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69-739: Built as an inn and tavern around 1770 in the Georgian architectural style in red brick with white wood trim by Henry Fite (1722–1789), the building became known as " Congress Hall " when it served for two months as the new nation's seat of government in 1776–77. Later, following the Revolutionary War , it became known locally as " Old Congress Hall ". The structure was destroyed during the Great Baltimore Fire of February 7–8, 1904, which started nearby. The Second Continental Congress moved from Philadelphia to Baltimore in

138-399: A balustrade or the top of a pediment . Columns or pilasters , often topped by a pediment, were popular for ornament inside and out, and other ornament was generally geometrical or plant-based, rather than using the human figure. Inside ornament was far more generous, and could sometimes be overwhelming. The chimneypiece continued to be the usual main focus of rooms, and was now given

207-517: A square of garden in front of the house. There was an enormous amount of building in the period, all over the English-speaking world, and the standards of construction were generally high. Where they have not been demolished, large numbers of Georgian buildings have survived two centuries or more, and they still form large parts of the core of cities such as London , Edinburgh , Dublin , Newcastle upon Tyne and Bristol . The period saw

276-420: A suburban compromise between the terraced houses of the city and the detached "villas" further out, where land was cheaper. There had been occasional examples in town centres going back to medieval times. Most early suburban examples are large, and in what are now the outer fringes of Central London, but were then in areas being built up for the first time. Blackheath , Chalk Farm and St John's Wood are among

345-670: A building; such arrangements were only typical in England when housing groups of batchelors, as in Oxbridge colleges, the lawyers in the Inns of Court or the Albany after it was converted in 1802. In the period in question, only in Edinburgh were working-class purpose-built tenements common, though lodgers were common in other cities. A curving crescent , often looking out at gardens or

414-442: A classical treatment, and increasingly topped by a painting or a mirror. Plasterwork ceilings, carved wood, and bold schemes of wallpaint formed a backdrop to increasingly rich collections of furniture, paintings, porcelain , mirrors, and objets d'art of all kinds. Wood-panelling, very common since about 1500, fell from favour around the mid-century, and wallpaper included very expensive imports from China. Smaller houses in

483-492: A distance. The height was usually highest in the centre, and the Baroque emphasis on corner pavilions often found on the continent generally avoided. In grand houses, an entrance hall led to steps up to a piano nobile or mezzanine floor where the main reception rooms were. Typically the basement area or "rustic", with kitchens, offices and service areas, as well as male guests with muddy boots, came some way above ground, and

552-409: A park, was popular for terraces where space allowed. In early and central schemes of development, plots were sold and built on individually, though there was often an attempt to enforce some uniformity, but as development reached further out schemes were increasingly built as a uniform scheme and then sold. The late Georgian period saw the birth of the semi-detached house, planned systematically, as

621-677: A sign of their fealty to Britain, and the Georgian style was dominant in the country for most of the first half of the 19th century. The Grange , for example, is a Georgian manor built in Toronto in 1817. In Montreal , English-born architect John Ostell worked on a significant number of remarkable constructions in the Georgian style such as the Old Montreal Custom House and the Grand séminaire de Montréal . In Australia ,

690-661: A stable for 30 horses." Baltimore became the nation's capital for a two-month period . While meeting at the Henry Fite House on December 27, 1776, the Continental Congress conferred upon General George Washington , (1732–1799), "extraordinary powers for the conduct of the Revolutionary War ", a stirring vote of confidence a year and-a-half after the Congress commissioned him as head of the newly organized Continental Army . The selection of Washington as

759-495: A wider variety of styles) from the 19th century through the 1950s, using pattern books drawn up by professional architects that were distributed by lumber companies and hardware stores to contractors and homebuilders. From the mid-18th century, Georgian styles were assimilated into an architectural vernacular that became part and parcel of the training of every architect , designer , builder , carpenter , mason and plasterer , from Edinburgh to Maryland . Georgian succeeded

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828-487: Is included within the Baltimore National Heritage Area , which was established in 2009. As of the census of 2000, there were 4,520 people living in the neighborhood. The racial makeup of Mount Vernon was 55.3% White , 33.4% African American , 0.2% Native American , 7.4% Asian , 1.2% from other races , and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.1% of

897-630: Is located north of Mid-Town Belvedere. Although mainly residential, Mount Vernon-Belvedere is home to a mix of institutions, including the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University , Walters Art Museum , University of Baltimore , Maryland Center for History and Culture , Maryland Institute College of Art , Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall , Baltimore School for the Arts , Lyric Opera House , Center Stage ,

966-519: The Charles River from Boston . In her 1907 biography of the Fite family, descendant Elizabeth Fite corrected earlier historians who mistakenly reported Jacob Fite as the owner of the house. She explained that while Henry's son, Jacob, lived in the house, he was a child when the building was occupied by Congress and never actually owned the building. After Henry died on October 25, 1789, his estate

1035-568: The English Baroque of Sir Christopher Wren , Sir John Vanbrugh , Thomas Archer , William Talman , and Nicholas Hawksmoor ; this in fact continued into at least the 1720s, overlapping with a more restrained Georgian style. The architect James Gibbs was a transitional figure, his earlier buildings are Baroque, reflecting the time he spent in Rome in the early 18th century, but he adjusted his style after 1720. Major architects to promote

1104-624: The Old Colonial Georgian residential and non-residential styles were developed in the period from c.  1810  – c.  1840 . After about 1840, Georgian conventions were slowly abandoned as a number of revival styles, including Gothic Revival , that had originated in the Georgian period, developed and contested in Victorian architecture , and in the case of Gothic became better researched, and closer to their originals. Neoclassical architecture remained popular, and

1173-602: The Villa Pisani at Montagnana , Italy as depicted in Andrea Palladio 's I quattro libri dell'architettura ("The Four Books of Architecture"). After independence, in the former American colonies , Federal-style architecture represented the equivalent of Regency architecture, with which it had much in common. In Canada , the United Empire Loyalists embraced Georgian architecture as

1242-657: The Washington Monument on the Circle at North Charles and East Monument Streets (also known as Washington Place and Mount Vernon Place) in the northern city neighborhood of Mount Vernon-Belvedere formerly known as "Howard's Woods" on the "Belvidere" estate and mansion of Revolutionary War commander of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army, Col. John Eager Howard (1752-1827) who donated

1311-533: The suburbs , is known in the UK as mock-Georgian . Mount Vernon, Baltimore Mount Vernon is a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland , located immediately north of the city's downtown . It is named for George Washington 's Mount Vernon estate in Virginia , as the site of the city's Washington Monument . The Baltimore City Planning Commission defines the neighborhood as being bound by Eager Street to

1380-535: The "Henry Fite House" on February 22, 1894, describing the building's service to the nation. An inscription on the tablet proclaimed to visitors: "On this site stood Old Congress Hall, in which the Continental Congress met". Ten years later, only the memorial tablet remained on the corner of the smoking ruins after the Great Fire on February 7–8, 1904, which devastated most of downtown Baltimore and

1449-636: The Americas. Unlike the Baroque style that it replaced, which was mostly used for palaces and churches, and had little representation in the British colonies, simpler Georgian styles were widely used by the upper and middle classes. Perhaps the best remaining house is the pristine Hammond-Harwood House (1774) in Annapolis , Maryland , designed by the colonial architect William Buckland and modelled on

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1518-818: The Central Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library , Spotlighters Theatre, the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute, and formerly the Peabody Bookshop and Beer Stube . During the 1970s, Mount Vernon became Baltimore's main gay village . The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore, now known as the Pride Center of Maryland , was established in Mount Vernon in 1977. The centerpiece of

1587-690: The Continental Army's commander-in-chief followed a series of defeats and retreats since the Virginian assumed command in June 1775, when the Army recruited from local militia surrounded the British in a siege at Boston after the opening skirmishes in April at Lexington and Concord in Lexington, Massachusetts and Concord, New Hampshire followed by a British attack in June at Breed's and Bunker Hills across

1656-515: The Elder . The European Grand Tour became very common for wealthy patrons in the period, and Italian influence remained dominant, though at the start of the period Hanover Square, Westminster (1713 on), developed and occupied by Whig supporters of the new dynasty, seems to have deliberately adopted German stylistic elements in their honour, especially vertical bands connecting the windows. The styles that resulted fall within several categories. In

1725-522: The Georgian period were very often constructed of wood with clapboards; even columns were made of timber, framed up, and turned on an oversized lathe. At the start of the period the difficulties of obtaining and transporting brick or stone made them a common alternative only in the larger cities, or where they were obtainable locally. Dartmouth College , Harvard University and the College of William and Mary offer leading examples of Georgian architecture in

1794-621: The Mount Vernon neighborhood, the cruciform arrangement of parks surrounding the Washington Monument, represents one of the nation's first examples of city planning for the express purpose of highlighting a monument. The Washington Monument was completed in 1829 to a design by Robert Mills , and in 1831 the Howard family was granted permission to lay out the surrounding parks which eventually were lined by stately homes. The parks, which have survived almost intact, are considered to be

1863-737: The United States. The Mount Vernon Place Historic District, surrounding the Washington Monument, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and further designated as a National Historic Landmark District on November 11, 1971. Selected parcels with the National Historic Landmark District have been designated Baltimore City Landmarks , including: The National Historic Landmark District also includes: The Mount Vernon neighborhood also includes: The entire Mount Vernon neighborhood

1932-525: The Walters Art Museum. The former Stafford Hotel on Washington Place, built in 1894, now serves as an apartment building primarily housing Peabody Institute students. The old Mount Vernon Hotel at 702 Cathedral Street, built in 1847, was the mansion home of U.S. Congressman William Julian Albert where he entertained Abraham Lincoln . It was converted into a hotel in 1967, and was where Oscar Wilde stayed as part of his 1882 lecture tour of

2001-589: The Washington Monument. Conceived as a cathedral of Methodism , it was built on the site of the Charles Howard mansion, the house in which Francis Scott Key died. In 2021, the church's owners sought planning permission to subdivide the building, separating the church from the adjacent Asbury House. The southeast corner from the monument is occupied entirely by the Peabody Institute, and the southwest corner includes three buildings forming part of

2070-531: The areas contesting being the original home of the semi. Sir John Summerson gave primacy to the Eyre Estate of St John's Wood. A plan for this exists dated 1794, where "the whole development consists of pairs of semi-detached houses , So far as I know, this is the first recorded scheme of the kind". In fact the French Wars put an end to this scheme, but when the development was finally built it retained

2139-451: The case before, replacing English vernacular architecture (or becoming the new vernacular style) for almost all new middle-class homes and public buildings by the end of the period. Georgian architecture is characterized by its proportion and balance; simple mathematical ratios were used to determine the height of a window in relation to its width or the shape of a room as a double cube. Regularity, as with ashlar (uniformly cut) stonework,

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2208-499: The change in direction from Baroque were Colen Campbell , author of the influential book Vitruvius Britannicus (1715–1725); Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and his protégé William Kent ; Isaac Ware ; Henry Flitcroft and the Venetian Giacomo Leoni , who spent most of his career in England. Other prominent architects of the early Georgian period include James Paine , Robert Taylor , and John Wood,

2277-705: The city was in 1866 (three years before his death) to address the large crowd of Baltimoreans including Baltimore City Public School children gathered on the front steps of his new Institute when it was finally dedicated in an elaborate ceremony after a long interval, interrupted by the Civil War . The former location of the "Henry Fite House" is currently occupied by the CFG Bank Arena , previously known as Baltimore Civic Center (1961–1986), Baltimore Arena (1986–2003, 2013–2014, 2022), 1st Mariner Arena (2003–2013), and Royal Farms Arena (2014–2022). Built in 1961–62 in

2346-479: The classical vocabulary. Where funds permitted, a classical temple portico with columns and a pediment might be used at the west front. Interior decoration was generally chaste; however, walls often became lined with plaques and monuments to the more prosperous members of the congregation. In the colonies new churches were certainly required, and generally repeated similar formulae. British Non-conformist churches were often more classical in mood, and tended not to feel

2415-484: The classically inspired. Public buildings generally varied between the extremes of plain boxes with grid windows and Italian Late Renaissance palaces, depending on budget. Somerset House in London, designed by Sir William Chambers in 1776 for government offices, was as magnificent as any country house, though never quite finished, as funds ran out. Barracks and other less prestigious buildings could be as functional as

2484-471: The country, such as vicarages, were simple regular blocks with visible raked roofs, and a central doorway, often the only ornamented area. Similar houses, often referred to as "villas" became common around the fringes of the larger cities, especially London, and detached houses in towns remained common, though only the very rich could afford them in central London. In towns even most better-off people lived in terraced houses, which typically opened straight onto

2553-472: The early 19th century, Georgian designs usually lay within the Classical orders of architecture and employed a decorative vocabulary derived from ancient Rome or Greece. In towns, which expanded greatly during the period, landowners turned into property developers , and rows of identical terraced houses became the norm. Even the wealthy were persuaded to live in these in town, especially if provided with

2622-404: The extremely similar St. George's Church, Dublin . The 1818 Act allocated some public money for new churches required to reflect changes in population, and a commission to allocate it. Building of Commissioners' churches gathered pace in the 1820s, and continued until the 1850s. The early churches, falling into the Georgian period, show a high proportion of Gothic Revival buildings, along with

2691-766: The finest existing urban landscapes by the Beaux-Arts architectural firm of Carrère and Hastings , who also designed the New York Public Library , portions of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and the residence that houses the Frick Collection . Elsewhere in the neighborhood are many older apartment buildings and three and four-story rowhouses . The Belvedere Hotel , opened in 1903, was converted to condominiums in 1991. The Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church lies northeast of

2760-511: The floor above. Often, when a new street or set of streets was developed, the road and pavements were raised up, and the gardens or yards behind the houses remained at a lower level, usually representing the original one. Town terraced houses for all social classes remained resolutely tall and narrow, each dwelling occupying the whole height of the building. This contrasted with well-off continental dwellings, which had already begun to be formed of wide apartments occupying only one or two floors of

2829-401: The growth of a distinct and trained architectural profession; before the mid-century "the high-sounding title, 'architect' was adopted by anyone who could get away with it". This contrasted with earlier styles, which were primarily disseminated among craftsmen through the direct experience of the apprenticeship system. But most buildings were still designed by builders and landlords together, and

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2898-516: The land. Later during the decades following his 1827 death, his sons and family cut up and divided the estate building large elaborate substantial townhouses on a grid of streets including Peabody's Institute added north of original colonial era in Baltimore Town. Peabody left Baltimore for New York City and later London in 1837, as more and more of his international financial and business affairs consumed his time. His most famous return to

2967-591: The late 1950s, Bradshaw Gass & Hope 's Police Headquarters in Salford of 1958 being a good example. Architects such as Raymond Erith , and Donald McMorran were among the few architects who continued the neo-Georgian style into the 1960s. Both in the United States and Britain, the Georgian style is still employed by architects like Quinlan Terry , Julian Bicknell , Ben Pentreath , Robert Adam Architects , and Fairfax and Sammons for private residences. A debased form in commercial housing developments, especially in

3036-408: The main nave was generally wider and shorter than in medieval plans, and often there were no side-aisles. Galleries were common in new churches. Especially in country parishes, the external appearance generally retained the familiar signifiers of a Gothic church, with a tower or spire, a large west front with one or more doors, and very large windows along the nave, but all with any ornament drawn from

3105-575: The mainstream of Georgian style were both Palladian architecture —and its whimsical alternatives, Gothic and Chinoiserie , which were the English-speaking world 's equivalent of European Rococo . From the mid-1760s a range of Neoclassical modes were fashionable, associated with the British architects Robert Adam , James Gibbs, Sir William Chambers , James Wyatt , George Dance the Younger , Henry Holland and Sir John Soane . John Nash

3174-485: The mills and factories that were growing increasingly large by the end of the period. But as the period came to an end many commercial projects were becoming sufficiently large, and well-funded, to become "architectural in intention", rather than having their design left to the lesser class of "surveyors". Georgian architecture was widely disseminated in the English colonies during the Georgian era . American buildings of

3243-563: The need for a tower or steeple. The archetypal Georgian church is St Martin-in-the-Fields in London (1720), by Gibbs, who boldly added to the classical temple façade at the west end a large steeple on top of a tower, set back slightly from the main frontage. This formula shocked purists and foreigners, but became accepted and was very widely emulated, at home and in the colonies, for example at St Andrew's Church, Chennai in India. And in Dublin,

3312-627: The next 20 years in the 1820s and 30s, where he directed his growing wide-ranging business, financial and investment empire, which by mid-century had made him the richest man in America. He later endowed the Peabody Institute in 1857, which opened nine years later with the adjoining Library in 1878. Along with the additional educational, cultural and civic programs in the mid-1860s, the Institute and Conservatory were to be built across from

3381-749: The north, the Jones Falls Expressway to the east, Franklin Street to the south, and Eutaw Street to the west. The Mid-Town Belvedere neighborhood, named for the Belvedere estate of John Eager Howard , lies immediately to the north, and the two are sometimes considered to be one neighborhood. The Light RailLink line runs along Howard Street on the western side of Mount Vernon, and the Metro Subway runs beneath Eutaw Street. Penn Station , served by Amtrak and MARC commuter rail,

3450-581: The other materials was more favourable. Raked roofs were mostly covered in earthenware tiles until Richard Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn led the development of the slate industry in Wales from the 1760s, which by the end of the century had become the usual material. Versions of revived Palladian architecture dominated English country house architecture. Houses were increasingly placed in grand landscaped settings, and large houses were generally made wide and relatively shallow, largely to look more impressive from

3519-607: The period in Great Britain. Some windows were subsequently bricked-in. Their height increasingly varied between the floors, and they increasingly began below waist-height in the main rooms, making a small balcony desirable. Before this the internal plan and function of the rooms can generally not be deduced from the outside. To open these large windows the sash window , already developed by the 1670s, became very widespread. Corridor plans became universal inside larger houses. Internal courtyards became more rare, except beside

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3588-533: The period, though that covers a wide range. The Georgian style is highly variable, but marked by symmetry and proportion based on the classical architecture of Greece and Rome , as revived in Renaissance architecture . Ornament is also normally in the classical tradition, but typically restrained, and sometimes almost completely absent on the exterior. The period brought the vocabulary of classical architecture to smaller and more modest buildings than had been

3657-409: The population. 60.4% of the population were employed, 3.5% were unemployed, and 36.0% were not in the labor force, largely due to the large student population. The median household income was $ 21,225. About 15.2% of families and 26.9% of the population were below the poverty line . 5.6% of occupied housing units were owner-occupied. 10.2% of housing units were vacant . The Baltimore School for

3726-578: The same period is usually referred to as Neo-Georgian ; the work of Edwin Lutyens and Vincent Harris includes some examples. The British town of Welwyn Garden City , established in the 1920s, is an example of pastiche or Neo-Georgian development of the early 20th century in Britain. Versions of the Neo-Georgian style were commonly used in Britain for certain types of urban architecture until

3795-545: The semi-detached form, "a revolution of striking significance and far-reaching effect". Until the Church Building Act 1818 , the period saw relatively few churches built in Britain, which was already well-supplied, although in the later years of the period the demand for Non-conformist and Roman Catholic places of worship greatly increased. Anglican churches that were built were designed internally to allow maximum audibility, and visibility, for preaching , so

3864-547: The set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover , George I , George II , George III , and George IV , who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830. The Georgian cities of the British Isles were Edinburgh , Bath , pre-independence Dublin , and London , and to a lesser extent York and Bristol . The style

3933-429: The stables, and the functional parts of the building were placed at the sides, or in separate buildings nearby hidden by trees. The views to and from the front and rear of the main block were concentrated on, with the side approaches usually much less important. The roof was typically invisible from the ground, though domes were sometimes visible in grander buildings. The roofline was generally clear of ornament except for

4002-402: The street, often with a few steps up to the door. There was often an open space, protected by iron railings, dropping down to the basement level, with a discreet entrance down steps off the street for servants and deliveries; this is known as the "area" . This meant that the ground floor front was now removed and protected from the street and encouraged the main reception rooms to move there from

4071-554: The waterfront. When the Civic Center (now the Royal Farms Arena) was built on the site, the bronze tablet of 1894 was preserved and mounted on the outside wall facing Hopkins Place, near the northeast corner of the building. During a later remodel, the plaque was moved inside the new glass-enclosed lobby. Georgian architecture Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to

4140-574: The western downtown area, with a civic auditorium, arena, convention hall and exhibition galleries, the building became a center of Baltimore's sports and entertainment life. It covers the city block bounded by West Baltimore Street (north), Hopkins Place (east), Howard Street (west) and West Lombard Street (south). The Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution placed a large, elaborate, polished bronze memorial tablet in front of

4209-457: The western edge of town was beyond easy reach of the British Royal Navy 's ships and artillery should they try to sail up the Harbor and the Patapsco River to shell the town. A visitor described the tavern as a "three-story and attic brick house, of about 92 feet front on Market Street, by about 50 or 55 feet depth on the side streets, with cellar under the whole; having 14 rooms, exclusive of kitchen, wash-house and other out-buildings, including

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4278-409: The wide spread of Georgian architecture, and the Georgian styles of design more generally, came from dissemination through pattern books and inexpensive suites of engravings . Authors such as the prolific William Halfpenny (active 1723–1755) had editions in America as well as Britain. A similar phenomenon can be seen in the commonality of housing designs in Canada and the United States (though of

4347-402: The winter of 1776 to avoid capture by British forces, who were advancing on Philadelphia, the new American capital city, during the New York and New Jersey campaign designed to capture and occupy the revolutionary capital. As the largest building then in 47-year-old Baltimore, Henry Fite's six-year-old tavern provided a comfortable location of sufficient size for the Congress to meet; its site at

4416-399: Was distributed among his seven surviving children; the "Henry Fite House" became the property of his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, George Reinicker. Philanthropist and international financier George Peabody (1795–1869), of South Danvers (later Peabody) , Massachusetts, and New York City , moved to Baltimore in 1816. The "Henry Fite House" served as his home and office during

4485-417: Was lit by windows that were high on the inside, but just above ground level outside. A single block was typical, with perhaps a small court for carriages at the front marked off by railings and a gate, but rarely a stone gatehouse , or side wings around the court. Windows in all types of buildings were large and regularly placed on a grid; this was partly to minimize window tax , which was in force throughout

4554-697: Was one of the most prolific architects of the late Georgian era known as Regency style , he was responsible for designing large areas of London. Greek Revival architecture was added to the repertory, beginning around 1750, but increasing in popularity after 1800. Leading exponents were William Wilkins and Robert Smirke . In Britain, brick or stone are almost invariably used; brick is often disguised with stucco . The Georgian terraces of Dublin are noted for their almost uniform use of red brick, for example, whereas equivalent terraces in Edinburgh are constructed from stone. In America and other colonies wood remained very common, as its availability and cost-ratio with

4623-502: Was revived in the late 19th century in the United States as Colonial Revival architecture and in the early 20th century in Great Britain as Neo-Georgian architecture ; in both it is also called Georgian Revival architecture . In the United States, the term Georgian is generally used to describe all buildings from the period, regardless of style; in Britain it is generally restricted to buildings that are "architectural in intention", and have stylistic characteristics that are typical of

4692-409: Was strongly approved, imbuing symmetry and adherence to classical rules: the lack of symmetry, where Georgian additions were added to earlier structures remaining visible, was deeply felt as a flaw, at least before John Nash began to introduce it in a variety of styles. Regularity of housefronts along a street was a desirable feature of Georgian town planning. Until the start of the Gothic Revival in

4761-480: Was the opponent of Gothic in the Battle of the Styles of the early Victorian period. In the United States the Federalist Style contained many elements of Georgian style, but incorporated revolutionary symbols. In the early decades of the twentieth century when there was a growing nostalgia for its sense of order, the style was revived and adapted and in the United States came to be known as the Colonial Revival . The revived Georgian style that emerged in Britain during

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