Category Archives: Central Baltimore

Behind the Scenes Tour: Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany: St. Mark’s Church

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There are few places where you can stand in the middle of a room and almost everything you see is made or decorated by Tiffany:  glass, paint, finishes, etc.  St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church on St. Paul Street, with its entire interior designed by the Tiffany Company of New York, is one of them.  Please join our host, Reverend Dale Dusman, for a tour and a bit of Tiffany overload at this hidden Baltimore gem and us.

Tour Information

St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1900 St. Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21218 (corner of St. Paul St. & North Ave.)
Saturday, January 28, 2012 | 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
$10 for members | $20 for non-members
RSVP for the tour today!

In the 1890’s, the St. Mark’s congregation engaged architect Joseph Evans Sperry (who would later go on to design Baltimore’s Bromo Seltzer Tower, among other buildings) to help them build a new church.  Sperry came up with a Romanesque design that is known for its heavy stones, arched doors and windows, and short columns.  Romanesque design comes from central and western Europe, where many of St. Mark’s congregants also traced their lineages.  (An Estonian congregation called EELK Baltimore Markuse Kogudus continues to use St. Mark’s for worship each month.)  In 1898 the church was completed, and since then has been one of Baltimore’s outstanding examples of Romanesque architecture.  On the inside, St. Mark’s engaged the Tiffany Glass Decorating Company, under the direction of artist Rene de Quelen (Tiffany’s head artist), to come up with a plan that was equally fitting to the grand architecture.  De Quelen used a Byzantine approach, with deep colors, lots of jewels, and many mosaics.  Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of Tiffany’s founder and then head of the company, had studied art in Paris and had spent time in Spain and North Africa where he learned about this approach to decorating.  The interior boasts Tiffany windows and Rubio marble inlaid with mother of pearl for the altar, pulpit, and lectern.  Our host for the tour is Reverend Dale Dusman of St. Mark’s.  Although Reverend Dusman’s calling is the church, he has steeped himself in the history of St. Mark’s and its architecture.  Please join us on this All-Things-Tiffany tour.  We are sure you will never drive or walk past the 1900 block of St. Paul Street the same way again.

Behind the Scenes Tour: 1st Mariner Arena – January 18

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A heritage tour of the 1st Mariner Arena? Yes! Built in 1962, the 1st Mariner Arena is celebrating its 50th year and has a marvelous history. Please join us as we wander backstage and peek into the building’s nooks and crannies with arena manager Frank Remesch to see where the Beatles played, Martin Luther King orated, and Elvis threw up.

Tour Information

1st Mariner Arena | 201 West Baltimore Street, 21201 (specific directions for where to enter and where to park will be forthcoming)
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 | 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
$10 for Baltimore Heritage Members | $20 for non members (please join today!)

RSVP for the tour today!

In 1961, the cornerstone of the Baltimore Civic Center (as it was then called) was laid, enclosing a time capsule with notes from President John F. Kennedy, Maryland Governor Millard Tawes, and Baltimore Mayor Harold Grady. Located on the site of the former Old Congress Hall where the Continental Congress met in 1776, the arena opened a year later to great acclaim as part of a concerted effort to revitalize downtown Baltimore. Through ups and downs and a number of renovations, the arena has become woven into the fabric of the city. In its early years, Baltimore’s professional hockey team (the Baltimore Clippers) played here, as did the Baltimore Bullets, the city’s former basketball team. In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered a speech called “Race and the Church” at the arena as part of a gathering of Methodist clergy, and in 1989 the arena hosted the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships. And then there are the concerts. On Sunday, September 13, 1964 the Beatles played back-to-back shows at the arena to throbbing young Baltimoreans, and the arena is reportedly one of the only indoor venues in the U.S. still standing where the Fab Four played. In the 1970s, Led Zeppelin played the arena and shot a few scenes for their movie “The Song Remains the Same” backstage. Also in the 1970s, the Grateful Dead performed many shows here, including a performance where they played the song “The Other One” for a reportedly record forty minutes.

Finally in 1977, Elvis Presley performed at the arena just weeks before he died. The tickets for the show sold out in 2 ½ hours, and although there were no untoward incidents reported while The King was onstage, he did apparently lose his lunch in a corridor in the back. Please join us and First Mariner Arena manager Frank Remesch on a tour of the building, onstage and backstage, to see the inner workings of a 14,000 seat arena and hear some of the stories that it has collected over its half a century in Baltimore. Please also join us after the tour for a drink at Alewife, a bar/restaurant just a block and a half away, to share your stories of the arena.

Why the West Side Matters: Join us for West Side Wednesdays this winter

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Howard & Lexington, November 1966, image courtesy the Maryland Historical Society

This morning the Board of Estimates voted to extend the city’s land disposition agreement with Lexington Square Partners for the development of the Superblock for another year. We’ve spent much of 2011 pushing the city to recognize the importance of the West Side’s rich social and architectural history as an asset to the neighborhood’s revitalization. The development team has now acknowledged the landmark sit-in at Read’s Drug Store with a proposal to retain the exterior walls of the 1934 building and the City has approved a plan with funding to stabilize this publicly-owned building. We opposed the extension granted by the Board of Estimates this morning because we believe the development plan continues to call for the demolition of too many historic buildings. The West Side’s unique heritage should be the foundation for building a more vibrant and livable neighborhood so we are renewing our efforts to share the stories of the West Side with people from across the city.

Dr. Helena Hicks, West Side Walking Tour with City Neighbors Charter SchoolFor over two hundred years this neighborhood has been a center of activity to entrepreneurs and merchants of all kinds, suffragists and civil rights protestors, and much more. With all of these diverse stories to tell, we’re bringing back last winter’s Why the West Side Matters series here on our website and offering a new set of lunch time walking tours on the second Wednesday of each month from January through April 2012.

  • January 11 — Meet at Lexington Market (Eutaw & Lexington Streets)
  • February 8 — Meet at Pratt Library Central Branch (Cathedral Street between Franklin & Mulberry Streets)
  • March 14 — Meet at Lexington Market (Paca & Lexington Streets)
  • April 11 — Meet at Charles Center (Center Plaza)

Each unique 1-hour tour will start at 12:30 pm visiting places like Pascault Row, G. Krug & Son Iron Works, the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center, and much more. Come for one tour or come for them all and please make sure to join our e-mail list or connect with us on Facebook for reminders about these and other upcoming programs.

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

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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.

Join an open conversation connecting people, places and the past at Bmore Historic

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We’re excited to announce a new event for local historians, museum professionals, preservationists, archivists, activists, scholars, students and anyone who cares about engaging communities around our shared heritage. Join us on December 2, 2011 at the Maryland Historical Society for Bmore Historic– an unconference on public history, historic preservation and community development in Baltimore and across the state of Maryland.

What is an “unconference”?

Anyone who goes to conferences knows that the most productive conversations often take place in the hallway or over drinks at the end of the day. An unconference takes this idea and runs with it. Unlike most traditional academic or professional meetings, an unconference is created and managed by the participants, with the topics of discussion sessions or workshops determined by everyone who attends on the day of the meeting, rather than in advance by the organizers. New unconferences are being organized around the country with examples including PubCamp for professionals in public media, Book Camp on books & publishing, THATCamp for scholars working with digital humanities, and (locally) CreateBaltimore unconference for art & technology. You don’t need to worry about preparing a PowerPoint or a formal paper, we’re just looking for people who are excited about historic places and ready share their knowledge and collaborate with

Why should I participate?

Bmore Historic is an opportunity to share your work, learn from others, get new ideas and develop new partnerships. This meeting is not limited just to scholars or professionals. Students, volunteer preservation activists, Main Street board members, museum docents, educators and others are all encouraged to register and attend. We hope that Bmore Historic can help strengthen connections between people who work with public history, preservation and community development across the region while expanding the diversity of the broader heritage community.

How do I register?

Online registration for the meeting is now open on our website. We’re accepting registrations on a first come, first served basis with confirmations starting in early November. After we confirm your registration, you’ll have a chance to share your session ideas in a blog post on the Bmore Historic website and check out ideas from other participants.

What does it cost?

We’re committed to charging $20 or less. With the space generously donated by the Maryland Historical Society, our costs are limited and we’re currently seeking funds to reduce the charge for all participants. This charge will be finalized by early November. If you are interested in sponsoring Bmore Historic, please get in touch with Eli Pousson at pousson@baltimoreheritage.org.

We’ll kick off the meeting on the evening of December 1 with “Giving the Past Presence: Public History Experiments in New York City” — a UMBC Humanities Forum with Marci Reaven, former director of City Lore and co-founder of Place Matters. We hope this talk can provide an inspiration for the conversations the next day. On December 2, we’ll be at the Maryland Historical Society with sessions in the morning and afternoon. Breakfast and lunch are both provided.

Bmore Historic is being organized in partnership with the Greater Baltimore History Alliance, the Maryland Association of History Museums, the Maryland Historical Society, the Maryland Historical Trust, Preservation Maryland, and the UMBC Orser Center for the Study of Place, Community, and Culture. If you have any questions, please get in touch with Eli Pousson at pousson@baltimoreheritage.org or 301-204-3337. We hope to see you in December!

Behind the Scenes Tour of a Thomas Moore Studios restoration at the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion

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Our next Behind the Scenes Tour will be an up-close examination of the restoration work that is currently in process in the ballroom of the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion with restoration artist Thomas Moore of Thomas Moore Studios. Mr. Moore will personally take us through the process of how he is returning this fabulous example of Gilded Age opulence to its former glory.

Tour Details

Garrett-Jacobs Mansion, 11 W. Mt. Vernon Place, 21201
Thursday, July 28 | 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
$15/members, $20/non-members – wine and cheese will be served.
RSVP for the tour today!

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Baltimore’s Young Preservationist Happy Hour meets Wikipedia

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Baltimore’s Young Preservationist Happy Hour is back in Mount Vernon on Friday, July 22 for our usual beers plus a quick talk from the the new Wikipedian-In-Residence at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art! Can’t get enough Wikipedia in one evening? Come out to the first GLAM Wiki Partnerships in Baltimore meeting hosted by the Walters Art Museum on Saturday, July 23.

Young Preservationist Happy Hour meets Wikipedia

Friday, July 22, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Midtown Yacht Club, 15 East Centre Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
RSVP Today!

Despite the name and its location just across the street from the historic Peabody Conservatory, the Midtown Yacht Club is an unpretentious neighborhood bar with affordable drinks (all beer & cocktails will be 50 cents off all evening) and a solid Tex-Mex influenced bar menu. Come early to grab your beer and get settled so you can enjoy our talk on exciting new partnerships between Wikipedia and cultural heritage organizations at 6:30 pm.

From the British Library to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, cultural heritage organizations are partnering with the Wikipedian community to share collections of historic photographs, document public art, celebrate local landmarks, and more. Join us for a short talk by Sarah Stierch–the new Wikipedian-in-Residence for the Smithsonian Archives of American Art–starting at 6:30 pm or just drop by for a beer when you can.

GLAM Wiki Partnerships in Baltimore

Saturday, July 23, 10:00 am to 12:30 pm
Walters Museum, 600 North Charles Street
RSVP by July 18

If you work with a cultural heritage organization and you’re interested in developing your own partnerships with Wikipedians and the Wikimedia community, join us for the first GLAM Wiki Partnerships in Baltimore meeting hosted by the Walters Museum. We’ll start with an introduction to how GLAMs (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) across the country are partnering with Wikipedia from Wiki DC organizer Katie Flibert and museum professional Sarah Stierch. This introduction will be followed by a presentation by Dylan Kinnett on new online engagement efforts by the Walters Art Museum. We’ll then conclude with a lively brainstorming session on new opportunities here in Baltimore. Please RSVP for this meeting by July 18!

Join us for The Raven Forevermore: A Poe House Fundraiser

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Many of you have heard that after many years of stewardship, Baltimore City is no longer providing funds for the operation, programming and upkeep of the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum. We are pleased to be a partner in one of the creative efforts underway to raise support for this city landmark. Gaia, a MICA-trained and critically acclaimed emerging artist with gallery shows in Chicago, New York and Washington and street art from Madrid to Seoul, has donated 100 limited edition prints of his block print “The Raven (Forevermore), 2011” to help the Poe House.

We are hosting a special reception with the artist at the historic Railway Express building to learn about the Poe House and raise money for its upkeep through the sale of this generously donated artwork. The invitation-only event is free (even the wine and cheese!) and you will have an opportunity to purchase a print before they go on sale to the public. All proceeds from the sale will go directly to the Poe House. Baltimore art collectors Claribel and Etta Cone had to go all the way to Paris to find up and coming artists like Picasso and Matisse. All you have to do is get yourself to the Railway Express Building. I hope you can join us.

Event Details

July 14, 2011
Urbanite@Case[werks] in the Railway Express Building
1501 St. Paul Street, Suite 116 (across from Penn Station)
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Free!
RSVP Today!

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Behind the Scenes Tour of Baltimore’s Battle Monument

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Did you notice that Baltimore’s Battle Monument at Calvert and Fayette Streets was recently covered in scaffolding and black tarps? What’s happening is a whole-monument restoration effort in advance of the commemoration of the War of 1812 beginning next year. Thanks to the Baltimore Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation and monument restoration specialists S.A.T., Inc., we have a rare opportunity to peek behind the tarps, so to speak, to learn about the monument close up and how the experts are going about restoring nearly 200 year old marble, iron, and bronze. Please join us!

Battle Monument

Calvert and Fayette Streets
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 | Noon to 1:00 p.m.
$10/members, $15/non-members
RSVP Today!

Please Note: Due to very real space constraints at the monument site, space on this tour is limited to 25 people. Sorry! We’ll fill up on a first to RSVP, first served bases. This is a hard hat tour that may include climbing a few stairs on scaffolding. We will supply the hard hats.
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Baltimore’s Young Preservationist Happy Hour in the Station North Arts District

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Start your Memorial Day weekend with a happy crowd of architects, archivists, planners and folks who just love old buildings and join us us for our third Young Preservationist Happy Hour at Joe Squared on North Avenue.

Young Preservationist Happy Hour | 133 W. North Avenue

Friday, May 27, 2010
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
RSVP Today!

Since 2005, Joe Squared has anchored the corner of Howard Street and West North Avenue in an early 20th century block first used as a tavern back in the 1950s. No specials on tap this time but with outdoor seating and a menu of unique pizzas, salads, and sandwiches, Joe’s is a can’t miss destination on North Avenue. If this is your first Baltimore Heritage event, we’ll give you a free membership with discounts on tours and a subscription to our quarterly newsletter. Please RSVP for a chance to win discounted tickets to the 2011 Baltimore Heritage Awards Celebration in historic Union Square Park.

Take a tour of the Station North Arts District with the Central Baltimore Partnership


Joe Squared isn’t the only exciting new business and neat historic building on North Avenue. Join Ashley Wallace, Community Planner for the Central Baltimore Partnership, on a quick 30 minute walking tour starting at the Charles Theater at 5:25 PM. We’ll stop by the Crown Cork & Seal Co. Building (better known at the Copycat) where William Painter invented the bottle cap in 1891 along with new arts spaces like the Load of Fun Gallery. When you RSVP just let us know if you’re coming early for the tour.