Baltimore Heritage

Ed Orser will share the legacy of the Olmsteds' park designs on Baltimore's park system. For 75 years the nationally-renowned Olmsted firm (father, son, and step-son) played a major role shaping the park system of Baltimore. During a period of rapid growth for the city, they provided comprehensive plans in 1904 and 1926 as well as specific recommendations and designs for park projects. Their legacy is evident in today’s park system.

Join us as Jillian Storms presents about Turkish architect Nezahat Arıkoğlu and her midcentury designs! This presentation will highlight the design work of one of the early woman of architecture in Maryland, Nezahat Sügüder Arıkoğlu (1920–2000), who practiced with her husband İlhan Muzaffer Arıkoğlu (1922–1981) in Baltimore in the 1960s before returning to Turkey. They are credited with over 20 nearly modern projects in our region that include apartments, private residences, shopping centers, manufacturing plants, and offices, including WJZ's TV Studio on Television Hill.

Baltimore is a city filled with a wide range of architectural treasures. Some of the city's most beloved treasures are its historic school buildings, from the castle-like City College to the modernist Patterson Park High. The best architects in the city competed to design these impressive and important public buildings.

Leading this architectural adventure is Meg Fairfax Fielding, a past-president of BAF. Meg loves to explore Baltimore and the surrounding areas. By day, she is the head of the History of Maryland Medicine at MedChi, which was founded in 1799, but on weekends, you might find her on a lonely road on the Eastern Shore searching for a small, ancient church. Follow her on Instagram at PigtownDesign.

Lake Clifton was Baltimore's crown jewel of a massive school building effort. What happened? This presentation will outline the history of Baltimore’s Lake Clifton High School. Completed in 1971 as the crown jewel of a massive school-building effort, the sprawling and state-of-the-art campus was expected to stimulate racial integration and ease school overcrowding. However, white students immediately rejected the school and the campus’ huge capacity was never filled. Lake Clifton developed a poor reputation around the city, and recently closed for good after years of restructuring and physical dilapidation. The campus is likely to soon be acquired and demolished by Morgan State University; thus, now is an ideal time to examine and commemorate Lake Clifton’s role in a tumultuous period of Baltimore’s history.