Tag: Central Baltimore

Baltimore Building of the Week: Savings Bank of Baltimore

This week’s Baltimore Building of the Week is unfortunately really last week’s Baltimore Building of the Week as we play a bit of catch up. The Savings Bank of Baltimore is a classic bank building at the very heart of downtown–

Image courtesy Jack Breihan

The Beaux-Arts movement of cloaking modern steel-framed buildings with historical architectural styles appears again. This time the style is drawn from ancient Greece. Built in 1907, this elaborate white marble Ionic temple sits atop three underground of parking and vaults. It was built for the Savings Bank of Baltimore, the city’s oldest bank.

Appropriately, the site is the corner of Charles and Baltimore Streets (from which all Baltimore street numbers are calculated). Catty-corner to it is the headquarters of the B&O Railroad, a more conventional Beaux-Arts skyscraper. Both were built in the aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. It currently houses offices.

Behind the Scenes Tour of Lovely Lane


In 1784 during the “Christmas Conference” at the Lovely Lane Meeting House in Baltimore, American Methodist was born. Surprisingly, this predated the organization of the Methodist community in England where it originated. Please join us on a tour of Baltimore’s signature Methodist building today, the Lovely Lane United Methodist Church, known as the Mother Church of American Methodism and an architectural treasure to boot.

Date: Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Time: 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Place: Lovely Lane United Methodist Church (2200 St. Paul St., Baltimore 21218)
Cost: $10 for members / $20 for non-members (please join!)

Registration: Click here to register.
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Baltimore Building of the Week: Maryland Institute College of Art Main Building

The Baltimore Building of the Week arrives on Mount Royal Avenue and the campus of the Maryland Institute College of Art for a feature on their 1908 Main Building designed by New York architects Pell & Corbett following a design competition sponsored by the New York Association of Independent Architects.

Image courtesy Jack Breihan

The Beaux-Arts movement in architecture used up-to-date technology clothed in various historical styles. Penn Station (featured last week) employed French Neoclassical elements; MICA’s Main Building revives the Italian Renaissance style. Renaissance palazzos were considered most appropriate for art galleries – the Walters Art Museum is another example.

2010 Preservation Awards: UB Liberal Arts and Policy Building

Image courtesy Cho Benn Holback + Associates

The University of Baltimore’s Liberal Arts and Policy Building at 10 W. Preston Street originally housed the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal secret society founded in 1894 and the first such society to be incorporated under an act of Congress. The co-educational institution, University of Baltimore, acquired the building and undertook an extensive renovation project in which the original stained glass and spiral stairs were restored, as was the limestone fronts along Charles Street. The work even uncovered the original tile floor, which was cleaned and reused. The University of Baltimore is the owner and Cho Benn Holback + Associates was the architect.
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Baltimore Building of the Week: Penn Station

This week’s Baltimore Building of the Week for Dr. John Breihan includes a great photo of the historic Penn Station prior to the installation of the controversial Man/Woman sculpture–

Image courtesy Jack Breihan

Louis Sullivan’s skyscraper style (as seen in Baltimore’s Equitable Bank Building featured last week) made full use of modern steel-framed construction and electrical appliances like elevators. But in the 1890s it was superseded by a style with equally advanced technology but not based on Sullivan’s famous pronouncement that “Form follows function.” Inspired by – and named after – the great French architecture school, the Ecole de Beaux-Arts, this new style combined modern steel-framed construction with historical European styles. Penn Station, completed in 1911, is a good example. Planned to handle several streams of travel on several different levels, it nevertheless presents a serene classical façade to viewers approaching up Charles Street – balustrade roofline, modillioned cornice, paired Roman columns, rusticated stone base. The equally classical interior has undergone several restorations since the 1970s. In the 1990s a connection to Baltimore’s new light rail system was added. As it approaches its 100th birthday Penn Station shows how old buildings, well maintained can continue to serve the community.