Doors Open Baltimore

While Baltimore possesses a rich legacy of architecture, public parks and historic neighborhoods, the city continues to support policies and practices that exacerbate patterns of under-maintained urban places, disinvestment and distressed neighborhoods.

How can designers, planners, community activists, and city residents augment the admirable charms of the city, while overcoming the city’s persistent challenges?  Join Diane Jones Allen to discuss design strategies and planning tools for overcoming years of disinvestment and abandonment, build on cultural and historic assets, and create opportunities to grow healthy and sustaining communities.

Zach Chissell (Two Wheel Tuesdays) and Charlie Murphy (Catonsville Rails to Trails & Bikemore) will once again lead the Doors Open Baltimore bike ride. We will be riding a casual 8 miles, visiting at least 6 locations and ending at Peabody Brewery.

We will meet at the Waverly Farmers Market. Come early and grab a bite to eat/drink at the market before we ride.

Parking might be difficult near the market, so we recommend parking near the brewery or Union Memorial.

We enjoy getting a chance to peek inside dozens of great buildings during the annual Doors Open Baltimore event so much that this year we’re teaming up with event sponsors the Baltimore Architecture Foundation and AIA Baltimore to host a guided bus tour to explore five of the featured places in depth. Join preservation architect Tom Liebel, who also chairs the city’s historic preservation commission, as we hop from site to site and learn what makes these places fantastic.

Event begins at Cathedral of Mary our Queen.

Join Charlie Duff for a tour of the historic Centre Theatre!

The historic building was constructed in 1913 as a two-story automobile dealership and was converted by Morris Mechanic in 1930s to a theater and radio studio. It opened its doors as the Centre Theater in 1939, welcoming guests into a 1,000-seat auditorium. The building was also home to the WFBR-AM radio station. After the theater’s closure in 1959, it was converted into a bank and the art deco theatre volume was infilled to provide space for offices.

When Jubilee Baltimore acquired the Centre in 2013, rainwater poured through thirty-foot holes in the roof while vegetation and trees grew through the walls and floors. The building interior was infested with mold and asbestos.

This $19 million project converted a 66,000-sf vacant building into a thriving center for arts and innovation.  The Centre is now home to the film programs of Johns Hopkins University and Maryland Institute College of Art, The Baltimore Jewelry Center, Sparkypants Studios, The Impact Hub and The Center for Neighborhoods, a collaborative work space for nonprofits that serve Baltimore neighborhoods.

Brian Greenan will host walking tours of a segment of the Howard Street corridor that is located within a National Register Historic District as well as the Bromo Tower Arts & Entertainment District. The tour will focus on the numerous adaptive reuse projects underway as well as streetscape and other economic development projects in predevelopment phase that will fulfill the City’s goal of establishing a mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood along and near Howard Street.

Discover the architecture that houses more than 35,000 objects of art art. A collection of three buildings, The Walters Art Museum spans architectural styles including the Renaissance- revival exterior of its 1905 mansion, a 1970’s brutalist annex and a Greek Revival mansion designed in 1850 by a local architect.

Tour will begin at the Walters Art Museum, Centre Street Entrance.

Behind the scenes tour of the Hippodrome Theatre!

Designed by notable theatre architect, Thomas Lamb, the Hippodrome hosted vaudeville and movies from 1914 until 1959. During its Golden Age, 30,000 people were entertained by stars like Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope. Throughout the last half of the 20th century, attendance declined and the Hippofrome finally shut its doors in 1990. After an extensive renovation which included combing the theatre with two turn of the 20th century bank buildings the Hippodrome reopened in 2004 as part of the FRance-Merrick Performing Arts Center.

The tour will begin at the Hippodrome Theatre Box Office at 12 North Eutaw Street

An outdoor walking tour, attendees are encouraged to dress appropriately and wear comfortable walking shoes. The tour will focus on a multitude of historical and architectural aspects of Loudon Park. Various forms of sculptural and structural architecture, remnants of the old private trolley line, and of course historical figures laid to rest there.

Take a Walking Tour of Mount Vernon Place with Lisa Keir and learn how Baltimore’s finest 19th century residential community was created. See the progression of architectural styles of the magnificent townhouses, once homes to wealthy industrialists. Meet at the Seated Lion statue in Mount Vernon Place’s West Park (in front of the Hackerman House).

Baltimore Re-Collected: Architecture Past & Present
Photographs by Amy Davis and James Singewald

Amy and James will give exclusive talks at 11am and 1pm respectively. Amy’s project, Flickering Treasures, documents the state of Baltimore’s trove of working, converted, and disintegrating movie houses. James’ project, Baltimore: Block by Block, is a methodical and technical feat of photographic vision as it focuses on ten historically significant avenues in the city. Their work in Baltimore Re-Collected complements each other’s vision, and reinforces their projections of these shared spaces as a valuable component of our local cultural identity.

Tour the first significant downtown Baltimore building designed by African American architects with architect Gary Bowden, FAIA. Bowden partnered with Phil Freelon, FAIA, of the Freelon Group to design the museum, which expresses the spirit of Maryland’s African American people.

Learn about the design of the museum from the architect himself!

Get a rare glimpse inside two circa 1797 rowhomes that have survived well past their original intent. These two room structures, also known as the Two Sisters Houses, were occupied by free blacks ship caulkers during the 19th century. Abandoned for decades, these future of these homes is subject to preservation debate. These Wolfe Street homes have been documented and supported by financial assistance from the Maryland Historical Trust through the African American Heritage Preservation Program.

The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company theater is an award-winning adaptive reuse of a landmark bank building in downtown Baltimore’s historic financial district. The structure survived the 1904 Baltimore fire. This beautifully preserved Romanesque building is on the National Register of Historic Places. During a special ceremony on October 22 at 11:30am, we will rededicate the historic building and unveil a new exhibit about its history. Join us to see how a bank becomes a theatre, how the building serves as a feature of our plays, and how a vault becomes a playroom for our youngest theatre patrons. Our Open House during Doors Open will begin with a rededication ceremony at 11:30am, followed by tours until 2pm. All are welcome. Light refreshment provided.

This walking tour of West Lafayette Avenue will explore the many historical and cultural sites from Mt. Royal Avenue to Lafayette Square with discussion of the potential role these historical and cultural sites can play in meeting the challenges that face the redevelopment of the Avenue.

The tour will begin at Corpus Christi Church located at the southwest corner of Mt. Royal and West Lafayette Avenues in Bolton Hill.

The WJZ-TV Tour will highlight the design work of one of the early women of architecture in Maryland, Nezahat Sügüder Arıkoğlu (1920–2000), who practiced with her husband İlhan Muzaffer Arıkoğlu (1922–1981) in Baltimore in the 1960s while working for Whiting-Turner Construction. The television station, owned-and-operated by CBS, is one of Baltimore’s four major television stations. The front addition they designed was an shining example of imported modernism at the time. The (2) one-hour tours at 1pm and 2:30pm will include the inner lobby with its floating stair designed by Nezahat as well as an inside peek at the station’s news room, control room, and TV recording studio.

Space is limited. Pre-registration is required.

Ziger/Snead Architects and Cross Street Partners will offer a tour of the historic A. Hoen & Co. Lithograph Plant. The building was constructed in 1835 and was the site of major innovations in the printing industry.

After sitting vacant since the 1980s, the building is being restored and converted into a mixed use development. The 85,000 square foot site includes 3 historic structures, 2 warehouse buildings, and will include an interior courtyard. The design team for the project is Ziger/Snead Architects, Cross Street Partners, and City Life Builders.

Tour the historic Lion Brothers Building slated to open December 2016!

Listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, the redevelopment of the landmark Lion Brothers Building will help bring new life and investment to West Baltimore. The three-story building, with its rich manufacturing history, will provide a new home to Baltimore’s growing companies and institutions. Construction is underway and the building is slated to open December 2016.

Tour will begin at the corner of Boyd and Poppleton.

The tour of Baltimore Lab School (Old Goucher Hall) will explore the first structure of the original Goucher College campus. The 3-story Romanesque academic building was designed by Charles L Carson to complement the adjacent First Methodist Episcopal Church (Lovely Lane) designed by Stanford White. Participants will be able to explore the ground floor of the school building, see the stained glass windows in the grand stair halls, discuss the history of Old Goucher Hall and original campus and learn more about Baltimore Lab School’s innovative learning that transpires within this iconic building.

The Baltimore Food Hub project is a $23.5 million historic renovation project situated on a 3.5-acre campus that was once the city’s Eastern Pumping Station. It will create dozens of jobs in Baltimore’s Broadway East community, bring new life to a brownfield site in a disinvested urban area, and provide opportunities for microenterprise, workforce development, education, and economic opportunity. The campus will include teaching and commercial production kitchens, space for food manufacturing, job training, an urban farming operation and an all-season market. By clustering food-related uses in a single campus, the project links East Baltimore to Maryland’s food manufacturing economy.

More information on the project is available at www.baltimorefoodhub.com.