Local Film-maker Steve Blair wrote and directed the romantic comedy “I Do & I Don’t” starring Jane Lynch.  Shot entirely in Baltimore, Blair and his crew filmed several scenes featuring the Cathedral of the Incarnation at 4 East University Parkway.  The building, designed by architect Philip H. Frohman, is at the top of historic Clover Hill.  Frohman is best known for his work on the Washington National Cathedral, a project he supervised from 1921 until his death in 1972.  The Confederate Women of Maryland Monument and Peace Cross are located nearby.

In the Seton Hill Historic District, just a few blocks west of the Washington Monument, is the Mother Seton House and Saint Mary’s Seminary Chapel.  Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born U.S. citizen to be canonized by the Catholic Church, moved into the house with her five children on June 16, 1808.  On the same day, French born architect Maximilian Godefroy’s Saint Mary’s Seminary Chapel was being dedicated by America’s first bishop, John Carroll, in the adjoining yard.  A year later Mrs. Seton would move her family to Emmitsburg, MD where she eventually started the country’s first free school for girls and a thriving Catholic community.  This statue sits just inside the fence to the right of the Mother Seton House at 600 North Paca Street.

Saint Mary’s Seminary Chapel has been operating as a religious institution for over 200 years and is incredibly well-maintained.   Designed by Godefroy, who also created the city’s Battle Monument and First Unitarian Church, the humble structure is deceptively elegant.  Surrounding the property is a large peaceful park, adding to the countryside context of the historic site.

Two blocks west at 512 Orchard Street is the Orchard Street Church.  Founded in 1825 by Truman Pratt, the church was used extensively as an Underground Railroad stop.  A near mile long tunnel can apparently be toured by appointment.

The Baltimore Trust Building (or Bank of America Building) is located downtown across W. Baltimore Street from the William Donald Schaefer Tower.  Built between 1924-1929 by the architects Taylor, Fisher, Smith and May, the ’setback’ style skyscraper is a monument to the financial history of Charm City.  As the Great Depression materialized the building’s occupant, the Baltimore Trust Company, went into bankruptcy, eventually vacating the tower by 1935.  The virtually brand new Mayan Revival structure stood empty just six years after its completion.  Maryland’s Public Works Administration moved in shortly after under the direction of FDR and his New Deal.  By 1961, with the country’s economy stabilized, the Maryland National Bank purchased the structure.  In 1993, the Bank of America acquired Maryland National, turning the 37-floor building into its downtown office.

The skyscraper is decorated inside and out with various sculptures and paintings.  Mayan statues stare down to the street from above while significant relief work surrounds the entrance ways to the bank’s main lobby.  One relief shows the old Baltimore Trust Bank being protected by a God during the Great Fire of 1904.  The bank’s much smaller former building was spared when most of downtown went up in devastating flames.  The building’s large open-space lobby contains murals depicting significant Baltimore events by local artist R. McGill Mackall.

Druid Hill Park was inaugurated in 1860.  Between 1867 and 1868 this monumental gateway was constructed at its Madison Avenue entrance.  In 1863, George A. Frederick became the city’s architect for the Baltimore Park Commission, holding the position until 1895.  He created Druid Hill’s observatory and greenhouse, along with several buildings in Patterson Park and Federal Hill Park.  There is some speculation that John H. B. Latrobe, son of architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, designed the entrance ways at Madison and Mount Royal Avenues, but its more likely that Frederick was behind the constructs.  John Latrobe was on the park’s commission, but was a practicing attorney, not an architect, and may have merely supervised the projects.  Either way, the 142 year old gateway serves as a fitting monument to one of America’s oldest parks.

Stanford White (1853-1906) was one of the most successful and gifted architects of the Gilded Age.  A partner in the prominent New York design firm, McKim, Mead and White, Stanford was known for his detailed artistic renderings.  Specializing in elaborate private residences, he created a variety of houses throughout the eastern United States, along with public buildings and churches.  The second Madison Square Garden was designed by White, its rooftop the eventual site of his highly publicized murder.  In 1906, White was shot in the head by the millionaire Harry Kendall Thaw during the premiere performance of Mam’zelle Champagne. Thaw, an avid drug user and possible sadist, was the husband of 21 year-old Evelyn Nesbit, a model, actress and former lover of White.  The murder was mistaken as exhibition by the excited Madison Square Roof Garden crowd, cheers gleefully trailing three point blank pistol shots.  Two massively popular trials ensued and Thaw, after pleading temporary insanity, was sentenced to an asylum.  He walked in 1915 and continued his abusive, bizarre life.

White designed north Baltimore’s Lovely Lane United Methodist Church in 1884.  Then known as the First Methodist Episcopal Church, the building at 2200 Saint Paul Street was completed in 1887.  The Romanesque Revival style construct was modeled after the basilicas of Italy, the tower closely resembling Pomposa Abbey.

In 1966 the Maryland Institute College of Art purchased the structure for their expanding campus. Before moving in, the school reconfigured the interior’s foyer, turning the two story open space into multiple floors with extra classrooms and studios. The granite and limestone exterior is unchanged. The property is used annually during the city’s Artscape celebration.

George A. Frederick’s Moorish Tower stands at the southeast edge of Druid Hill Lake.  After designing City Hall, Frederick worked as an architect for the Baltimore Park Commission from 1863-1895.  The Turkish style observatory and Chinese Station (now removed) were two of his creations in the park.  Another George Frederick design is the Palm House (or Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens) located at McCulloh and Gwynn Falls Parkway, near the zoo entrance.  Built in 1889, the Victorian style building is the last of Baltimore’s greenhouses still standing.  Carroll Park, Patterson Park and Clifton Park all had similar buildings at one time, each eventually falling victim to decay and demolition.  The Druid Hill Conservatory was restored in 2004, the process linking the five structures that make up the complex.  The facility is open to the public with two dollar donations appreciated.  The John Cook Memorial Sundial rests in a garden on the main building’s east side.

The headquarters for Baltimore’s Department of Recreation and Parks is housed in the restored Druid Hill bathhouse.  The building was segregated until 1956, and later abandoned when the city’s public bath system was closed a few years later.  After a $2.6 million renovation in 1994, the white marble structure was opened as the Dr. Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, Jr. Building.  The Mansion House sits on a hill over-looking a vast open set of fields.  Built in the early 19th century the building was the former residence of Nicholas Rogers.  Son of the Scotsman Lloyd Nicholas Rogers, Nicholas sold the mansion and estate to the city of Baltimore around 1860.  The English style residence and corresponding country landscape was preserved when the city began designing and constructing the park.  John H. B. Latrobe made alterations to the mansion during the park’s early development.  The building now contains the main office of the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.

Completed in 1871, Druid Hill Lake is one of the largest man-made lakes in the country.  It was a result of the first American earth dam construction, a milestone in our civil engineering history.  The lake is surrounded by a well-paved track and is lined with various statues and interesting architecture.

The Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation (Map) stands at the corner of Maryland Avenue and West Preston Street in Charm City. Designed by the prolific Charles E. Cassell, the amphitheatrical building is a unique mixture of architectural practices. Cassell also designed the First Church of Christ, Scientists and the Stafford Hotel. Built in 1889, the structure was originally occupied by the Associate Congregational Church. In 1937 the Greek Orthodox community purchased the building for its growing congregation.