Originally constructed as the “Medical Arts Building” in 1927, the Professional Arts Building at 101 West Read Street served as offices for medical personnel until it saw a decline in occupancy in the 1990s. The large 110,000 square foot building was left more than seventy-five percent vacant for a decade prior to its rehabilitation in 2009. Restoration work included repairing the original terra cotta balustrade, refurbishing the main lobby and elevator lobbies in the upper floors, and restoring the storefront on Cathedral Street. Kann Partners was the architect and Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse were the builders. Read more
This week’s Baltimore Building of the Week is our first introduction to Baltimore’s tremendous historic skyscrapers, such as the 1891 Equitable Bank Building that survived the Great Baltimore Fire,
Image courtesy Jack Breihan
Another uniquely American style of the late 19th century originated in Chicago, where Louis Sullivan gave the new steel-framed “skyscrapers” unified facades of multistory arches. The former headquarters of Equitable Bank (shown here before exterior restoration) is Baltimore’s best version of the Sullivan/skyscraper style. Designed by Joseph Evans Sperry in 1891, it was gutted in the Great Baltimore Fire, but the frame and façade survived. After nearly a century’s service as an office building, it has been converted to residential use.
Anchoring the historic Charles Street retail corridor for decades, the McDowell Building at 339 North Charles Street is a solid 4-story historic building that now houses 12 market rate apartments and retail space on the first floor. The preservation and renovation of the building strikingly revealed that there were actually two, not one, original entrances. The project team faithfully brought this dual-entry system back, along with recreating original millwork and saving the leaded glass transoms. With historic rehabilitation tax credits to help, the building once again is a great asset to historic Charles Street. The Adaptive Reuse and Compatible Design Award went to architect Brasher Design and contractors John E. Day Associates.
This week’s edition of the Baltimore Building of the Week series is the George C. Wilkins House, built in 1876 at the corner of St. Paul Street and Biddle Street,
Image courtesy Jack Breihan
Although the Victorian Gothic style, with all its spikey verticality and asymmetry, did not lend itself to the rowhouse, this attached house in Mount Vernon displays all these attributes. It was designed by the architect J. Appleton Wilson in 1876.
Washington Monument, Detroit Publishing Company/LOC 1906
On September 13 at 1:45 PM, the Baltimore Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation will hold a public hearing on the Mount Vernon Place Draft Restoration Master Plan. The plan was commissioned by the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy, a nonprofit established in 2008 to establish a public-private partnership with the City of Baltimore to restore and maintain Mount Vernon Place. Following a competitive process in 2009, MVPC selected Philadelphia landscape architecture firm OLIN to create the Mount Vernon Place Restoration and Revitalization Master Plan. The Master Plan is designed to serve as “the guiding document informing the fundraising and restoration of Mount Vernon Place to be completed before its bicentennial in July 2015.” The plan addresses a wide range of issues including the restoration of existing historic fabric, pedestrian access & safety, landscaping, lighting and infrastructure. You can download a PDF copy of the summary of the Mount Vernon Place Restoration and Revitalization Master Plan here.
