant pipe organ and stained glass windows imported from Paris. Today the seminary is cared for by the Sulpician Fathers and the building still houses seminarians following their calling.
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!
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鈥檚 first 鈥渁ll newsreel movie house.鈥 In 1959, the owners renamed the business the Charles Theatre. During the theatre鈥檚 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 鈥渢he Harvey Milk of Baltimore.鈥 In 1999, the theatre was expanded adding four additional screens with modern auditorium style seating and large concession area.
Watch our on this building!
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!
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鈥檚 African-American population grew following the U.S. Civil War, black household largely moved to south Baltimore and central Baltimore 鈥 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 鈥渋mprovements鈥 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 鈥淧reston鈥檚 Folly鈥 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鈥檚 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.
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: 鈥淪top 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.鈥
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, 鈥渉e was always playing, and so they had to keep right on top of him.鈥
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.
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.
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.
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鈥檚 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!聽
Woodrow Wilson came to this house as a Ph.D. candidate at the Johns Hopkins University. From Eutaw Place he went on to become president of Princeton University, the governor of New Jersey and eventually President of the United States of America.
Tracey Clark and Ben Riddleberger purchased the 1885 gas valve building, historically known as the Chesapeake Gas Works, in 2005 to house their architectural salvage business鈥擧ousewerks. Riddleberger and Clark have since stabilized and restored the long vacant building (also known as Bayard Station) and have highlighted its many fine details. These include ornamental plaster and woodwork, fireplaces, ten-foot high Palladian windows, and granite walls on the lower level.
Bayard Station was once the headquarters for the Chesapeake Gas Company of Baltimore City, which merged with several other companies eventually becoming BGE. During the station's heyday, the gas works spread over 14 acres. The complex included the Valve House (Housewerks); four large telescoping holding tanks, called "gasometers;" and a series of processing buildings, of which one remains today across Hamburg Street. The gas was manufactured, stored in the gasometers, and then piped into the valve house where it was compressed before being directed into the main lines of the city. (The pipe for the Hamburg Street Line is still visible in the cellar!)
Riddleberger and Clark extensively researched the history of the building and proudly display early images throughout their store. In addition, they worked with the Pigtown neighborhood in 2006 to have the building included on the National Register of Historic Places. With more than a little sweat, the building now is a centerpiece in a quickly changing industrial part of South Baltimore.
In 1985, WJZ-TV local news cameras captured the view of the Inner Harbor from above as they documented the quickly changing landscape from the back seat of a helicopter. An aerial vantage point was nearly a necessity to take in the wide range of recently completed development projects and recently announced new building sites. In 1984, developers and city officials had announced twenty projects to build new buildings or reuse existing buildings around Charles Center and the Inner Harbor.
That same year, Charles Center and the Inner Harbor won an "Honor Award" from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) recognizing the conversion of the former industrial landscape into a destination for tourists and locals as "one of the supreme achievements of large-scale urban design and development in U.S. history."
The highly ornamented Mercantile Trust Building was constructed in 1885 by architectural firm Wyatt and Sperry. The architecture conveys a sense of impenetrability, characterized by its massive, heavy stonework and deep set windows and entrance. Ads at the time boasted that the building strong enough "to resist the invasion of armed force." The hardened building survived the 1904 Baltimore Fire, but sustained damage when bricks from the Continental Trust Building fell through the skylight, setting fire to the interior. Despite this, the building's survival reaffirmed what the bank had been saying all along in its ads. The Mercantile Trust was Baltimore's first "department store bank," a concept spearheaded by Enoch Pratt. In years before, customers had to go to different banks to get loans, access savings, or open a checking account. Mercantile Trust ended this by introducing Baltimore to one-stop banking. The bank was also involved in raising capital to rebuild many cities in the South during Reconstruction. Later, the bank acted as co-executor for the estate of Henry Walters and as a trustee for the endowment that established the Walters Art Collection. Mercantile Trust occupied the building for almost 100 years. The company left in 1983 and the building has been a nightclub, and more recently, the new location of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company.
Watch our on this building!聽
Founded in 1824, St. James鈥 Episcopal Church is the nation鈥檚 second oldest African Episcopal congregation and the first Episcopal church organized by African Americans south of the Mason-Dixon line. Since 1932, the congregation has occupied a historic sanctuary at the northeast corner of Lafayette Square Park in West Baltimore.
Built for the Episcopal Church of the Ascension from quarry-faced, white, Beaver Dam marble, the building was designed by the Baltimore architecture firm of Hutton & Murdoch. In 1866, the church left their original 1840 building on Lexington Street near Pine for a corner lot in what was then one of Baltimore鈥檚 emerging, fashionable neighborhoods. The structure is sparingly ornamented on the exterior, relying mostly on texture, repetition, a limited repertory of Gothic revival architectural motifs (buttresses, pointed arches, a rose or 鈥渨heel鈥 window, and stained glass), and a massive gable roof to communicate a sense of religiosity and permanence. The building originally featured a wood-framed spire atop its northwest tower rising to a height of 120 feet. In 1876, the church added on a parish house designed by architect Frank E. Davis which shows a keen sensitivity to Hutton & Murdoch鈥檚 1867 Gothic revival design.
In 1932, the Church of the Ascension sold the building and St. James鈥 Episcopal Church, then led by Rev. George Bragg, moved to Lafayette Square. Rev. Bragg may be little-known by most Baltimoreans today, but he served as pastor of St. James Church for over forty years. His visionary leadership of St. James is matched by his legacy as a co-founder of the Afro-American newspaper, as well as an historian and a political advocate. His life and work reflected the growing strength of Baltimore鈥檚 black community in the early 1900s.
Born in North Carolina on January 25, 1863, George Freeman Bragg's early years were shaped by the Civil War and Reconstruction. Ordained as a deacon in Virginia in 1887, Bragg entered the priesthood in 1888 and arrived in Baltimore in 1891 with a passion for fostering independent leadership within the black church. He joined the 66-year old St. James鈥 Church that was then located downtown at Saratoga Street and Guilford Avenue.
In 1901, Bragg led his church to a new building in northwest Baltimore at Park Avenue and Preston Street. When middle-class African Americans in his congregation continued to move even farther west, Bragg moved St. James again to Lafayette Square in 1932 where they celebrated their first service on Easter morning. The move reflected a major change in the neighborhood as four African American congregations moved to Lafayette Square between 1928 and 1934. Rev. Bragg lived on the Square and remained active in the city鈥檚 political and civic life until his death in 1940.
Well known for its sports programs, Edmondson-Westside High School is a landmark near the western edge of the city. Originally known as Edmonson Avenue High School, when construction began on the school on Athol Avenue it was the city's first new high school since Forest Park opened in 1924.
The school expanded in the early 1980s with a move into the former Hecht Company store on Edmondson Avenue. Hecht's opened in 1955 but closed a little more than twenty years later after Hoschild Kohn's and other retail stores had left for shopping areas in the western suburbs.
St. Peter the Apostle Church served southwest Baltimore's large Irish Catholic community for over 160 years. From its dedication in September 1844 through its final service in January 2008, the church earned a reputation as "The Mother Church of West Baltimore" for its role in the growth of the Catholic church.
Built from 1843 to 1844, the handsome Greek Revival building was designed by prominent Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long, Jr. who modeled the church on the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, Greece. The building is now owned by nearby Carter Memorial Church.
A true gem of Baltimore religious architecture, the handsome Gothic Revival tower of St. Luke鈥檚 Church is matched by its richly detailed sanctuary. While architect J.W. Priest oversaw the completion of the building in 1857, five other architects also played some part. Unlike many historic congregations that left the neighborhood, St. Luke鈥檚 opened its doors on July 10, 1853 and has kept them open for over 150 years.
St. Edward's organized in 1878 as a mission of St. Peter the Apostle, which was led by Fr. Owen B. Carrigan. Carrigan supervised the construction of the first church in 1880 for a congregation that likely included Catholic workers from factories scattered across the Gwynns Falls Valley.
In 1923, the church expanded with a new school, convent, and rectory. A growing congregation of 5,000 people forced the church to hold nine masses every Sunday. In 1938, the congregation started a campaign for a larger building and dedicated the present church on March 9, 1941.
Baltimore Clayworks occupies the former Mount Washington Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library that opened at Smith and Greeley Avenues on January 5, 1921. Originally known as Branch 21, the building was designed by by local architect Edward H. Glidden on a lot located across from the Mount Washington public school. Funding for the new branch library came from a 1906 gift from Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist, specifically designated to build branch libraries. The gift came with a condition, similar to the requirements for all new Carnegie Libraries, that "the city was to acquire the lots and equip and maintain the buildings yearly with a sum which was to be not less than 10 per cent of the amount expended in construction." By March 1919, the Mount Washington Improvement Association organized to support the library鈥檚 construction and, according to the Sun, received a lot 鈥済iven by the family of the late John M. Carter in his memory.鈥 In 1951, after three years of contentious debate (The Sun noted 鈥淗ell hath no fury like a Mount Washingtonian battling for his library.鈥), the library closed and the building was turned over to the city schools. After thirty years of access to their own neighborhood library, residents of Mount Washington were now offered the services of a book mobile. In 1980, Deborah Bedwell, along with four sculptors and four potters, opened Baltimore Clayworks in the former Pratt Library branch. Born in West Virginia, Bedwell moved to Maryland and took a job as an art teacher at Malcolm Middle School in Waldorf in the late 1960s. According to 2010 profile by Karen Nitkin in Baltimore Magazine, in 1969, she signed up for a ceramics class at University of Maryland, College Park but on her first attempt using the potter鈥檚 wheel the centrifugal force threw her to the floor. She left the room on a stretcher but didn鈥檛 give up on ceramics. In 1978, Bedwell was a graduate student at Towson University and, along with eight friends in the ceramics department, she had the idea of organizing a studio. The first few years were a struggle. The group had purchased the building for less than $60,000 but renovations cost nearly three times as much. In 2012, Bedell recalled, 鈥淭he first 10 years were focused on bringing in students and potential purchasers of pottery and sculpture. We pedaled very fast to keep it afloat.鈥 Their hard work paid off and, by 1999, Clayworks was able to expand into an additional structure, an 1898 stone building formerly used as convent for the Sisters of Mercy, St. Paul.
Unfortunately, financial trouble returned by the end of 2016 the nonprofit was over a million dollars in debt. In July 2017, the board of Baltimore Clayworks announced their decision close the organization and file for bankruptcy. Fortunately, a new board changed course, hired a new executive director, refinanced their mortgage, and, by October 2018, paid back their debt鈥攅nsuring a future for the historic library and a beloved community arts institution.
This neglected forty-two-room Victorian mansion started as the summer home of Mary Frick Garrett Jacobs, a famed Baltimore socialite and philanthropist. The property formerly belong to General John Swan, Mary Jacobs' great-grandfather, as a part of his larger Hunting Ridge estate. Mary Frick and her husband Robert Garrett stayed at their house on Mount Vernon Place between November and Easter then returned to Uplands every spring. In 1885, they hired E. Francis Baldwin, architect for the B&O Railroad, to renovate the property. Mary continued to use the property as a resident up until her death in 1936 when she left the building to the Episcopal Church.
From 1952 to 1986, the estate served as the Uplands Home for Church Women. In the early 1990s, New Psalmist Baptist Church acquired the property and incorporated the historic building into a new church. The church has been demolished but the house still stands at the center of the recently developed Uplands community.
One of the area鈥檚 earliest movie theaters, "The Bridge" opened in May 1915, seating seven hundred patrons and featuring Paramount Pictures films. Under the management of Edmondson Amusement Company president, Louis Schilchter, the Bridge Theater offered more than just movies. Schilchter hosted everything from song and dance shows to a community gathering to honor soldiers returning from WWI. After an explosion in 1930 damaged the side of the building, the theater rebuilt and continued to operate until 1968.
Since 1970, the building has been used as a church and is presently home to the Life Celebration Center.
Despite its modern building, the history of Lockerman-Bundy Elementary School dates back to the 1890s.
The school is named for Joseph Harrison Lockerman (1864-1923), a graduate of the Centenary Biblical Institute (now Morgan State University) who in 1911 became Vice Principal of the new Colored High and Training School for African American teachers (now Coppin State University). Two years later, the training school moved into the upper floors of the new Public School 100 located at 229 North Mount Street.
When the school relocated to Pulaski Street in 1976, the name expanded to honor Mrs. Walter A. Bundy (1904-1965). A graduate of Coppin State in 1918, Mrs. Bundy鈥檚 teaching career in Baltimore鈥檚 black schools spanned over four decades.
The iconic Baltimore & Ohio Warehouse at Camden Yards is an icon of Baltimore's industrial heritage and a unique example of creativity in historic preservation and adaptive reuse. Construction on the warehouse started in 1899. Architect E. Francis Baldwin likely served as the architect having designed warehouses for the B&O at Locust Point in 1879-80 and at Henderson's Wharf in Fell's Point in 1898. When a five-story addition was completed next to Camden Station in 1905, the narrow fifty-one-foot wide warehouse squeezed into the busy railyard by stretching four full blocks along South Eutaw Street. The company boasted that the facility could hold one thousand carloads of freight at once.
The warehouse remained in use through the 1960s but was largely abandoned by the 1970s, in favor of new single-story facilities. By the 1980s, the structure was threatened with demolition to make way for a new stadium. 91视频 and Maryland State Senator Jack Lapides led an effort to fight for the preservation of the warehouse and the rehabilitation of Camden Station. Leadership from the Maryland Stadium Authority responded and, with support from the Baltimore Orioles, architects Helmuth, Obata & Kassabaum and RTKL Associates transformed the vacant warehouse into the star attraction of the new stadium complex.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened on April 6, 1992 and the ballpark has remained a much-loved landmark ever since. The warehouse is now home to team offices and a private club for the Orioles. In 1993, the building even caught a long ball鈥攁 445-foot shot by Ken Griffey, Jr. on July 12, 1993 during the 1993 All Star Game Home Run Derby鈥攎arked with a small bronze plaque matched by those on Eutaw Street for the occasions when a player has hit a ball out of the park.
Built in 1910 of brick with stone trim in Tudor style, Fire Engine House No. 36 celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010. Designed by architects Ellicott & Emmart and built by the Fidelity Construction Co., Engine House No. 36 reflected Baltimore's investment in modern fire-fighting facilities and technology in the aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. Ellicott & Emmart worked on a number of public buildings around this same period including Primary School No. 37 (located at E. Biddle St. and N. Patterson Park Ave.) and the Forest Park Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library (1912).
405 East Oliver Street has served as a brewery, a factory, and an upholstery shop. Today, the former factory is home to AREA 405鈥攁n arts organization dedicated to showcasing and strengthening the vitality of Baltimore's arts community. This 66,000 square feet warehouse offers unique studio and exhibition space for over 30 artists.
German immigrant Frederick Ludwig established the Albion Brewery in 1848 near Greenmount Avenue鈥攁dvertised in German as "Albion Brauerei... Belvidere Avenue, nahe Greenmount Avenue, an der alten Belvidere Bruecke." The business sold several times and closed heavily in debt in 1877. Brewer Bernhart Berger picked up the mortgage in 1878 and reopened the business with Frank Molz as brewmaster and modern refrigeration equipment.
In 1904, the C.M. Kemp Company purchased the property adding a four-story brick addition right on top of the original stone brewery. The C.M. Kemp Manufacturing Company made compressed air dryers and shared their space with a wide variety of small businesses. In the 1950s, the building was occupied by Tom-Len鈥攁n upholstery and furniture manufacturing firm. In 1970, the Crown Shade Company purchased the building manufacturing thousands of window shades and venetian blinds up until 1989.
In 1989, the Crown Shade Company moved to Rosedale and sold the building to Henry's Shade Company which sold off old stock after Henry's death in 1998. When the group of artists behind Area 405 first toured the building in January 2001, they found it full from floor-to-ceiling with "...defunct machinery, debris, rolls of vinyl, old stock and detritus. Henry's telephones were still ominously blinking with messages, and even with the behemoth stockpile and the chill of vacancy, we knew we had found our home."
In March 2002, 3 Square Feet, LLC purchased the building and has undertaken a monumental renovation project to convert the building into studios. Between 2002 and 2009, they removed 133 industrial-sized dumpsters of debris along with countless tons of cardboard and wood for recycling. Two tractor-trailer loads of vinyl were sent to India to be recycled into roofing material (or possibly super hero figurines鈥擜rea 405 is not sure which!) AREA 405 officially opened their doors in February 2003 and has now been a hub of arts activity in Station North for over a decade.
Designed by prolific theater architect Frederick E. Beall, the Astor Theatre originally began in 1913 as the Astor Theater. The fast-growing around Poplar Grove Street evidently packed the 200-seat theater and, by December 1921, the owners decided to expand the building. After a major renovation converting the building to a Spanish design by architect J.F. Dusman, the theater reopened as the Astor Theater on November 14, 1927.
The movie house was equipped with a Kimball organ and, in 1929, the owners added Vitaphone & Movietone sound systems. Plans in 1930 to enlarge the theater to a grand 2,000 seats never moved forward. Unfortunately, the years after World War II proved difficult for many small Baltimore movie theaters. The Astor Theatre closed in the fall of 1953 just a few months after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education sparked a rapid transition in the formerly segregated white neighborhoods surrounding the establishment. In April 1954, the theater reopened under new management seeking to cater to Black audiences but closed the next year.
The former theater was eventually converted to a market. Today, only a careful observer can still find clues showing the building's origins. On Poplar Grove Street, where the original theater entrance is bricked in, there is a small white stone where the word "Astor" is still engraved. On the back is a faded sign with an even older name鈥擯oplar Theatre鈥攔eminding today's shoppers of the theater-goers from a century in the past.
Saint Peter Claver Church at Pennsylvania Avenue and Fremont Street takes its鈥 name from a sixteenth-century Spanish priest who is considered the patron saint of slaves. The building dates back to 1888 making it the city鈥檚 second oldest African-American Roman Catholic Church. True to the inspiration of Saint Claver, the congregation and their leaders, have long been active in seeking equal rights for African Americans in Baltimore. Father Henry Offer led the church from 1960 to 1971 and was a member of the NAACP and Urban League. In 1968, he was one of the city鈥檚 African American leaders to speak out after the riots following the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., criticizing Governor Spiro Agnew for laying blame for the unrest on local black activists. Later that same year, the parish chartered buses to transport its members, as well as community residents, to the Poor People鈥檚 March on Washington. The march, planned by the by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference before King鈥檚 death, was led by Civil Rights activist Ralph Abernathy. In 1966, Father Philip Berrigan advocated for the disinvested urban neighborhoods from his position at the church. Berrigan, whose long career as a Catholic activist included burning Vietnam War draft cards with his brother Daniel Berrigan and others of the Catonsville Nine. In the years leading up to this, Berrigan worked from St. Peter Claver to establish the Baltimore Interfaith Peace Mission and actively lobbied and demonstrated for the city鈥檚 African American communities. Another Civil Rights activist coming from St. Peter Claver in the 1960s was Father John Harfmann. In 1967, Harfmann, who was white, worked with Black activist Dickey Burke to provide recreation opportunities in West Baltimore through Operation CHAMP. During his tenure at the church, he also participated in integration activities with church members and actively supported efforts of BUILD (Baltimoreans United In Leadership Development) to create housing, provide job opportunities, and rebuild neighborhoods in the city. At his funeral, fellow priests remembered how Harfmann was 鈥渨holly dedicated to being a priest in the African American community,鈥 and recalled him as 鈥渁 tireless fighter for justice who did things that people said were not possible.鈥 Today, the church continues their long tradition of civil rights and community activism, in part, by hosting the No Boundaries Coalition that works to unite communities around the church that have historically been divided by racial and economic barriers.
Corpus Christi Memorial Church was built in 1891 in memory of Thomas and Louisa Jenkins by their children. Their goal was to build the most exquisite church in Baltimore. Patrick Keeley, the foremost architect of Catholic churches in his day, designed the building.
The interior, designed by John Hardman & Company of London, glitters and glows with colorful mosaics accented with gold tessera, stained glass windows, and a high vaulted ceiling with clerestory windows. Famous for its large Florentine style mosaics adorning the chancel, Corpus Christi also has smaller mosaic Stations of the Cross as well as a charming mosaic depicting the founding of Maryland. There are four chapels and a baptistery that boast gold mosaic ceilings, marble walls, statues of saints, and stained glass windows.