Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage
SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2008 – 10 A.M. TO 5 P.M.
Mt. Vernon Mansions will be on display May 4, 2008 as a location on the Grande Dame of house tours. The homes and buildings open on the tour are located in the core of the Mount Vernon neighborhood, which has been designated as both a National Landmark Historic District and a Baltimore City Cultural District. This neighborhood, once home to the region's wealthiest families, is named for the Washington Monument , a large pillar commemorating George Washington, and its four flanking formal parks. The district is still home to many important cultural institutions, such as the Walters Art Gallery and The Peabody Institute, as well as innumerable art galleries, craft workshops, studios and community theaters.
Lunch: A light lunch will be available between 12 noon and 3 pm at the Asbury House, Mt. Vernon Methodist Church for $5.00
Monies raised by the Tour will be used by the Friends of Mt. Vernon Place to improve and maintain the Mt. Vernon parks gardens, site furnishings and infrastructure.
- Co-Chairmen:
- Barbara Jean Gilbert, Tel: 410-837-9585, Email Ms. Gilbert
Betty Loafman, Tel: 410-783-2969
Adrianne Carroll, Tel: 610-914-9579, Email Ms. Carroll
Sites 1-5:
WASHINGTON MONUMENT AND PARKS, (4 parks and the Monument) Ten years after the death of George Washington, a group of Baltimore's leaders petitioned the General Assembly of Maryland for the right to issue a lottery to raise funds for his memorial. Within 6 years, Robert Mills won a competition for the design of the monument at a site closer to the city center. When neighbors raised an alarm that the monument might fall and injure homes and city residents, Col. John Eager Howard offered the present site on his large estate outside the city. The construction of the monument began in 1815 and a simplified version of the original design completed by 1830. The 16' high marble sculpture of George Washington at the top of the monument was also commissioned through a competition, to Enrico Causici of Verona, Italy.
The four parks forming a cross around the Washington Monument are considered by many architectural historians to form one of the most beautiful urban spaces in the country. Based in part on the aesthetic of London residential squares of the 17th and 18th centuries, the parks were laid out by Howard family heirs to surround the monument in order to create a proper setting for large residential row house lots to be offered for sale.
Over the years the parks have been redesigned by leading landscape architects as well as furnished by the city with several significant bronze sculptures honoring civic leaders. The Mt. Vernon parks also contain several bronze sculptures by Antoine-Louis Barye, a French sculptor who was a favorite of William Walters.
6. MT. VERNON PLACE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 10 East Mount Vernon Place, is one of only three significant Gothic Revival buildings in Baltimore. Conceived as a "Cathedral of Methodism," the church was completed in 1872 on the former site of the Charles Howard Mansion, at that time considered to be at the outskirts of the city. A plaque observing the death of Francis Scott Key, who died in the home of Charles Howard (his son-in-law), has been placed on one of the church walls. This architecturally arresting structure graces the Northeast corner of the Mt. Vernon Monument. Six types of stone were used in its construction, including rare green serpentine which was mined in the Bare Hills area off Falls Road in Baltimore County.
The sanctuary seats 900 people on pews hand-carved from American walnut over the course of seven years by a single craftsman. Behind the pulpit stands a stained glass Connick cross, sister to the rose window modeled after one in Notre Dame in Paris.
6A. ASBURY HOUSE, 10 E Mount Vernon Place , is one of the few grand, early-Victorian houses in Baltimore that has never been broken up for apartments or offices.
The residence was built in 1850 for Albert Schumacher, a member of one of the city's leading German mercantile families. The entry-level floor of the five-story house served as offices and entertainment space for the Schumacher and later the Reiman families. The marble fireplace in the front office is believed to have been sculpted by William Henry Reinhart, for whom the Reinhart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art was named. The second floor holds a small library with elaborate carvings and a ceiling painting replicating Guido Reni's "Aurora." The spiral staircase, suspended from three stories, is one of the jewels of historic Baltimore architecture.
Cross to:
7. THE GARRETT-JACOBS MANSION/ENGINEERS CLUB, 11 West Mt. Vernon Place. The largest of the great Baltimore urban mansions, this elaborate dwelling was built out of 3 original adjoining properties facing the West Parks at Mount Vernon . It was built by Samuel George in 1853 on land originally belonging to the John Eager Howard family. In 1872, John Work Garrett, President of the B&O Railroad, bought No. 11 as a wedding gift for his son Robert Garrett. When Robert succeeded his father as president of the railroad, his wife, the former Mary Frick, decided to remodel the property and combine it with No. 9 West Mount Vernon Place . Working with the architect Stanford White, Mary removed the interior of both mansions and created a large entryway and stairway crowned with a Tiffany glass dome. The ballroom, theater and drawing room remain on the first floor. A recently renovated and enclosed courtyard stands at the rear of the property. After Robert Garrett's death, Mrs. Garrett married Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs in 1902. She engaged John Russell Pope to design a library for the house at the location of the front rooms of the adjoining rowhouse at No. 7 West Mount Vernon Place . In its final form, the mansion held 40 rooms, 100 windows, 16 fireplaces, a private theater and art gallery of fine paintings, a conservatory and a supper room replete with a musicians gallery. At one point threatened with demolition, the building has now been lovingly restored as a private club for the Engineering Society of Baltimore.
Cross the park to:
8. 12 WEST MT. VERNON PLACE, home of Ellen Sherwin, was built in the 1850s. The 1856 City Directory lists Alexander Gordon as the resident. When first constructed, the house was built in the style of the adjacent 8-10 West Mt. Vernon Place: three stories with simple classical proportions. However, like every other building on the block except 8-10, it was remodeled to bring it into current fashion in 1860 and again in 1870. At the second remodeling, Edmund Lind, designer of the nearby Peabody Institute and the George Peabody Library, added a fourth floor and altered both the facade and the interior layout. A peek at the wall on the east side provides evidence of the original brickwork and roofline. This house reflects the English influence prevalent in housing at that time. Entry off the street takes place at a first floor reception room with housekeeping spaces arrayed at the rear. The piano nobile, or grand rooms, were located up one level on the second floor. The taller windows on the exterior reflect this hierarchy. The current owner has refurbished the reception level to reflect her own eclectic style. Its opulent forms and creative use of color reinterpret Victorian aesthetics in a surprising manner.
Take Monument Street to the west, turn right (North) on Park Avenue and proceed to 829 Park Avenue:
9. 829 PARK AVENUE, home of Paul and Susan Warren, is considered one of the most ornate and historically intact homes in the Mount Vernon Historic District of Baltimore City. This 10,000 square foot house has enjoyed a rich and colorful history, most notably as the turn-of-the-century home of the Knabe family, manufacturers of world famous pianos. The home is still commonly referred to by Baltimore residents and city historians as The Knabe House. The first owners of the house, however, were the Floyd family. William S. Floyd, the family patriarch, was a tobacco manufacturer's agent. A smaller, set-back structure is shown in city records until 1879 when the Floyd family removed this house to build the large home that is now in place today. An addition to the rear of the home, designed as a dramatic sunroom and indoor atrium, was constructed c. 1900 while the Knabe family was in residence. The house was clearly intended to be a showplace in its day and a setting for the lavish entertainments of Mr. and Mrs. Knabe. When the Knabes left the house in the early 1900s, the move included 30 cases of silver and crystal. Between its service as a grand turn of the century residence and the present time, however, the Knabe House was converted, like many large homes in the Mount Vernon neighborhood, into office space. A succession of dentists and then psychiatrists carved the house into office space from approximately the 1920s until the 1990s. In 1999, it was purchased and returned to use as a single family home by the current residents who live in the house with their two school-aged children.
The Knabe house is an elegant example of the extensive renovations taking place in the Mount Vernon neighborhood, one of the most active and valuable real estate markets in the region. The house features intricate plaster moldings, ornate fireplace mantels, hand carved oak and mahogany paneling, inlaid oak and mahogany parquet flooring, Italian Carrera marble columns, leaded glass windows, a Tiffany-style stained glass skylight, custom mosaic tile floors, and an antique Knabe grand piano.
Go back South on Park Avenue to the corner of Madison and Park. Turn right on Madison Street and walk East on Madison to 4 East Madison:
10. 4 EAST MADISON INN, 4 East Madison Street, home of Betty Loafman and Sandra Lawlor. This gracious house, built in 1845, features marble stairs, mahogany doors and wainscoting, ornate etched glass panels, stone floors and a secluded garden. The house was purchased in 1903 by the Baer family. Dr. Baer established the department of orthopedic surgery at Johns Hopkins and created a joint professional practice with a Dr. Batch around the period of World War I. Dr. Baer converted the whole house to the medical offices of the "4 East Madison Orthopedic Group." This renowned medical practice was visited by many notables over the years, including Eleanor Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Katherine Hepburn and Mickey Mantle. The property is now lovingly maintained as a nine guestroom inn.