Mount Clare | |
 Mount Clare in December 2011 | |
 Interactive map of Mount Clare | |
| Location | Carroll Park,Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 39°16′44″N76°38′37″W / 39.27889°N 76.64361°W /39.27889; -76.64361 |
| Area | 0 acres (0 ha) |
| Built | 1763 |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000860 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | April 15, 1970[2] |
| Designated NHL | April 15, 1970[1] |
| Designated BCL | 1982 |
Mount Clare, also known asMount Clare Mansion and generally known today as theMount Clare Museum House, is the oldest Colonial-era structure inBaltimore,Maryland, U.S. TheGeorgian style of architectureplantation house exhibits a somewhat altered five-part plan.[3]
The structure was built in 1763 on aCarroll familyplantation by barristerCharles Carroll the Barrister, (1723–1783), a descendant of the last Gaelic Lords ofÉile inIreland and a distant relative of the much better-knownCharles Carroll of Carrollton, (1737–1832), longest living signer of theDeclaration of Independence and the richest man in America in his later years, also the layer of the First Stone of the newBaltimore and Ohio Railroad, just a short distance away in 1828.
The City of Baltimore purchased a large portion of the former estate in 1890 as its third large landscaped park.[4] Mount Clare has been maintained by the National Society of Colonial Dames in Maryland, the local chapter ofThe National Society of The Colonial Dames of America, since 1917. In 1970, it was added to theNational Register of Historic Places and was designated aNational Historic Landmark for its architecture.
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Mount Clare features a portico on the front façade with a projecting bay above. The upper bay contains aPalladian window. The City of Baltimore built Palladian pavilions connected byhyphens on either side in 1910 as a concealed public toilets structure,[5] but these do not reflect historical construction that were originally on the estate.[4] They have since been converted to a library and a colonial-era kitchen exhibit.[5] A circa 1912 stable,[6] once used to house the horses of the city's park rangers, has been restored and is now used for classroom space as well as a rental facility for events and meetings.
The first building on the Mount Clare property was built by John Henry Carroll,Charles Carroll's brother, (1723–1783), in 1754, and was probably eventually incorporated into the larger house. Charles inherited the property after John's death. The property consisted of 800 acres from the much larger Georgia Plantation, which had belonged to their father, Dr. Charles Carroll. Mount Clare overlooked the northwestern shore of Ridgely's Cove of the Middle Branch and Ferry Branch of thePatapsco River, where some wharves and docks existed along with the Baltimore Iron Works, one of the largest industrial enterprises of colonial America. Charles began construction of the house between 1757 and 1760.
This area had originally been near the first selected site by the appointed town commissioners for the newBaltimore Town, laid out in 1729. A different location, further northeast onthe Basin, head of the Northwest Branch of thePatapsco River, was chosen after the landowner John Moale objected to the project on the theory that he had located important iron ore deposits there that he intended to eventually mine and exploit. One hundred and twenty years earlier, during the first explorations and mapping by the famed CaptainJohn Smith, (1580–1631), of the northernChesapeake Bay, on his 1608 map he had labeled what is now called the Patapsco River as Bolus River, from theLatin word meaning clay, usually holdingiron mineral deposits.
Charles Carroll the Barrister, (1723-1783), began building the present2+1⁄2-storyGeorgian style central block, incorporating his brother John's kitchen and flanking it with a wash house and anorangery. In 1768, Charles added the projecting bay andPalladian window that dominate the entry facade today. The kitchen wing was enlarged and an office wing was added for balance, resulting in a symmetrical nine-part elevation.[7] The house was completed about 1767.[5]
After Barrister Charles' death in 1783, his widow made further changes, connecting the outbuildings and adding a greenhouse to the orangery and expanding the laundry, resulting in a complex about 360 feet long. These additions, along with other alterations, were in the more current style ofFederal architecture which is similar to but slightly different from the olderGeorgian.[7]
By the 1820s, nearby to the east as the street grid of the city began growing and inching closer towards the southwest with its rows and lines of streets and alleys filled with the dense development of small brick rowhouses of various styles. Under the competitive economic pressure to the City and thePort of Baltimore of the 1825 massive construction project with the opening of the northernErie Canal, with its quicker and cheaper access from theGreat Lakes toNew York City and the proposedChesapeake and Ohio Canal along thePotomac River to the south fromGeorgetown andWashington, D.C. to the westernAppalachian Mountains andCumberland, Maryland caused a long reaction among leading citizens and leaders of the city. The forming by several businessmen and industrialists, after hearing details of the incredible new transportation technology now being used inGreat Britain from several of its leading merchants, theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, was formed in 1827 which includedCharles Carroll of Carrollton, (1737–1832), as one of its directors and the important ceremonial position of setting the First Stone for the railroad at the end of the big parade, festivities and ceremonies onIndependence Day, July 4, 1828, near the old house.
The foundries, shops, forges and other equipment sheds and shacks would be known as theMount Clare Shops off East Pratt Street near future Arlington Street, where a small Mount Clare Station was erected in the early 1830s as one of its first passenger terminals and joined by its landmark B. & O. Roundhouse in 1884, which after 1953 became the site of the Railroad Company's new B. & O. Transportation Museum, later reorganized independently as theB&O Railroad Museum, and the main temporary one at the southeast corner of West Pratt and South Charles Streets, near the Basin's waterfront piers. The Mount Clare name was applied to the nearby growing neighborhood in the early 19th century, home to an increasing complex of foundries, shops, mechanics, industries and businesses supplying equipment, workmen, contractors and businesses, all revolving around the business of the railroad. Attracted to the growing industrial capabilities of the area were industrialists, inventors, manufacturers such asPeter Cooper (1791–1883) of New York, who designed the first steam engine locomotives for the railroad when it quickly shifted from the horse-drawn power used during its first four years.Ross Winans (1796–1877) further developed locomotives and other equipment, followed by his sonsThomas and William Winans, with hisRussian contracts and work. Hundreds of workers with specialized industrial skills, both citizens and recent immigrants, worked in southwest Baltimore and lived in the surrounding streets and communities. Other nearby neighborhoods were Poppleton, Union Square, and East Baltimore, along with the earlierPigtown, also known by the gentrified 1980's as Washington Village.
The mansion left the Carroll Family's ownership in 1840, and the house's flanking hyphen wings were demolished. During theAmerican Civil War, when Baltimore was occupied in May 1861 by northern state militia and then regular army forces, Mount Clare was used as a headquarters byUnion Army forces who fortified the site and named it Camp Carroll, one of a series of earthen forts surrounding Baltimore, then making it the second most-fortified city in the world at that time, afterWashington, D.C.
Beginning in 1871, land was leased to theSchuetzen Park for use by theGerman community in Baltimore.[8] The house and adjacent acreage 70 acres (28 ha) facing Washington Boulevard and the Gwynns Falls and Middle Branch of the river were purchased in 1890 by the City of Baltimore and became its third large landscaped park.[5]
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Beginning in January 2012, a collaborative operating agreement between Baltimore's Department of Recreation and Parks and the B&O Railroad Museum and theNational Society of The Colonial Dames of America's Maryland Chapter, a descendants' heritage group. The local Dames has administered the site since 1917. TheB&O Railroad Museum, located a mile northeast of Mount Clare, provides seasonal train rides to and from itsMount Clare Shops museum complex for visitors, and has developed tours and exhibits noting therailroad andCivil War history of the site.
The second small passenger station (Mount Clare Station) to supplement its original, little-known, waterfront first station onWest Pratt Street (between SouthCharles andLight Streets along with an extensive complex of workshops, furnaces, warehouses and foundries to maintain the new growing transportation system a mile to the northeast on the edge of the estate were named theMount Clare Shops. The Colonial Dames with their experienced staff, volunteers, docents and historians will be telling the story of the mansion itself and its furnishings/decorations with the colonial lifestyle of both the Carroll family and several subsequent owners in the 19th century, their relatives and visitors, with the slaves/servants employed in the house, gardens, and outlying grounds and plantation outside of Baltimore.
The manor house has been appointed with historically relevant furnishings and is open to the public. Guided tours are preceded by an introductory video and include a walk through the entire house, together encompassing about 45 to 60 minutes.
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