111 North Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD, USA

National Register of Historic Places - U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (Federal Building and Courthouse /See Also:Business and Govern)

Statement of Significant:

Baltimore had been served by make-shift post offices at some ten different downtown locations before a building specifically designed for postal operations was opened for public inspection on March 22, 1890. That post office stood on the east side of Calvert Street, stretching from Fayette Street on the south to Lexington Street on the north, occupying about half a city block.

necessary ground had been purchased from the owners of Guy's Monument House hotel, from the Mayor and City Council, and from other individuals, beginning in August, 1880. 1 Construction, however, did not begin until May 8, 1881, and numerous delays were encountered before supervising architect J.H. Windrim and officials of the Treasury and other Federal agencies inspected the completed work in 1890. The greater part of the post office, including the 189-foot tower, was complete by 1886 when shown in a promotional book about Baltimore; it was described in the text as "a departure from the uninviting architecture heretofore adopted by the Government for this class of buildings, and adds very much to the appearance of this section of the city." The post office shared the city block with a small Federal Court Building on the north side of Fayette Street, just west to 1865 Street (now called Guilford Avenue); the court structure dated.

The post office faced Monument Square, a once fashionable residential spot where stands the monument that since 1815 had made Baltimore "The Monumental City." The Battle Monument, designed by Maximilian Godefroy, commemorated the fallen citizen soldiers and militiamen who held back the British troops at the Battle of North Point in September of 1814. The Renaissance style post office was joined on that famous square by a Renaissance revival, heavily columned Baltimore City Courthouse on the opposite (west) side of Calvert Street in 1899. Both public buildings appeared for many years on the box lids of the "Monument Square" brand of cigar--long after the post office was replaced.

Beginning about 1922, postmasters and business people of the city urged construction of a new facility because the city was growing at a rate unforeseen in 1880 when Congress passed the original appropriation. Nathan Caplan, who had worked in the 1890 building, recalled that the place was beset by uncontrollable clouds of dust, and when the windows were opened in summer, chilling drafts of air whipped through the sorting rooms giving workers head-colds; in addition, the tower, however attractive, as urban scenery, served no useful purpose beyond the storage of unused records.