COUNTY: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC … NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES ... was built by...

Mt. Vernon P I . H. D. B-3722

" o r m 10-300 U N I T E D S T A T E S D E P A R T M E N T OF T H E I N T E R I O R

(J«iyiw9) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE M a r y l a n d C O U N T Y :

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES B a l t i m o r e C i t y INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY

E N T R Y N U M B E R D A T E

(Type all entries — complete applicable sections)

{ ! • : N A M f e X - y f i : : - " : ? - •"•-;•••:•"• .• -

COMMON: M o u n t vernon Place Historic District Mt. Vernon Historic and Architectural District

A N D / O R H I S T O R I C :

Mount Vernon Square, Mt. Vernon Place 2 , L O C A T I O N V .;•: , . ; . : '-..:. " " : : ' : v-Vy :-••-.•.-•.-.- -r^V- • • : • V ..•• ,:^'-[.,,-- •

S T R E E T AND N U M B E R :

Boundaries as shown on annexed map & described in ordinances c,TYORTOWN: listed in #9 Baltimore STATE CODE COUNTY: CODE

I Maryland | 24 | Baltimore City | 510 3 - C L A S S I F I C A T I O N

C A T E G 0 R Y O W N E R S H I P S T A T U S I T n x w l 5 ^ , , (Check One) T O T H E P U B L I C

— - — — 1 " " 55 Dis t r ic t Q Building • Publ ic Public A c q u i s i t i o n : [ j j - Occupied Y e s :

D Site • Structure • * » * • * . • l n P « > « « Q Unoccupied K Rest r ic ted

• Object BS Both • Being Considered g Pre .e rvot ion work ° Unrestr icted

in p r o g r e s s '—'

' P R E S E N T USE (Check One or More Bs Appropriate)

Q Agricultural Q Government [2{j Park [™| Transportat ion D Comments

[3$ Commercial • Industr ia l [ j j j Pr iva te Residence j jg Other (Specify)

Q t Educat ional • M i l i t a ry Q j Rel ig ious ("* 1 11 h , K n g i T I P P n ' n g

. 3 Entertainment B M " s e u m Q Scient i f ic C e n t e r

2 N- OWNER OF PROPERTY OWNER'S N A M E :

Multiple public and private S T R E E T AND N U M B E R :

City of Baltimore C I T Y OR TOWN: S T A T E :

Baltimore Maryland |g. LQCATldTrWTiGTu5ESCR<PTION

C O U R T H O U S E . R E G I S T R Y O F D E E D S . E T C :

Baltimore City Hall S T R E E T A N D N U M B E R :

Holliday Street C I T Y OR TOWN: S T A T E C O D E Q

Baltimore Maryland 24 5

-«. REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS

"TITLE OF SURVEY: S E E CONTINUATION SHEET 2 Maryland Register of Historic; sit-p.s and Landmarks

D A T E O F S U R V E Y : 1 g •y Q Q Federal J g State • County • L o c a l

D E P O S I T O R Y FOR S U R V E Y R E C O R D S : !

Maryland Historical Trust S T R E E T AND N U M B E R :

94 College Avenue C I T Y OR TOWN: S T A T E :

Baltimore Maryland 24

Mt. Vernon P I . H. D. B-3722 • p 7 , T D E S C f t l P T t Q N

i i i

(Check One)

• Excellent S Good • Foir • Deteriorated • Ruins Q Unexposed CONDITION

(Check One) (Check One) B Altered H Unoltered Q Moved | Q Original Site

D E S C R I B E T H E P R E S E N T AND O R I G I N A L (U (mown; P H Y S I C A L A P P E A R A N C E

LOCATION: Please see Ordinances #970 and #1065 (listed under #9).

The Mount Vernon Place Historic District, in its broad range of architectural styles, is a reflection of Baltimore's history and life patterns during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

As Baltimore spread northward in the nineteenth century, this area became the most fashionable residential district in the City, fulfilling a need for large and comfortable homes for the City's affluent. Most of these structures remain, many of them unaltered on the exterior though the interiors have been rearranged for modern use as apartments or offices.

Located on the squares surrounding the Washington Monument, there are not only some of the grand mansions of Baltimore's leading citizens of the period such as the Garrett-Jacobs House, now the Engineering Center, and the Thomas-Jencks-Gladding House by Niernsee and Neilson, 1859, but also the Peabody Institute Concert Hall (E. G. Lind, 1857-1861) and the Mount Vernon Place Methodist Church (Dixon and Carson, 1870-1872). In the area are Belvidere Terrace, a radical change in the concept of rowhouse design, and such architecturally significant buildings as the Maryland Club (Baldwin and Pennington, 1891-1895), the Peabody Dormitory (Edward Durrell Stone and Associates, 1968), the First Presbyterian Church (Starkweather, 1845-1858 and Lind, 1874), the apotheosis of nineteenth-century ecclesiastical style, and the Maryland Historical Society which contains an important collection of artifacts including the original manuscript of the "Star Spangled Banner." On the northwest extremity of the District lies Tyson Street, with its humble homes of early nineteenth-century artisans.

The original concept of a square in the European form still exists on Mount Vernon Place. The squares which flank the Monument are landscaped with shrubs, grass and walks, and are embellished with statues and fountains. There are no setbacks from the building line to destroy nineteenth-century continuity and symmetry.

Surrounding Mount Vernon Place and included in the District are several pleasant groups of row houses which were built in the mid-to-late nineteenth century as well as a number of important public buildings of the same period.

The Washington Monument, built between 1815 and 1829, was the first formal monument built in a city in the United States to George Washington and the funds for its erection

1 SEE CONTINUATION SHEET

Mt. Vernon P I . H. D. B-3722 t

Form 10-300o UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR S T A T E _ . (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE M a r y l a n d

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES COUNTY

INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM g 3 J ^ ~ ~ ^ FOR NP5 USE ONLY

ENTRY NUMBER DATE (Continuation Sheet) ——

(Ntrnibar al l mntrlem)

Mount Vernon Place Historic District

#6. REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS continued

Landmark List Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation

1967 Local

Room 402 City Hall Baltimore, Maryland Code : 24

#7. DESCRIPTION continued

were raised by public subscription. The contest which was held to select the architect was won by Robert Mills (1781-1855), the first native-born professional architect in the country, who had studied under Hoban and Latrobe and who was later to design the Records Office in Charleston, S. C , and the Post Office and Treasury Buildings in Washington, D. C. The original design was considerably modified and the Monument as it was built is a simple Doric column constructed of Baltimore County marble and surmounted with a statue of General Washington in the act of resigning his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary War armies. An information center and exhibit of the history of the Monument are housed in its base.

The Engineering Center, formerly the Garrett-Jacobs^ House, occupies three lots on the south side of West Mount Vernon Place. The main body of the house was built after designs bv McKim, Mead & White in 1884 for Robert Garrett, then President of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The remainder was added in 1905 by John Russell Pope for Mrs. Henry Barton Jacobs, the former Mrs. Garrett. The house provides an interesting contrast to the other dwellings on the square, which are all of Georgian or Italian Renaissance style, with its horizontal rather than vertical lines and its asymmetrical details. The interior, now (1971) in the process of redecoration and adaptation to the building's present use as a private club, is a reflection of late nineteenth-century opulence.

The interior of the Peabody Institute Library, (E. G. Lind, 1875-1878) is a tour de force of ironwork described by the first Provost of the Institute, Nathaniel H. Morison, as a "Cathedral of Books." Four tiers of ornamental cast-iron balconies, which contain the stacks, surround the reading room. The exterior

(1 of 4 continuation sheets)

Mt. Vernon P I . -H. D. B-3722 Form 10-SOOo UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR T S T T T E (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE M a r y l a n d g - ^ f ^ v


B a l t i m o r e C i t y INVENTORY • NOMINATION FORM

FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER DATE

(Continuation Sheet) (Number mil tittlam)


#7. DESCRIPTION continued

of the building matches Lind's earlier Peabody Concert Hall next door. Built in French Academic style, the two structures are constructed of marble and were purposely kept to two stories in height so as not to overshadow the Thomas-Jencks-Gladding House across the square to the west.

Belvidere Terrace, built from 1877 to 1880 and occupying the 1000 block of North Calvert Street, represents a break from the formulated row house of nineteenth-century Baltimore with a continual block of connected houses having individual characteristics; the facades altered by individual fenestration, by decorative details, the panels differing from house to house or from grouping to grouping. They are constructed of brick, the ornamentation varying in its use of terra cotta, iron, and stone trim. The architects who cooperated in this venture were John A. Wilson, William Thomas Wilson, J. B. Noel Wyatt and Joseph E. Sperry.

Tyson Street, or "Pastel Row" as it is locally known from the colors chosen by the homeowners, is a block of small two or three story houses built circa 1820. Tyson Street represents a successful effort at private urban renewal despite threats from the outside.. Artists, young married couples and people who prefer to live close to the amenities of the city have rehabilitated what was an almost uninhabitable slum.

The original building of the Maryland Historical Society was built by Enoch Pratt as his home in 1848. It is a three story and attic Italianate style mansion, typical of many in Baltimore of that period. Built of brick with stone decorative trim, it has a handsome porticoed entrance supported by columns. The roof is surrounded by an iron railing and the roof cornice has brackets and dentils. Medallions appear in the cornices over the windows and the entrance.

While much of the City is in the throes of redevelopment, the Mount Vernon Place Historic District remains generally original in appearance and is still largely residential in character. With the return of former surburbanites to this area, there is continued reconstruction of many buildings and awakening interest in the possibilities of further rehabilitation.


Mt. Vernon P I . H. D. B-3722 fr S I G N I F I C A N C E '

PERIOD (Check One or More me Appropriate)

• Pre-Columbian 1 Q 16th Century • 18th Century XJ 20th Century

• 15th Century • 17th Century gg 19th Century

SPECIFIC DATE(S) (If Applicable and Known)

A R E A S OF S I G N I F I C A N C E (Check One or More me Appropriate)

Aboriginal fjjj Education Q Political E Urban Planning

• Prehistoric Q Engineering g ] R.l igion/Phi. • 0 , h , r (Specify)

• Historic Q Industry losophy

• Agriculture f-| Invention • Science

H Architecture g j Landscape g ) Sculpture

B A r * Architecture r j Social/Human-• Commerce QJ Literature j f o r i o n

• Communications rj M i | i t o r v r-j T h e o f e r

S Conservation B M u l j e r-, T r o n , p o r , o t j o n *

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Centered around the Washington Monument and its four radiating parks, Mount Vernon Place Historic District is the finest surviving example in Maryland of nineteenth-century urban planning and has served as the focal point of many of Baltimore's most important events in the last one hundred and fifty years.

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE DC

As a concentration of excellence which has survived the vicissitudes of a changing society and which continues to contribute to the fabric of the City with the presence in the area of such institutions as the Walters Art Gallery, the Peabody Institute and the Maryland Historical Society, the Mount Vernon Place Historic District has remained alive and is attracting people back to the City from the suburbs.

John Eager Howard (1752-1827) , Revolutionary patriot and statesman, owned the "Belvidere" estate which included most of the present (1972) Historic District. He donated the land on which the Washington Monument stands and his heirs built the first houses on Mount Vernon Place.

Within the District are represented four of Baltimore's great philanthropists. In 1857, George Peabody (1795-1869), an international banker, established the Institute which bears his name and which is one of the leading schools of music in the United States. William T. Walters (1820-1894) and Henry Walters (1848-1931) , father and son and both railroad magnates, left to the City their outstanding collections of art which cover all eras from early Egypt to the nineteenth century Impressionists. Enoch Pratt (1808-1896), who made his fortune out of horse and mule shoes, and who gave the Enoch Pratt Free Library to the people of Baltimore, lived in the mansion which now houses the Maryland Historical Society.

SEE CONTINUATION SHEET


Form 10-300o UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR [ S T A T E (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE M a r y l a n d 5 - s > r A ^


INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM Baltimore Citv FOR NPS USE ONLY

, _ . _ , ENTRY NUMBER DATE

(Continuation Sheet) — (Number mil mntrlaa)


#8. SIGNIFICANCE continued

Many world notables have been entertained on Mount Vernon Place. In 1850, Louis Kossuth, the great Hungarian patriot, visited the Thomas family at 1 West Mount Vernon Place and King Edward VII of England, when he toured the United States as the English Prince of Wales in 1860, was a guest at the house. Somewhat later, Margaret Sanger, the anthropoligist, introduced the concept of birth control to a group of startled Baltimore society matrons in the same house and in 1911, the Women's Civic League of Baltimore was founded there. Until 1871, the annual Flower Mart, sponsored by the League and attended by people from all over the City and surrounding counties, was held in Mount Vernon Place. President Woodrow Wilson was a frequent guest at the home of Theodore Marburg on West Mount Vernon Place. Marshall Joffre of France broke ground for the statue of Lafayette which adorns one of the squares. James Cardinal Gibbons, on his return from Rome after his elevation to Prince of the Church, was a guest of honor at a parade in the square, and doughboys returning from World War I paraded around the Washington Monument when they were welcomed home by the people of Baltimore.

#9. REFERENCES continued

Baltimore City Tax Records

Beirne, Francis F. The Amiable Baltimoreans. E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. (New York, 1951).

Dehler, Katharine B. ,Qur Heritage. (Baltimore, 1964). Pamphlet published by the Engineering Society of Baltimore.

Dehler, Katharine B. The Thomas-Jencks-Gladding House. Bodine & Associates, Inc. (Baltimore, 1968).

Hart, Richard H. Enoch Pratt, The Story of a Plain Man. Enoch Pratt Free Library. (Baltimore, 1967).

. History of the Women's Civic League of Baltimore. King Brothers, Inc. (Baltimore, 1961).


Mt. Vernon P H. D. B-3722 Form 10-300o UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR T S T T T E (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE M a r y l a n d

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES c o u " T \ 7 . ~ B a l t i m o r e C i t y

INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM — FOR NPS USE ONLY

E N T R Y N U M B E R D A T E

(Continuation Sheet) (Number mil entritm)


#9. REFERENCES continued

Howland, Richard H. and Eleanor Spencer. The Architecture of Baltimore. Johns Hopkins Press. (Baltimore 1953). pp. 106.

Miller, J. Jefferson. The Washington Monument in Baltimore. The Peale Museum. (1966). Pamphlet.

Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Baltimore City and County. Louis H. Evarts. (Philadelphia, 1881).

Stanton, Phoebe B. Mount Vernon Square. (March 20, 1965). (Unpublished document, property of the Commission for Historic and Architectural Preservation, Baltimore).



3. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Recorder: Elizabeth H. Eager (Mrs. John Howard Eager III), Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, 402 City Hall, Baltimore, Maryland.

Legislative Reference, Baltimore City Hall, Holliday Street, Baltimore, Maryland. Ordinance #1065, June 26, 1967. Ordinance #970, signed April 17, 1967. Ordinance #229, May 21, 1964. Ordinance #939, March 2, 1967. Ordinance #316, December 16, 1968.

REE CONTINUATION SHEET JO. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ' . .:,::; .- >_

LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY 0 DEFINING THE CENTER POINT OF A PROPERTY

. p OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES CORNER LATITUDE LONGITUDE LATITUDE LONGITUDE

Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds

NW 39° 18 -05.8- 76° 37-13.7 NE 39 • 18 '09.1- 76° 36 -45.9 SE 39 • 17 -45 - 76° 37 -72.1 sw 1 39 o 17 -4fi - 76° 36 -45.?

A P P R O X I M A T E A C R E A G E O F N O M I N A T E D P R O P E R T Y :

IL IST A L L S T A T E S A N D C O U N T I E S FOR P R O P E R T I E S O V E R L A P P I N G S T A T E OR C O U N T Y B O U N D A R I E S S T A T E : C O D E C O U N T Y C O D E STATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE

STATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE

S T A T E : C O D E C O U N T Y : C O D E

1 | I I I FORM PREPARED BY i

N A M E A N D T l T L E :

Mrs. Preston Parish, Keeper of the Maryland Register O R G A N I Z A T I O N D A T E

Maryland Historical Trust | Feb. 14, 1972 STREET AND NUMBER:

9 4 College Avenue C I T Y OR TOWN: S T A T E C O D E

_

| A n n a p o l i s Mary l and - I 24 T.. STATE LIAISON OFFICER CERTIFICAl ION NATIONAL REGISTER VERIFICATION

As the designated State Lia ison Officer for the Na-_< ' . . . . . . , , » . r -ncc ,T-. - i i i I hereby certify that th is property is included in the tional Historic Prese rva t ion Act of 1966 (Publ ic Law 89-665), I hereby nominate th i s property for inc lus ion Nat ional Regis ter . in the National Regis ter and certify that it has been

evaluated according to the criteria and procedures s e t

forth by the National Park Service. The recommended ; Chief, Office of Archeology ana Historic P rese rva t ion

level of s ignif icance of this nomination i s : National jj_) State • Loca l •

Date ,

Name ^^

O r l a n d o R i d o u t IV " ATTEST:

T i t l e S t a t e L i a i s o n O f f i c e r f o r M a r y l a n d - .

Keeper of The National Register

tote F e b r u a r y 1 6 , 1972 Date

- . ._ GP 0 9 0 1 - 0 8 7

B-3722

C O M M I S S I O N FOR H I S T O R I C A L AND A R C H I T E C T U R A L P R E S E R V A T l .

! ' M T. V E R N O N +~NUL lrounA*ne$ P R E S E R V A T I O N D I S T R ! C T ^ ^ ^ ^ 5

MAY 2 1 , 1 9 6 4 - D E C E M B E R ! 6 , I 9 S 8

C I T Y OF B A L T I M O R E , M A R Y L A N D

Form 10-300 U N I T E D S T A T E S D E P A R T M E N T O F T H E I N T E R I O R S T A T E : B-3722 (July 1969) . NATIONAL PARK SERVICE M a r y l a n d

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Baltimore

INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER DATE

(Type all entries — complete applicable sections)

j.NAME ~ COMMON: ,

Mount Vernon Place Historic District . - — 9

AND/OR HISTORIC:


[2.;;.tjppATroN:: STREET AND NUMBER: ',

Mount Vernon Place and Washington Place CITY OR TOWN:

Baltimore S T A T E CODE COUNTY: CODE

I Maryland ZZZZI Baltimore J3. CLASS?FICATJCIN

C A T E G 0 R Y OWNERSHIP STATUS (Check One) TO THE PUBLIC

jgC Dist r ic t Q Building B Publ ic Public Acquis i t ion: £ ] Occupied Y " :

D Slt» • Structure B P ' i y ° t e D In Process r-j Unoccupied D R e « " i c , e d

• Object B Both • Being Considered _-, p r e „ r v o t i o n w o r k £ . Unrestr icted

in p r o g r e s s '—'

P R E S E N T USE (Check One or More as Appropriate!)

I I Agricultural Q Government |X) Pork • Transportat ion CD Comments

[~~1 Commercial O Industrial Q Pr ivate Residence Q Other (Specify)

• Educational • Mi l i tary Q Rel igious

• Entertainment I S Museum Q Scient i f ic .

Z ^ O W N E R < } F P R O P E R T Y ' j . ' ...•"'•-•.;•;

•

City of Baltimore STREET AND NUMBER:

Baltimore City Hall CITY OR TOWN: STATE: CODE

Baltimore Maryland UbCA^iOlT^LgGAtPgSCRIPTIQH ___ .: COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS. ETC: r>

Land Record Office of the Superior Court of Baltimore City | STREET AND NUMBER:

Room 610 Baltimore City Court House CITY OR TOWN: STATE CODE

1 Baltimore , | Maryland 6. REPRESEriTAttQN IN eXl l f lNG SURVEYS; ( "

TITLE OF SURVEY: Z

Historic American Buildings Survey D A T E OF S U R V E Y : 1 9 3 6 j { £ l Federol •• • State • County Q ] Local ^

DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS:

Library of Congress STREET AND NUMBER: >

CITY OR TOWN: . S T A T E :

Washington [District of Columbia

7. D E S C R I P T I O N B-3722 fC/iec* One;

• Excellent £ 3 Good [H Foir • Deteriorated • Ruins • Unexposed CONDITION 1 — - — — - — ; —

(Check One) (Check One) • Altered g j Unaltered [7] Moved g ^ Original Site

D E S C R I B E T H E P R E S E N T AND O R I G I N A L (II known) P H Y S I C A L A P P E A R A N C E

The dominant feature of the Mount Vernon Place Historic District is the Washington Monument by Robert Mills which was constructed between 1815 and 1829. As built, the monument is much simpler than the prize-winning design. Basically the monument is a monumental Doric column and capital placed on a high square pedestal and topped with a 15»foot high standing statue of George Washington. The monument is constructed of marble quarried in neighboring Baltimore county. The contractors were the firm of Towson and Steuart. The Monument is 165 feet high to the top of the column. The original design called for applied bronze ornament to the column shaft, and "trophy" sculpture for the top of the pedestal. These refinements were never carried out. However, during the decade of the 1830's the handsome Mills circular cast iron fence, with paired gate posts resembling Roman fasces, was completed and the bronze lettering was applied to the four elevations of the pedestal. This lettering forms the following inscription:

To George Washington by the State of Maryland Born 22 February 1732 Died 14 December 1799 Commander in Chief of the American / Army 15 June 1775 Commissioned Resigned at Annapolis 23 December 1783 Trenton, 26 December 1776 Yorktown, 19 October 1781 President of the United States 4 March 1789 Retired to Mount Vernon 4 March 1797

The monument has four entrance doors, one on each face. The monument is entered from the south door and there is an open corridor on all four sides surrounding the base of the shaft. From the north corridor a doorway leads to the narrow circular stone stairway that leads to the roof of the pedestal and to the top of the column shaft.

The four rectangular parks that radiate for one city block to the north, south, east, and west of the monument to form open space in the shape of a Greek cross. The east-west axis, Mount Vernon Place, is 200 feet wide and 744 feet long; the north-south axis, Washington Place, is 150 feet wide and 744 feet long. Originally these rectangles were merely open grass. About 1850 they were fenced in and lined with trees, then in 1880's the fences were removed and the parkes were redesigned as sculpture gardens to receive various works of art including five bronzes by Antoine-Louis Barye. In 1916 they were relandscaped to their present appearance by the firm of Carrere and Hastings.

•

J I T S I G N I F I C A N C E B-3722 P E R I O D (Check One or More as Appropriate)

• Pre-Columbion! Q 16th Century Q 18th Century D 20th Century

• 15th Century • 17th Century § 3 19th Century

S P E C I F I C D A T E ( s ) (If Applicable and Known)

A R E A S O F S I G N I F I C A N C E (Chech One or More as Appropriate)

Abor ig ino l • Education , r j j P o l i t i c a l D Urban Planning

• Prehistor ic r j j Eng ineer ing Q R e l i g i o n / P h i - • 0 , h e r fSP'e l rV)

( 2 His tor ic • Industry losophy

• Agriculture r-J Invention . f-J Science

* 3 Architecture ' Jg] .Landscape X K " ] Sculpture

D Art Architecture [~J Socia l /Human-

• Commerce • L i tera ture itorion

• Communications r-j M i | i t o r y r- j T h e o t < l r

• Conservat ion Q M u s i c p . Transportat ion

S T A T E M E N T O F S I G N I F I C A N C E

The area known commonly as "Mount Vernon Place" in Baltimore, Maryland is composed of four rectangular parks, East and West Mount Vernon Place and North and South Washington Place. These garden-parks, and the houses that line them, form the setting for the Washington Monument designed by Robert Mills and completed in 1829. This 165-foot Doric column, on a rectangular base, is surmounted by a 15-foot high standing statue of George Washington by Enrico Causici. This is the first major monument in the country built to honor the first president, and is one of the finest examples of monumental architecture in the United States. It is based on the precedent of the great triumphal columns of Roman antiquity and also perhaps on the more recent monumnet to the victims of the Great London Fire by Wren or the Napoleon column in the Place Vendome in Paris. Viewed from a distance and in tjie context of its symbolic function, this vigorous monument is a singularly appropriate memorial to the man who came to be

Mount Vernon Place is one of the first examples in the United States of deliberate city planning to create a dramatic setting for an existing moument. The success of the scheme, laid out in 1831, is shown by the exceptionally high quality of the architecture that was erected around the four squares. Most notable buildings are the Thomas-Jencks House built in 1851 in the late Greek Revival style by Niernsee and Nielson; the Jacobs house built in 1884 by Stanford White and enlarged in 1902 by John Russell Pope; the Peabody Institute built from 1859 to 1866 by E.G. Lind in the Italianate style; and the Walters Art Gallery built from 1905 to 1909 in tht Italian Renaissance Revival style by Delano and Aldrich. The Washington Monument by Robert Mills is most certainly an example of American architecture of the first importance and it became the focus and the reason for one of the best conceived and executed city planning projects ever carried out in 19th-century America.

History

From the time of the death of George Washington in 1799, there were numerous efforts to honor him all across the growing country. However the first successful proposal to erect a major monument to him did not take form until 1810 when the General Assembly of Maryland authorized a lottery to raise $100,000 to build a monument to him. A Board of Managers was appointed to oversee the project and a site was chosen on Calvert Street on the site of the old Courthouse. French emigre architect Maximilien Godefro*

Fonn 10-300o UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR [ S T A T E

(July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE M a r y l a n d B-3722 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES COUNTV

INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM ^ P T U T E ONLY

Mount Vernon P l a c e H i s t o r i c Dj . s t r . i c t ENTRY NUMBER DATE

(Continuation Sheet) (Number mil entries)

8. Significance Continued page 1

prepared several proposals for the monument in 1810 but none of them were accepted. The Board published a notice in 1813 of an architectural competition with a prize of $500 for the winning entry. Entries survive from Godefroy, Joseph-Jaques Remee, Robert Mills, and an anonymous entry thought to be that of B.H. Latrobe.

The prize was awarded to Robert Mills, then working in Charleston, South Carolina. His winning project called for a 140-foot Doric column rising from a rectangular base with an open vault under it. A sculpture group of Washington being driven in a chariot pulled by four horses was planned for the top of the column.

In competitions of this nature, the prize winning design often turns out to cost too much and so the finished product is somewhat simplified. In the case of the Washington Monument this was true. First of all the site was changed in 1814 from Calvert Street to a new site north of the city on axis with Charles Street extended. This site was donated by Colonel John Eager Howard from a portion of his estate, Belvidere. This marked the beginning of what is now Mount Vernon Place.

The monument was commenced in the spring of 1815 and by 1824 the base, column and capital were completed. By this time the monument had already exceeded the available funding by $13,000. In 1826 the sculptor Enrico Causici of Verona, Italy, was engaged to make a 15 foot high stone statue of a standing Washington holding a scroll of his military commission. The statue was finished in November 1829 and lifted into place atop the 165 foot shaft. During the next decade the bronze inscriptions on the base were put up, the landscaping and fencing completed. However the proposed "trophy" sculpture groups for the four corners of the base were never realized.

In 1829 Charles Howard completed an imposing Greek revival house at the northeast corner of the monument. In 1831, the Howard family executors were granted permission to create the four, one block long, rectangular parks leading away from the monument. Those east and west along Monument Street were named Mount Vernon Place. Those north and south on the axis of Charles Street were named Washington Place. The resulting cross shaped park with the monument in the center has become known familiarly in its entirety as Mount Vernon Place-

From its inception this place became a fashionable and south after residential district. The Howard executors deliberately created a sensitively scaled setting for the Washington Monument and at the same time created the finest urban development project in the city.

Mount Vernon Place reached the zenith of its development in the last half of the 19th century. Great private houses such as the Thomas-Jencks House by Niernsee and Nielson, the Jacobs House by Stanford White and John

Dj.str.ict

f- -• ' - .

f •••• - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Form 10-300a UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR I S T A T E

(July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE B-3722 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES COUNTV

INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM Baltimore _ FOR NPS USE ONLY

/7~> *• ..• c t , 1 E N T R Y N U M B E R D A T E

(Continuation Sheet) fount Vernon Place Historic District I I (Number mil antrlsa)

8. Significance Continued page 2

Russell Pope shared the square with the Peabody Institute designed and built by E. G. Lind from 1859 to 1866. In 1905 the great art collector Henry Walters built the Walters Art Gallery, designed by Delano and Aldreich on South Washington Place. Since the first world war Mount Vernon Place has undergone a steady transformation from being, a neighborhood of large single family town houses for the wealthy to its present condition where the same buildings for the most part are divided into apartments or serve as clubs or offices.

u n I I m i u u c r ' i men i u r m c IN I tKlUK

gutf 1969) r NATION/ ARK SERVICE Marylanu

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES COUNTY B-3722 INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM Ba l t imo re 5> 3 f c P -

FOR NPS USE ONLY

ENTRY NUMBER DATE

(Continuation Sheet) (Number all mnttlee)

Mount Vernon Place Historic District property description:

Property bounded on the south by Hamilton Street; on the west by the alley between Cathedral Street and Park Avenue; in the north by Read Street to the east end of Lot 31, following the eastern edge of Lots 31, 30, 29, 28, and 27 the northern edge of Lots 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 (all Block 517), crossing St. Paul Place to northern edge of Lot 21, Block 518; and on the east by Gore Alley.

9. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL R E R E N C E S B-3722

Henry Russell Hitchcock, Architecture, 19th and 20th Centuries, (Baltimore 1^1963), 80; Fiske Kimball, American Architecture, (Indianapolis, 1928), 225; jWayne Andrews, Architecture, Ambition, and Americans, (New York, 1955), 86; #Ri chard H. Howland and Eleanor P. Spencer, The Architecture of Baltimore, (Baltimore, 1953), 51, 52, 75; Wilbur H. Hunter, Jr. and Charles H. Elam, Century of Baltimore Architecture, (Baltimore, 1957), plates 6 through 12; Helen Pierce Gallagher, Robert Mills, (New York, 1935), 104-109.

IJQ. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ' f ~ L A T I T U D E AND L O N S I T U D E C O O R D I N A T E S " ~ T L A T I T U D E A N D L O N G I T U D E C O O R D I N A T E S " ~

D E F I N I N G A R E C T A N G L E L O C A T I N G T H E P R O P E R T Y 0 D E F I N I N G T H E C E N T E R P O I N T O F A P R O P E R T Y . p O F LESS T H A N T E N ACRES

C O R N E R L A T I T U D E L O N G I T U D E L A T I T U D E L O N G I T U D E

Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds f̂ yy

NE ° °

SE ° °

sw 1 ° ; ; __°. ; ; _ _ A P P R O X I M A T E A C R E A G E O F N O M I N A T E D P R O P E R T Y :

, 1LIST A L L S T A T E S AND C O U N T I E S FOR P R O P E R T I E S O V E R L A P P I N G S T A T E OR C O U N T Y B O U N D A R I E S

S T A T E : CODE C O U N T Y C O D E




| . , ; : F O R M P R E P A R E D B Y N A M E AND Tl T L E :

W. Brown Morton I I I n

O R G A N I Z A T I O N D A T E " H

Historic Sites Survey, OAHP, National Park Servicei- 1 7/28/71 ~~ S T R E E T AND N U M B E R : O

801 1 9 t h S t r e e t , N. W. 2 C I T Y OR TOWN: S T A T E C O D E

Washing ton D i s t r i c t o f C_U_mbia I 12. STATE LIAISON OFFICER CERTIFICATION NATIONAL REGISTER VERIFICATION

As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Na-. _ , . „ , , . ._ . . . . I hereby certify that this property is included in the

tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion National Register. in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth "by the National Park Service. The recommended

Chief, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation level of significance of this nomination is:

National • State • Local •

Date

Name ATTEST:

' T iHe

Keeper of The National Register

Date

U«ly 1V6WJ NATIONA AKK SEKVICt

B-3722 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES C O U N T Y "

B a l t i m o r e fc> - 6 feV-PROPERTY MAP FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY

(Type all entries - attach to or enclose with map)

COMMON: Mount Vernon Place Historic District I A N D / O R H I S T O R I C :

S T R E E T A N O NUM B E R :

Mount Vernon Place CITY OR TOWN:

Baltimore STATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE

Mary land B a l t i m o r e _ | 3 . M A P R E F E R E N C E : '::: "• :"-' v : "y~[ ••['• ^•••••.. :•• : .-; _ _

S O U R C E :

Project map, Mount Vernon Urban Renewal Plan m SCALE: n o t m a r k e d

„ , DATE: 1 9 6 4

W . R E Q U I R E M E N T S

TO B E I N C L U D E D ON A L L M A P S

1 . Property broundaries where required.

2. North arrow.

3. Latitude and longitude reference.

B-3722

Washington Monument, Mt. Vernon Place, Baltimore, Maryland NPS Photo 1971

Mt. Vernon Place, Baltimore, Maryland NPS Photo 1971

Thomas - Jencks House, Mt. Vernon Place, Baltimore, Maryland NPS Photo 1971

M A R Y L A N D William Donald Schaefer

H I S T O R I C A L B-3722 aBgB@aBBB8^C Jacqueline H. Rogen — %'•%. Secretary, DHCD

'''S*"_al.,a3gIT** CONTRIBUTING RESOURCE ^^fe^B^^^^r:; MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST

— 0 pp INTERNAL NR-ELIGIBILITY REVIEW FORM

T R U 0 1 Property Name: Survey Number:

Property Address:

Project: ( 2 A » £ A d o X ^ K a ^ ^ — ' Agency: tiU&

Site visit by MHT Staff: __ no yes Name Date

District Name: %____li&MVfWJPL^g4u)ivUCS^liJWp Survey Number: £>-~3R2- Z-

£ Listed Eligible ; Comment

Criteria: X A B C D Considerations: A P C D E F G__None

The resource X contributes/ does not contribute to the historic significance of this historic district in: ,

>C Location „ Design X Setting V Materials

X Workmanship Feeling Association

Justification for decision: (Use continuation sheet if necessary and attach map)

Documentation on the property is presented in: /6 - $7 **- } /y^-wr^ tZltA

Prepared by: ,

Reviewer, Office of Preservation Services Date

NR program concurrence: / yes no not applicable

Reviewer, NR program Date

Survey No. B-3722

*i LAND COMPREHENSIVE HISTORIC. PRESERVATION PLAN DATA - HISTORIC CONTEXT

I. Geographic Region:

Eastern Shore (all Eastern Shore counties, and Cecil) Western Shore (Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles,

Prince George's and St. Mary's) 4 Piedmont (Baltimore City, Baltimore, Carroll,

Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery) Western Maryland (Allegany, Garrett and Washington)

II. Chronological/Developmental Periods:

Paleo-Indian 10000-7500 B.C. Early Archaic 7500-6000 B.C. Middle Archaic 6000-4000 B.C. Late Archaic 4000-2000 B.C. Early Woodland 2000-500 B.C. Middle Woodland 500 B.C.- A.D.900 Late Woodland/Archaic A.D. 900-1600 Contact and Settlement A.D. 1570-1750 Rural Agrarian Intensification A.D. 1680-1815 Agricultural-Industrial Transition A.D. 1815-1870 Industrial/Urban Dominance A.D. 1870-1930 Modern Period A.D. 1930-Present Unknown Period ( prehistoric historic )

III. Prehistoric Period Themes: IV. Historic Period Themes: Subsistence Agriculture Settlement £_ Architecture, Landscape Architecture,

and Community Planning Political Economic (Commercial and Industrial) Demographic Government/Law Religion Military Technology Religion Environmental Adaption Social/Educational/Cultural

Transportation V. Resource Type:

Category: luaJJcyj^Q Historic Environment: /jJ)QC<~^-J

H i s t o r i c Func t ion(s ) and U s e ( s ) : farttJ

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