Customer Reviews

The Architecture of Baltimore: An Illustrated History

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This is NOT an architectural catalog of historic Baltimore architecture, but a narrative of the city's history told in the context of its buildings. It's my favorite city on earth, so I'll try to make my remarks objective!

Baltimore evolved, literally, from a marine siding for local plantations into a HUGE port and manufacturing powerhouse due to its protected position on the Patapsco River.

Maryland's largest city has preserved some of the best Federal and early Greek Revival architecture in the United States, as its economic development after the Revolution as a staunch working-class city produced an architecture both dense and relatively modest compared to other "rust belt" cities. Baltimore's time of greatness was due to its position as the patriot's, privateer's and artisan's port, and its architectural ensemble from 1790 to 1850 represents that wealth. Truly monumental works of public architecture between 1860 and 1900 are rare in Baltimore, as institutions favored less expensive local talent to larger, national firms which were commissioned to design massive public structures in places like St. Louis and Pittsburgh. The entire ensemble, however, reveals a city of consistent organic growth. There's more grandeur in planned cities that matured LATER in American urbanization, but few that have maintained a coherent architectural fabric of such amazing density.

Baltimore has been called, "the Poor Man's Boston." That statement is open to interpretation! Baltimore most resembles the inland port of Cincinnati, both being of rather modest means and exceptional urban density. Both cities were allowed absolutely explosive growth as America's most accessible commercial ports after the Revolution.

This book presents the history of Baltimore architecture perfectly - from its position as a plantation riverfront to its position as THE working port of the east coast. The architecture represents the best of the Federal and early Greek Revival periods, while grand post-Civil War projects in the Second Empire and Beaux-Arts styles were generally built further west in places like Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The late 19th century was not economically kind to Baltimore, and the 1904 fire didn't help with the recovery. Despite the economic ups and downs, this volume presents a seamless architectural history of the city, and includes exceptional historic photographs, plans, maps, and urban studies.

The book is well illustrated throughout, but the text is the real feature. This is more of a book to READ than to BROWSE.

Recommended for local historians and architectural historians.

If you're intersted in the development of East Coast architecture, this is an invaluable tool, particularly if you're familiar with the City of the Chesapeake Bay.