While several churches and residences in Baltimore have Tiffany stained-glass windows, St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church is the only building with a Tiffany interior. Louis Comfort Tiffany was one of America’s most famous interior designers and artists of the late 19th – early 20th century. Today, he is best known for his stained-glass. Built in 1898, St. Mark’s (featured on Explore Baltimore Heritage) is one of only a few intact Tiffany-designed interiors left in the world. The Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company designed and produced the ornately decorated walls, mosaics, stained-glass windows, and lamps in the church.
Along with celebration the designation of St. Marks and celebrating Baltimore’s religious heritage, we’re also hoping this event will encourage other religious institutions to consider landmark designation, particularly interior designations.
St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church Open House
Saturday, February 2, 2013, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Remarks at 10:30am
St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1900 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 Sanctuary tours and light refreshments offered throughout the morning.
The open house is hosted by St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP). For questions or to RSVP, please contact Lauren Schiszik, CHAP staff at lauren.schiszik@baltimorecity.gov or at 410-396-5796.
The Mansion House, built by Revolutionary War Colonel Nicholas Rogers, has stood in what is now Druid Hill Park since 1801. The house is the third to stand in this location. Originally a castle known as “Auchentorolie,” built by Rogers’ ancestors, occupied the hill but had burned sometime during the war. Rogers studied architecture in Scotland and most likely became familiar with Druids’ love of nature and hilltops and selected the name “Druid Hill” for his estate. The house was initially planned to be a summer home but during its construction the family home at Baltimore and Light Streets burned and it was decided to use the Druid Hill house year-round. The Mansion remained in the Rogers family until the mid-1800s, when Rogers’ grandson sold the house and lot to Baltimore City for $121,000 in cash and $363,000 in City of Baltimore stock. One stipulation of the sale was that the family burial plot remain property of the family, and the plot is still in place today in the park.
The Mansion House has seen many rebirths. In 1863, during the park movement in Baltimore City, the house was greatly modified. Under the direction of John H. B. Latrobe, it was turned into a pavilion and updated in the Victorian style. By 1935, the porches were enclosed and the house became a restaurant. In the 1940s, the building was used as a day school for the Young Men and Women’s Hebrew Association. The Zoo, which had begun developing around the mansion beginning in 1867, used the building as its bird house from the 1950s until its restoration in 1978. The restoration efforts took the house back to its 1860s design. Just last year, the Mansion underwent its most recent restoration and repair work, including much needed wood restoration and structural shoring. The building today house’s the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore’s administrative offices and event rental space. Please join us on a tour of the nooks and crannies of the Mansion by the restoration contractor, Tony Azola of The Azola Companies, and a short walk through the history of the Mansion and the Zoo by Ms. Lori Finkelstein, Vice President of Education, Interpretation, and Volunteer Programs (and unofficial historian) at the Zoo.
Behind the Scenes Tour at Rogers Mansion
Tuesday, January 8, 2013, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
1876 Mansion House Drive, Baltimore, MD 21217 RSVP Today! $15 members | $25 non-members (wine & cheese will be served) Follow signs to the administration building. Parking is available in front of the mansion and along the drive.
Thursday, November 29, 2012, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
522 W. Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 RSVP Today! $15 members | $25 non-members (wine & cheese will be served) Parking is available on the street and in nearby garages.
HABS MD,4-BALT,59-2, courtesy LOC/Wikipedia
Join us in celebrating Davidge Hall’s 200th birthday. Named after its founder and first dean, John Beale Davidge, Davidge Hall was constructed in 1812 as the founding medical school building of what is now the University of Maryland School of Medicine. With its surgical theater in the round classroom, called Anatomical Hall, and semi-circular Chemical Hall below it, it is hard to imagine a more wonderful architectural backdrop for students to watch the latest techniques in surgery and learn anatomy through the careful dissection of cadavers.
The building is recognized as the oldest medical facility in the country continuously used for medical education, and since 1812 all of the University’s medical graduates have passed through its doors at one time or another during their training. It is even said that from the porch one could watch the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814. The building recently has been meticulously restored, and won a historic preservation award from Baltimore Heritage! Please join us and our tour guide, Mr. Larry Pitrof, Executive Director of the Medical Alumni Association of the University of Maryland Medical School, on a tour of this grand historic gem.
Victorian Charm in Reservoir Hill
Tuesday, December 4, 2012, 6:00 pm – 7:15 pm
2450 Eutaw Place, Baltimore, MD 21217 RSVP Today! $15 members | $25 non-members (wine & cheese will be served) Parking is available on the street.
Image courtesy Hugh Pickens
While Baltimore is known for its row houses, the Reservoir Hill neighborhood took these iconic structures to a higher, grander level of Victorian architecture at the turn of the 20th century. Chief among the grand dames is 2450 Eutaw Place, a 12,000 square foot mansion that was first the home of John Knox Shaw (1845-1905), a founding member of Shaw Brothers coal merchants. Mr. Shaw built the house in 1895 as a stand-alone home and one of the first houses on Reservoir Hill. With incredible woodwork of Hunduras mahogany, a marble vestibule and marble mantles throughout, and fleur de lis tiles, the house was obviously a testiment to Mr. Shaw’s wealth and taste. But if a coal merchant constructed the fine house, a beer baron took it further.
The second owner of the home was Frederick Bauernschmidt (1863-1933), founder of the American Brewery. Mr. Bauernschmidt added a porte–cochèreand driveway to the outisde, and a new level on the first floor for a music room where an orchestra would sit to provide live music for parties. Please join us on a tour of this wonderful house as its current owner, Ms. Larcia Premo, shares her story of living and raising kids in turn-of-the-century grandeur and neighborhood historian Mr. Kelly Terrill shares some of the history of this great neighorhood.
Tree Trimming Party and Tour at Orianda House
Wednesday, December 12, 2012, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
1901 Eagle Drive, Baltimore, MD 21207 RSVP Today! $10 members with a canned good donation | $15 non-members
(Holiday cheer will be served) There is limited parking near the house. Parking is also available in the lot nearest the entrance from Forest Park Avenue.
Image courtesy laura1119_photos/photobucket
Please plan to join us for an old fashion tree-trimming party and tour of historic Orianda House in Leakin Park. Every year Orianda House invites local non-profit associations to decorate a tree representing their organization. Baltimore Heritage has participated in this event for the last few years. This year, we want to share the fun, and include a tour of this great historic building. We will provide decorations and invite you to bring an ornament that represents Baltimore if you feel so inspired. Also, in the spirit of giving, we ask that you bring a canned good to be donated to a local food bank. And, of course, we will be touring the house. Orianda House was built around 1856 by Thomas Winans as a summer home. Winans built the first railroads in Russia and was the son of Ross Winans of B&O Railroad fame. The house reflects Mr. Winans’ desire for a grand country estate. We hope you can join us for this festive event.
G. Krug & Son is an institution on Downtown’s West Side with over 200 years of history in forging and restoring ironwork across the City of Baltimore. We’re excited to share the news that the shop has now opened a museum to share their rich history launching with a free open house this Saturday!
This is a business that literally built Baltimore into the city it is today and the pieces of the jobs worked on in the shop’s 202-year history can still be found inside. Artfully done drawings, photographs, and job files containing the names of some of the city’s most influential people and institutions are all featured in the new museum. Peter Krug started the museum to showcase a history of Baltimore and a family owned company that has been there for much of that time and share their unique perspective on the historic port city that supported a fledgling country. G. Krug & Son employees will lead tours from 11:00am to 2:00pm and offer demonstrations of the blacksmithing process.
Open House at G. Krug & Son Ironworks and Museum
G. Krug & Son – 415 W. Saratoga Street
Saturday, November 10, 2012, 11:00am to 2:00pm Parking – On-street or off-street at surface lot at 112 N. Eutaw Street or garage at 208 N. Paca Street. Transit – The shop is a short walk from the Lexington Market Metro Station or Lexington Market Light Rails stop.
Our last Baltimore by Bike ride of the year offers a chance to see the city through the eyes of Baltimore’s own H.L. Mencken – one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century. H.L. Mencken grew up and spent most of his life in a handsome brick rowhouse on Union Square but he never hesitated to explore the city he loved (and loved to skewer) as he walked, reported, and even rode a bike through Baltimore neighborhoods from Mount Vernon to Bolton Hill and beyond.
Mencken’s Baltimore by Bike
Sunday, November 11, 9:30am to 12:00pm
Meet at Union Square Park, Hollins Street and South Stricker Street RSVP online today! $15 per person.
Photo courtesy the The Smart Set.
Join us for a easy fall ride through H.L. Mencken’s Baltimore. The eldest son of August Mencken, a successful local cigar manufacturer, Mencken grew from roaming the alleys and vacant lots with gangs of West Baltimore boys to become one of the youngest reporters at the Baltimore Herald, launching a career in journalism and writing that endured for nearly 50 years.
We’ll ride along the streets that Mencken knew best as we discover the site of Little Joe’s Bike Shop where Mencken learned to ride a bicycle in the 1890s, imagine the fine meals Mencken enjoyed with friends at Marconi’s on Cathedral Street, stop by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s home in Bolton Hill and stop by the Poe House, just around the corner from Mencken’s birthplace on Lexington Street. Our tour ends with a chance to tour the H.L. Mencken House and enjoy light refreshments.
This tour is presented in partnership with the Friends of the H.L. Mencken House and proceeds help to support their ongoing efforts to restore and re-open the H.L. Mencken House. Learn more about events around West Baltimore neighborhoods from the Friends of West Baltimore Squares.
