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The Great 1904 Fire Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.’s Role in Rebuilding the Burnt District FMOPL Digest olmstedmaryland.org One hundred years ago, the Great Baltimore Fire destroyed over 1,500 buildings and left 140 acres of down- town Baltimore in ruins roughly from Liberty Street to the Jones Falls and Fayette Street to the Harbor. While the 1904 Fire devastated planning for improvements in could only be widened on the many businesses and financial in- the downtown area destroyed by north side since several surviving terests, the catastrophe created a the fire. buildings stood on the south side: great opportunity to improve the Alex Brown and Sons, the Con- VOLUME 15 heart of Baltimore by widening Time was of the essence. Busi- tinental Trust Company and the ISSUE 1 streets, developing a new public nesses in the downtown area were International Trust Company. Spring 2004 market and improving wharfs at in a hurry to rebuild. Olmsted Since Baltimore Street carried a the Inner Harbor. Frederick Law conducted a study in five days. great deal of streetcar traffic, -Ol Olmsted, Jr. played a major role On February 18, 1904, only ten msted suggested that it be wid- in the rebuilding of Baltimore. days after the fire ended, he out- ened to 52 feet with 14-foot wide The Olmsted Brothers Landscape lined his recommendations in a sidewalks – a total of 80 feet. The Architects (OBLA) had just com- 19-page letter to the 63 member prospect of widening Baltimore Olmsted, Jr. proposed major changes for rebuilding the Inner Harbor piers pleted A Report upon the Develop- Citizen’s Emergency Committee Street caused so much turmoil, destroyed by the 1904 Fire. Olmsted Associates, Project No. 2410 Courtesy ment of Public Grounds for Greater created to handle post-fire re- however, that the recommenda- of the National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. Baltimore for the Municipal Art building. tion was dropped from the plan. Society and the City Park Com- Baltimore Street created so much Street and Charles Street. Most mission. This plan for stream val- Most of Olmsted’s recommenda- Olmsted also predicted that turmoil that the recommendation of these recommendations were ley parks along the Jones Falls, tions involved widening streets. within 25 years transit would be was dropped from the plan. approved and accomplished, but Gwynns Falls and Herring Run He called for Pratt Street to be- moved into underground tunnels only within areas destroyed by shaped park development in come a 120-foot to 150-foot wide (He was off by 54 years, since Olmsted also proposed the wid- the fire. Charles Street narrows Baltimore for the next hundred major thoroughfare to accommo- the Baltimore Metro did not ening of Light Street, German north of Fayette Street where years. In February 1904, city date waterfront traffic. Baltimore open for service until November (now Redwood) Street, Lombard O'Neill & Co. department store leaders sought Olmsted’s help in Street, a major commercial street, 1983). The prospect of widening Street, Hopkins Place, Commerce and the Old Central Saving Bank Building survived the fire. Calvert retail market buildings were built also … after providing for stone Street was not widened south of at the site he suggested. wharves and a reasonable drive- Baltimore Street to accommodate way back of them, a parked or surviving buildings. In addition to the physical im- open space might then be left. provements the City accom- This would be of incalculable ad- The Olmsted plan proposed a new plished, Olmsted wanted archi- vantage in the future …” street to run from the Harbor at tects to cooperate on projects Pratt and Light streets northwest in order to create harmonious Olmsted replied two days later, “I to Baltimore and Liberty streets. streetscapes. He felt that archi- fear that the treatment you men- This street would provide a short- tects could adopt the same type tion would not be practicable, cut to the waterfront and reduce of brick or stone trim on adjacent or if practicable, would not be traffic on Baltimore Street. City buildings. For the most part this worth its cost. The average length leaders rejected this idea since it suggestion was ignored except in of piers is such that a continu- would disrupt too many existing one case. The architects of build- ous promenade at the shoreward building lots. Years later, planners ings next to the old Alex Brown end of them must be somewhat and citizens would lament that Building at Baltimore and Calvert remote from the main body of Charles Street does not connect streets cooperated in the manner water. Moreover, any park strip in directly to the Inner Harbor. proposed by Olmsted. All build- such a position would be crossed ings adjacent to the surviving at grade by the innumerable Olmsted also recommended a bank feature a similar brick color, streams of traffic connecting with public plaza directly across from stone trim, and height. the wharves; and the wharves are the St. Paul Street side of the Bal- almost inevitably to be occupied timore Courthouse to provide a While Olmsted was in the van- in a great number of cases by dignified setting for the build- guard in his proposals to rebuild sheds and other structures which ing and for fire protection. This downtown Baltimore after the would cut off a view of the wa- plaza was built but reduced in fire, he did not envision the Inner ter.” size from 160 feet to 120 feet. Harbor as a public promenade. Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., circa 1910. Photo by Alice Austin courtesy of Frederick He also suggested creating a civic City leaders also followed Olm- At the time an unknown archi- Law Olmsted National Historic Site. plaza south of the Post Office and sted’s advice to acquire the entire tect, Paul Burkhard, developed Charles Center and Inner Harbor City Hall— an idea that was re- waterfront destroyed by the fire a schematic plan in keeping with redevelopment projects have re- —Fred B. Shoken is a local jected at the time, but resurfaced and build new piers that could Bouton’s suggestion, which was built entire blocks. Office towers preservation consultant. A for- 15 years later in a different form be leased to waterfront uses. published in a local architec- built after 1970 replaced smaller mer Commission for Historical with the creation of War Memo- Three days after the fire, Edward tural journal in May 1904, but commercial buildings on Balti- and Architectural Preservation rial Plaza in front of City Hall. H. Bouton, the President of The Burkard’s plan was ignored. To- more Street. Little of the built (CHAP) staff member and Presi- He also recommended the cre- Roland Park Company wrote to day, planners are turning Bouton environment is recognizable from dent of Baltimore Heritage, Inc., ation of a new municipal market the Olmsted Brothers, stating, and Burkhard’s idea into a real- Olmsted's time, yet the street he has written many articles on space from Baltimore Street to “It seems to me that there is an ity. widenings, municipally con- Baltimore history and redevelop- Lombard Street and Market Place opportunity here now to make trolled harbor, piers and the open ment. to the Jones Falls. The Fish Mar- some provision for the improve- After 100 years, approximately space west of the Courthouse on ket (now Port Discovery) is the ment of this water front, so that, 20 per cent of the buildings St. Paul Street endure as a trib- Publication Design & Editing only surviving market building, while meeting commercial needs, constructed after the fire within ute to Olmsted's significant city by Sandra Sparks though additional wholesale and it can be made an attractive place The Burnt District survive. The planning efforts a century ago. This 1904 map shows the plan proposed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to improve traffic circulation by removing and widening streets for a growing downtown business district a century ago. Olmsted Associates, Project No. 2410 Courtesy of the National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site..

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