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.  Along with the Munsey Building and the Garrett Mansion’s interior, Lovely Lane is one of three extant Baltimore buildings designed by Stanford White.

A public statue of baseball great Brooks Robinson is planned for placement near Russell Street, west of Oriole Park, in the spring of 2011.  Robinson played his entire career with the Baltimore Orioles, winning the MVP of the 1970 world series.  Considered the greatest third baseman of all time, Brooks won 16 gold gloves during his 23 years in Major League Baseball.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983.

The Maryland born Joseph Sheppard was chosen to execute the Oriole great’s bronze likeness.  Sheppard also created the Pope John Paul II statue and the Flame at the Holocaust Memorial.  Architect: Richard Jones (Mahan Rykiel Associates).

The Baltimore born Wendel Bollman (1814-1884) designed the first iron truss bridge in the United States.  In 1847, working under the engineer Benjamin H. Latrobe II, son of the U. S. Capitol’s architect, Benjamin Latrobe, Bollman was named head of the Harper’s Ferry, Virginia line of bridges for the B&O Railroad.  Realizing that standard wooden bridges decayed too rapidly, he turned to the less frequently used iron for construction.  The self-taught engineer’s structures performed well and the iron truss bridge was quickly adopted by his bosses.  He received a patent for his truss design, vaulting him to the top of his profession.  Wendel Bollman’s importance to the advancement of American engineering is rooted in his methods.  His use of math and logic helped pave the way for a more scientific approach to civil planning.

Only one Bollman bridge, located in Savage, MD, remains today.  The rest have either been replaced or were destroyed.  His most famous bridge (at Harper’s Ferry) was taken out several times during the Civil War.  The strategic overpass was rebuilt and lasted until 1936, when it was wiped out during a devastating flood.  However, two of his iron creations still adorn historic Baltimore buildings.  The dome of City Hall’s rotunda and the steeple of the First and Franklin Presbyterian Church were fashioned by Bollman.

In 1803, Benjamin H. Latrobe became the superintendent of construction for the United States.  He began his tenure by focusing efforts on the unfinished Capitol building in Washington.  His ideas and designs, heavily influenced by roman architecture, contained elaborate frieze and relief work.  Unsatisfied with American artists of the early 19th century, the British-born architect began corresponding with colleagues in Europe in hopes of hiring a more skilled set of sculptors.  This opened the door for numerous European artisans to earn generous commissions in the United States.  This ongoing list deals with the sculptors of early America and their extant work in Baltimore.

Antonio Capellano

1. Angel of Truth (First Unitarian Church)
2. Battle Monument
3. Christ Breaking Bread and Moses with Tables of Law (Old Saint Paul’s Church)
4. Bust of George Washington (Peale Museum)

Enrico Causici

1. Washington Resigning his Commission (Washington Monument)

Augustin Chevalier

1. Ceres and Neptune (Peale Museum Courtyard)

Giuseppe Ceracchi

1. Bust of George Washington (Washington Monument Museum)

Giuseppe Franzoni

1. Saint Mary’s Chapel (interior sculptures)

Giovanni Andrei

1. Saint Mary’s Chapel (interior sculptures)

In 1930, the Peale Museum was saved from possible demolition. Over a hundred years of varied use had left the Robert Cary Long, Sr. deigned building in disrepair, and the city government was seriously considering its sale. Baltimore residents and journalists rallied to protect one of the first museum buildings erected in the western hemisphere. Eventually the Mayor was convinced and Rembrandt Peale’s Baltimore Museum was targeted for a complete rehabilitation.

Assigned to head the restoration project was local architect John H. Scarff, a partner in the Wyatt and Nolting firm. Scarff studied original drawings and historic photographs of the salon, and restored its original design and floor plan. The portico was rebuilt and a bas-relief sculpture (created by R. McGill Mackall) was installed above it. In the building’s rear, a courtyard was constructed with pediment from the demolished Union Bank building embedded in its northern wall.  The city reopened the museum in 1931.

]]> http://monumentcity.net/2010/02/22/the-peale-museum-restoration-1930/feed/ 0 http://monumentcity.net/2010/02/18/monument-to-the-first-gas-street-lamp-in-america/ http://monumentcity.net/2010/02/18/monument-to-the-first-gas-street-lamp-in-america/#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:46:43 +0000 monumentcity http://monumentcity.net/?p=2967

At the corner of N. Holliday Street and E. Baltimore Street stands a monument to the first gas street lamp (Map) in the United States.  Erected in 1997, the lamp is a replica of the early 19th century original.  On the evening of June 11, 1816, local businessmen and socialites were invited to Rembrandt Peale’s Museum for a demonstration under the glow of artificial light.  During a candlelit period in American history the forward-thinking Peale aimed to form a business around his gas light innovations, the exhibition targeting potential investors.

The gamble worked, and several financiers aligned with Peale, promptly forming The Gas Light Company of Baltimore (the precursor to Baltimore Gas & Electric).  Less than a year later, on February 7, 1817, the first public gas street lamp was lit in a ceremony one block south of City Hall.  The photograph below (from The Story of America’s Oldest Museum Building by Wilbur Harvey Hunter) shows a replica of Peale’s early gas light mechanism.

Around 1899 Baltimore’s streets were covered in snow, the piles rivaling February 2010’s. These shots, from the Maryland Historical Society’s website, show Baltimore Street and N. Charles Street (looking south), respectively.

39° 18′ 17.10″ N 76° 37′ 11.73″ W

The Mount Royal Station & Train Shed (Map) is situated where N. Howard Street and W. Mount Royal Avenue meet. The building, constructed in 1896 and designed by E. Francis Baldwin & Josias Pennington, is steeped in the Italian Renaissance-style. With the train shed providing comfort and shelter in case of bad weather and the clock tower providing Baltimore’s landscape with another icon, the station was renowned for its blend of art and purpose. The clock was built by the E. Howard Watch and Clock Company of Boston.

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.

The first piece of gallery sculpture owned by the city of Baltimore was a bust of George Washington by Antonio Capellano.  In 1823, Capellano, then living in Charm City, was anxious to obtain the commission for the statue of Washington planned for the Mount Vernon Place Monument.  As an example of his work he presented the city with a marble likeness of America’s first president.  He subsequently lost the commission to Italian artist Enrico Causici, but the gifted bust was kept and initially displayed in Rembrandt Peale’s Baltimore Museum.  The photograph above comes from The Story of America’s Oldest Museum Building by Wilbur Harvey Hunter.

1. Niles’ National Register, Volume 27, Part 3 (1825) H. Niles, editor
2. The Chronicles of Baltimore (1874) by John Thomas Scharf
3. History of Baltimore City and County (1881) by John Thomas Scharf
4. The Magazine of American History with Notes and Queries, Volume 7 (1881)
5. The Baltimore Conflagration (1904) National Fire Protection Association
6. Baltimore: Its History and its People, Volume 2 (1912) by Lewis Historical Publishing Co.
7. National Star-Spangled Banner Centennial Program & Baltimore Book (1914)
8. A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the U.S. (1918) William Dunlap
9. Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 17 (1921) Maryland Historical Society
10. Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State (1948) by The Federal Writers’ Project
11. The Amiable Baltimoreans (1984) by Francis F. Beirne
12. Druid Hill Park: The Heart of Baltimore (2008) by Eden Unger Bowditch and Anne Draddy

Architecture:

1. Architectural Record, Volume 1 (1892) by The American Institute of Architects
2. Architectural Record, Volume 21 (1907) by The American Institute of Architects
3. The Architecture of Baltimore: An Illustrated History (2004) by Mary Ellen Hayward and Frank R. Shivers
4. Look Again in Baltimore (2005) by John R. Dorsey and James DuSel
5. The American Skyscraper, 1850-1940: A Celebration of Height (2008) by Joseph J. Korom

Image Collections:

1. Hughes Collection at MDHS
2. Worthington Collection at MDHS
3. Kniesche Collection at MDHS
4. Perine Collection at MDHS