Author: Eli

Eli Pousson started as a Field Officer at Baltimore Heritage in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in October 2009. Prior to moving to Baltimore, Eli worked for the DC Office of Historic Preservation and completed graduate work in anthropology and historic preservation at the University of Maryland College Park. Eli continues to work with the Lakeland Community Heritage Project and other heritage organizations in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Statewide and National Support for the Preservation of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum

Over the past several months Baltimore Heritage worked closely with the Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation and Coppin State University to support their efforts to preserve the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in West Baltimore. Built in 1876, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum is not only the first Jewish orphanage in Baltimore, it is now the oldest standing Jewish orphanage in the United States.

Today we are glad to share the news that with our assistance the Coppin Heights CDC has received grants for preservation planning from both Preservation Maryland and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Their generous support is a strong vote of confidence in the future of this remarkable Romanesque landmark and a testament to the importance of the building, not only to Baltimore, but also to the state of Maryland and the nation as a whole. These funds will help enable  the Coppin Heights CDC to prepare a redevelopment plan with a step-by-step guide to return the structure to an economic use and restore the site to its historic role as a vital asset to the broader West Baltimore region. Read more on the history of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and our partnership with the Coppin Heights CDC in our update this past May.

Our work to preserve the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and our broader West Baltimore initiative is supported by the Partners in the Field program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Baltimore Building of the Week: Camden Station

Image courtesy Jack Breihan

At the beginning of the railroad era, no one knew what a grand metropolitan rail terminus should look like. In the mid-1850s the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad chose the Italianate style, with bracketed cornices and window arches; a long, symmetrical composition of pavilions and lower hyphens; and a curious skyline of tower and cupolas seemingly drawn from church architecture. At 185 feet, the central tower was the tallest structure in Baltimore when the building was completed in 1867, a beacon for travelers making their way to their trains through the crowded commercial district. As with so many mid-19th century buildings, the architects were Niernsee and Neilson.

With the decline of train service Camden Station declined as well, eventually losing its crowning array of tower and cupolas. In the early 1990s, however, the old station was taken in hand by the architects Cho, Wilkes, and Benn as part of the Oriole Park sports complex. Using fiberglass and other modern materials they reconstructed the stations skyline and prepared the interior for reuse as museum space.

Behind the Scenes Tour of the Lloyd Street Synagogue

Restoration of the Lloyd Street Synagogue 2008, courtesy JMM

Did you know that Baltimore is home to one of the oldest synagogues in the nation? Built in 1845 at the center of the historic Jewish community of East Baltimore, the Lloyd Street Synagogue was the first synagogue erected in Maryland and today it is the third-oldest standing synagogue in the country. Please join us for a tour of this rare restored landmark with preservation architect John Srygley, AIA, and the staff of the Jewish Museum of Maryland (also celebrating its 50th anniversary this year).

Tour Information

Note: We are holding two identical tours. The first starts with a reception at 5:00 and the tour at 5:30, and the second starts with a reception at 6:00 and the tour at 6:30.

Date: Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Time: 5:00 p.m. reception; 5:30 to 6:30 tour
6:00 p.m. reception; 6:30 to 7:30 tour
Place: Jewish Museum of Maryland, 15 Lloyd Street (Baltimore, MD 21202)
We’ll walk next door to the Lloyd Street Synagogue after meeting at the Museum.
Free parking is available in a lot across from the Museum. It is a brick lot in front of the Museum entrance.
Cost: $15 (includes wine and cheese reception)
Registration: Click Here to Register!

Read more

Baltimore Building of the Week: Cast Iron Baltimore

This week’s entry in our Baltimore Building of the Week series is Baltimore’s Cast Iron Buildings,

300 West Pratt Street, courtesy Jack Breihan

Another version of the Italian palace that dominated Baltimore architecture in the middle of the 19th century was not executed in traditional materials like marble (Peabody Institute) or brick (Old Loyola College). Instead it used cast iron and large sheets of glass – both made more abundant by the Industrial Revolution. In 1850, James Bogardus of New York obtained a patent for a system of iron construction. His first great commission was the Sun Iron Building in downtown Baltimore, sadly destroyed in the Great Baltimore Fire. Bogardus and his imitators went on to build a number of iron-and-glass commercial palaces across the United States, often cast by Baltimore foundries like Heyward, Bartlett, & Co. and Denmead’s Monumental Foundry.

Read more

Baltimore Building of the Week: Old Loyola College

Revealing his fondness for the history of his own institution, Dr. John Breihan, a professor of history at Loyola University Maryland, offers this week’s Baltimore Building of the Week on the historic buildings of St. Ignatius Church and Old Loyola College, used since the 1970s as the home of Center Stage,

Image courtesy Jack Breihan

Just a few blocks away from the Peabody, stretching along Calvert Street between Madison and Monument Streets, stands another massive Italian palace, built for another educational institution. The patron here was the Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order. Again, we see arched windows with elaborate moldings, and a heavy Italianate cornice unifying the northern half, containing St. Ignatius Church (designed by Louis L. Long and completed in 1856) with the southern (designed by O’Connor and Delaney of New York and finished in 1899). Besides the parish church, this huge redbrick palace housed Loyola College and Loyola High School until they split into two separate institutions and moved away in 1922. Since the mid-1970s the long vacant southern section has been imaginatively re-used for two theaters designed by James Grieves and the firm of Ziger, Hoopes, and Snead for the Center Stage repertory theater.