Category: Behind the Scenes Tours

Behind the Scenes Tour: The French Connection, December 10

In 1781, French and U.S. troops under Rochambeau and Washington trekked 650 miles from Newport, Rhode Island to Yorktown, Virginia for what became the final major conflict of the Revolutionary War.  A new National Heritage trail, the Washington-Rochambeau-Revolutionary-Route (or W3R for short), is in the making to commemorate this historic event.  Please join us and our partner, the Fell’s Point Preservation Society, for a talk by Dr. Robert Selig, trail consultant for the National Park Service, on the trail and its history, including the contributions of Baltimore and Maryland.

Tour Information

December 10, 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Fell’s Point Visitor’s Center, 1724 Thames Street, 21231
$10 per person
RSVP for the tour today!

In 1781, General Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau, America’s great ally in the Revolutionary War, embarked with his contingent of French troops from Newport to confront the British at Yorktown.  General Washington and U.S. forces joined him at White Plains, New York.  When they arrived in Maryland, troops from Baltimore and elsewhere boarded boats to sail down the Chesapeake Bay and rendezvous at Yorktown.  The American victory at Yorktown was decisive:  it resulted in a surrender by British General Cornwallis and forced the British to negotiate peace.  To commemorate the historic march and battle, Congress recently designated the new W3R National Historic Trail to tell the story of the Allied forces in the Revolutionary War, their journey to Yorktown, and what they learned about the colonies they passed through.  Maryland, in particular, played a critically important role and has many sites and stories associated with this journey.  Please join us for a talk by Dr. Robert Selig, the National Park Service’s consultant on the trail, to learn about new information gleaned from French, German and American sources both here and abroad.  Please linger a little after the talk for a tour of the Robert Long House, Baltimore’s oldest residence (ca. 1765) and currently home to the Preservation Society, and in the spirit of the season and Baltimore hospitality, share a glass of eggnog made from an 18th century recipe.  We also invite you to stay in Fell’s Point for dinner, with a 10% discount at the seafood restaurant John Steven around the corner.

Behind the Scenes Tour of Durward Center’s “Clock House”

Back by popular demand, we are again offering a tour of one of Baltimore’s most special places: Mr. Durward Center’s “Clock House.” With a lifetime of training and devotion, Mr. Center has blended the best of a Victorian Baltimore rowhouse with ticking, whirring monuments to historical clocks and mechanical musical machines. He even has a clock on the front that is shaped like a dragon holding a bell in its mouth, which strikes the hours with its tail. If you missed this tour in 2009, please join us this time and be prepared to be charmed.

Tour Information

December 7 or December 8 (choose one only please)
5:30 to 6:00 pm wine and cheese reception, 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. tour
2100 St. Paul Street, 21218
$15 for Baltimore Heritage Members and $25 for non members (please join today!)
We are holding two identical tours on separate dates in order to accommodate as many people as possible.  Please choose only one date. The tours are the same. Each tour is limited to 25 people.

RSVP for the tour today!

Known widely throughout Baltimore as “The Clock House,” Mr. Durward Center’s 2100 St. Paul Street Victorian home is a Mecca for lovers of early mechanical devices. By profession, Mr. Center is a restoration expert for antique tower-clocks and organs. He has worked on projects across the country, and as close to home as Penn Station in Baltimore. He is also the craftsman behind the restoration of the 1898 Welte “concert orchestration” that sat in the entrance to Oakley Court, the manor house outside of London which was made famous in Dracula movies (and perhaps infamous in The Rocky Horror Picture Show) For his St. Paul Street house, Mr. Center has installed three clock dials on the outside, including the dragon clock, and has an almost endless collection inside. A music room contains early mechanical musical devices which he has restored. One notable item is an antique organ with a custom-made wooden case by Baltimore woodwright Thomas Brown, whose shop was a stop on a previous Baltimore Behind the Scenes tour. Please join us and our host, Mr. Durward Center, as we learn (and literally hear) about the fascinating marriage between a historic Baltimore rowhouse and a world-class collection of early mechanical devices.

Behind the Scenes Tour of the Secret Paths of Roland Park & Original Home of the Odyssey & Baltimore Lab Schools

Image of Roland Park courtesy of the Urbanite.

Okay, maybe the footways in Roland Park aren’t that much of a secret, but they are somewhat hidden and are an important part of the neighborhood’s Olmsted design. Please plan to join us for our next Behind the Scenes Tour on Saturday, November 5th at 2:00 p.m. We will start with a short walking tour led by Judy Dobbs of the Friends of Maryland’s Olmsted Parks & Landscapes, who will escort us along some of the Olmsted paths through Roland Park. We will end where we begin, at the house where the Odyssey and Baltimore Lab Schools got their start, 4906 Roland Avenue, for a tour by current owner Ms. Elissa Strati.

Secret Paths of Roland Park & Odyssey/Lab School House

Saturday, November 5, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
$10/members, $15/non-members.
RSVP for the tour today!

We will start and end the tour at 4906 Roland Avenue. Parking is available on the street. We will go rain or shine.


The Roland Park Company developed Roland Park in the late 1800s. Incorporated into its plans was a series of 18 footpaths, designed to expedite foot traffic between sections of the neighborhood, especially those where the terrain made it difficult to build roads. Designed by the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., the paths were part of a hierarchical system of roads in front of houses, service lanes in the rear, and footpaths that provided convenient ways to cross through the neighborhood in a natural setting. Each path is named with a distinctly country ring: Squirrel, Hilltop, Laurel, Tulip. Others are decidedly British: Audley End, Tintern, St. Margaret’s, Litchfield. In 1991, the paths were refurbished and cedar posts installed with handmade white oak replicas of the original breadboard signs to mark many of the trails.

The house at 4906 Roland Avenue that we will tour has had many lives. Originally built c. 1900 as a single-family home, it has spent much of its life as a place of learning. By 1946 it had become the Homeland Academy, followed in the 1970s by the School of Contemporary Education. In 1994, The Odyssey School opened its doors for the first time for children with language learning differences. In 2000, The Odyssey School moved to its current home in Stevensonville. The Baltimore Lab School, an off-shoot of the Washington DC Lab School, set down its first roots in this house on Roland Avenue until moving to the Old Goucher College building in Baltimore. In 2005, the house was purchased by Alfred and Elissa Strata, who had the arduous task of converting the long-time school back into a single-family home. Ms. Strata will share her tales of discovery and woe in bringing this beautiful turn-of-the-century home full circle to its original purpose.

Behind the Scenes Tour of the Tuscany-Canterbury Apartments

Doorway, The LombardyWhere in Baltimore can you stroll the streets and feel you have visited England, France, Italy, and Spain within a few short blocks? Why in the north Baltimore neighborhood of Tuscany-Canterbury, of course. This historic neighborhood offers an eclectic mix of architecture that, somehow, seamlessly blends together very well. Our focus for the next tour will be on the larger architectural gems of the neighborhood, the apartment buildings. Please plan to join us for a short walking tour of the area’s unique apartment buildings followed by a rare opportunity to view the City from the penthouse of 100 W. University Parkway. David Curtin, a local realtor, has graciously offered us a tour of his penthouse apartment, and to share his magnificent view of the City.

Tuscany-Canterbury Apartment Buildings Tour

Wednesday, October 26, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
$15/members, $20/non-members. Wine & cheese will be served.
RSVP for the tour today!

We will start the walking tour portion of the tour in front of the Warrington at 3908 N. Charles Street. We will finish at 100 W. University Parkway for wine and cheese, entering on the University Parkway side. Parking is available on the street.

Tuscany-Canterbury in home to several elegant apartment buildings that harken back to a day when apartment dwelling was in vogue. Many units original floor plans rivaled the square footage of nearby single-family homes. We will start our walking tour at the Warrington, designed by the renowned Baltimore architecture firm of Wyatt and Nolting. Built in 1927, it was the first high-rise and was met with much opposition by the neighborhood. In stark contrast, just north of the Warrington is the modernistic Highfield House, designed by German architect Mies van der Rohe, and completed in 1964. It was the second of two buildings designed by Mies in Baltimore; One Charles Center was the first. Highfield House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

The Ambassador was built in 1930 by the Mullan Company, and designed by Washington, DC architect Louis Roulou. The lobby is elegantly appointed with Venetian glass and an elaborate ceiling. Along the way we will also get to see the oldest house in Tuscany-Canterbury as well as other single family homes. Our last stop will be at 100 West University, also a Wyatt and Nolting design, where our host David Curtin will share with us his magnificent view of the city from his penthouse garden apartment.

Behind the Scenes Tour of the Phoenix Shot Tower

Please join us as we partner with the Carroll Museums for the Phoenix Challenge. No, we aren’t hiking our way to Arizona. Rather, we are hiking up Baltimore’s own Phoenix Shot Tower. The Shot Tower, when it was built in 1828, was the tallest structure in the United States until 1846. Once there were three such towers in Baltimore; now there are only a few left in the entire world. The tour will include a short walk to visit some historic highlights in the surrounding Jonestown neighborhood followed by a tour inside the Tower. We will even have a chance to climb halfway up this iconic structure!

Phoenix Shot Tower

Fallsway & Fayette St.
Sunday,October 16, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
$10/members, $15/non-members. Refreshments will be served.
Children are welcome.
RSVP for the tour today!

The design of the 215-foot tall Phoenix Shot Tower and its estimated 1.1 million bricks is based on Englishman William Watt’s 1782 patented process of making shot by pouring molten lead through colanders down the open shaft of a high tower. As the molten lead spun and cooled in the air, it became “perfectly globular in form and smooth” as was reported at the time. The “drops” were collected in a large water barrel at the tower’s base, then sorted by size and bagged for distribution. The finished product was called drop shot and was used for small game hunting, among other things. The Shot Tower annually produced 2.5 million pounds of it until 1892 when new methods of shot production made the Tower obsolete. In 1921, permits were granted to tear down the Tower and clear the site to make way for an automobile garage. In one of the first acts of historic preservation in Baltimore, public reaction against the demolition plans was strong, and leading citizens were able to raise funds for its preservation. On October 11, 1924, a group of Baltimore citizens bought the Shot Tower for $17,000 and donated it to the city with the understanding that it would be preserved. More than fifty years passed before the Shot Tower was opened to the public as a museum. In 1973, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today it is managed by Carroll Museums, a non-profit organization that also manages the Carroll Mansion on nearby Pratt Street.

For our tour, we will meet at the Shot Tower and take a short stroll around Historic Jonestown, one of Baltimore’s oldest neighborhoods. The tour will be led by Urban Rangers from the Baltimore National Heritage Area. The walk will take about an hour. Once back at the Tower, we’ll have a rare opportunity to climb part way up on the wooden stairs that wrap around its interior brick wall. Ms. Paula Hankins, director of the Museums, will talk about the history (and future) of the Tower. Our tour is a prelude to the Museum’s Phoenix Challenge campaign, which has its official kick off just after our tour ends around noon. Crafts and activities will be available to amuse our youngest tour goers, and there will be refreshments for all. The Phoenix Challenge campaign has a goal to raise 1.1 million supporters worldwide – one person for every brick in the tower. I hope you can join us to be among the first.