Alger Hiss, a native Baltimorean, was a government official accused of spying for the Soviet Union In one of the most spectacular Cold War era trials in the U.S., Hiss was convicted of perjury. Hiss’s accuser was Whittaker Chambers, a confessed Communist Spy turned Conservative Republican.

Regardless of what conclusions the reader reaches from the mountain of evidence and the books that have been written about the Alger Hiss case, much of the narrative by Whittaker Chambers may have been composed in a modest house in Charles Village, 2610 St. Paul Street, a typical example of detached domestic architecture in Baltimore often overlooked by architectural historians.

Presenting is Ed Papenfuse, retired Maryland State Archivist and Chair of the Baltimore City Historical Society Board. Ed is also a member of the BAF Dead Architects Society where he has been working with the committee on establishing a Wiki for Maryland’s architectural history.