Author: Johns

Johns Hopkins has been the executive director of Baltimore Heritage since 2003. Before that, Johns worked for the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development developing and implementing smart growth and neighborhood revitalization programs. Johns holds degrees from Yale University, George Washington University Law School, and the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment.

Behind the Scenes Tour of Wilson House B&B

President Woodrow Wilson has a number of connections to Baltimore, including the roots of his presidency that trace to a series of back-room deals made in a Mount Royal Terrace mansion during the 1912 Democratic National Convention here in Baltimore. Please join us for a tour of this mansion, now called the Wilson House, a 10,000 square foot wonderfully restored Victorian complete with castle-like turrets and curved balconies.

Tour Information

Date: Thursday, April 22, 2010
Time: 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. — Wine and Cheese
6:00 to 7:00 p.m. — Tour
Place: Wilson House B&B, 2100 Mount Royal Terrace (Baltimore, MD 21217)
Parking: Parking is available on the street nearby
Cost: $15 (includes wine and cheese reception)
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Behind the Scenes Tour of McClain Wiesand Custom Built Furniture

In New York, Chicago and San Francisco, the custom built decorative art pieces created by Baltimore’s own McClain Wiesand studio are featured for their beauty and careful craftsmanship. This tour offers a “twofer”: a tour of the McClain Wiesand workshop and an open house of the owner’s fabulously renovated apartments (Moroccan room and all) above his shop in historic Mount Vernon.

Tour Information

Date: Wednesday April 7, 2010
Time: 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. — Wine and Cheese
6:00 to 7:00 p.m. — Tour
Place: McClain Wiesand Custom Built Furniture
1013 Cathedral Street (Baltimore, MD 21201)
Cost: $15 (includes wine and cheese reception)

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Behind the Scenes Tour of the Old Otterbein Church

Image courtesy wallyg/Flickr

Old Otterbein Church, built in 1785, is the oldest church still standing in Baltimore. With its classic brick and white trim tower (with bells brought over from Germany), the church shows off its landmark stature for countless Orioles fans and anybody traveling around downtown and Camden Yards. Please join us to get a better look at this Baltimore gem and its two historic ancillary buildings, the 1811 Parsonage and the 1872 Sunday School. We’ll also be treated to a demonstration of the church’s one-of-a-kind 1897 Niemann Organ.

Tour Information

Date: Thursday, March 25, 2010
Time: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. (the organist will start playing at 6:15)
Place: Old Otterbein Church, 112 West Conway Street, 21201
Park in the church lot to the east of the church, entrance off Conway Street
Cost: $10
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Baltimore Building of the Week: Homewood House

This week’s featured Baltimore Building of the Week from Dr. John Breihan is Homewood House at 3400 North Charles Street on the campus of The Johns Hopkins University.

Image courtesy of John Breihan

Even the wealthy Charles Carroll was shocked by the cost of his son’s country villa, Homewood, built early in the 19th century on a hillside north of town.  A federal-style version of the standard five-part Georgian Palladian mansion house (see Mt. Clare), Homewood’s principal floor is tall, elegant, airy, and cool.  Service rooms are tucked away in the basement or attic (there is a fine brick privy in back).  The Johns Hopkins University acquired the surrounding estate and built a new campus there early in the 20th century.  Homewood is open to the public as part of Johns Hopkins University Museums.

The Homewood House Museum is currently hosting a four-part speaker series in association with their fourth annual student-curated focus show, On the Road: Travel and Transportation in Early Maryland. The first event in the series is David Shackelford, Chief Curator at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, speaking tonight, February 18, 2010 at 4:30 PM.

Behind the Scenes Tour of the Baltimore Bar Library

A gem within a gem, the historic Baltimore Bar Library sits on the sixth floor of the historic Clarence Mitchell Jr. Courthouse with its barrel vault ceiling and luxurious oak paneling. Please join us for a tour of this fantastic space with three luminary tour guides: retired chief judge Joseph Kaplan, federal judge and Bar Library historian James Schneider, and Bar Library director Joseph Bennett. If you can’t make it out for the tour, you might enjoy this Legal Historian’s Tour of Baltimore from the Thurgood Marshall Law Library at the University of Maryland School of Law.

Image courtesy the Baltimore Bar Library

Tour Information

Cost:    $15 (includes wine and cheese reception)
Date:     Thursday, February 18, 2010
Time:     5:30 to 6:00 p.m. — Wine and Cheese
6:00 to 7:00 p.m. — Tour
Place:    Baltimore Bar Library, within the Clarence Mitchell Courthouse (map)
Park on the Street
Cost:      $15 (includes wine and cheese reception)
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