Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) U.S
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National Park Service Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) U.S. Department of the Interior Built to Last No. 10 Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church 233 North Charles Street, Baltimore (1854-6, Richard Upjohn, architect) Excerpt from the full report written by Laurie Ossman, Ph.D., for HABS Old St. Paul’s is the only surviving Richard Upjohn-designed building in Baltimore. Within the architect’s œuvre, the use of the Early Christian- Romanesque basilica style is unique. The present interior, dating largely from a 1904 redecoration program, contains stained glass, mosaic and decorative paint- ing by Tiffany Studios, D. Maitland Armstrong, and Chase and Ames of Boston. The present building is the third church on this site, the first dating back to 1732, the second built in 1814 to designs by Robert Cary Long, Jr. The congregation of St. Paul’s was founded at Patapsco Neck, the first of three Episcopal parishes in Baltimore County authorized by an Nave, Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. James W. Rosenthal, photographer, Summer Act of the Maryland Assembly in 2001. 1692. In 1731, the congregation relocated to Baltimore Town, pur- Anglican Church itself (that is to 17th- and 18th-century churches chasing the land upon which the say, prior to the Act of Supremacy present structure stands. This lot, was eschewed in favor of a more under Henry VIII in 1534). In order agglomerative massing, suggestive of the highest point of land within the to achieve this, Ecclesiologists stud- boundaries of the town at that time, a building’s growth over time. In ied and reproduced “archaeological- addition, the architectural compo- is the oldest continuously owned ly correct” examples of medieval property in the city. nent of the movement surely con- parish churches that would have tained a dose of Romantic national- accommodated the liturgical services ism, proposing a return to an earlier, By the time the parish had contact- that the movement hoped to revive. ed architect Richard Upjohn about rural style of building in the face of unparalleled industrialization and designing a new building, the archi- The Ecclesiological demand for tect was already well known as the urbanization from the 1830s liturgical reform was inextricably onward. foremost American practitioner of tied with their advocacy of architec- Ecclesiological architecture. The tural reform. The premise was that The Baltimore parish of Old St. Ecclesiological Movement, begun in pre-Reformation church design— Oxford in the 1833, advocated Paul’s, traditionally more “high specifically the Gothic parish church” than evangelical, was mov- reform within the Anglican liturgy church—had evolved in perfect by returning to certain Roman ing toward Anglo-Catholicism in the expression of the true liturgy. The 1840s. Bishop Whittingham was a Catholic practices that pre-dated the rigidly controlled massing of many (continued on page 2) Built to Last: Ten Enduring Landmarks of Baltimore’s Central Business District, Historic American Buildings Survey, Washington, DC, May 2002. Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (continued) reform advocate, and the dozen or design of the Early Christian the architect’s skill. The resulting so churches erected under his dioce- church. Further research into building is unique in the architecture san leadership are generally textbook Upjohn’s travels in Italy may con- of both the Ecclesiological move- Ecclesiological Gothic, resembling firm—or disprove—that the Early ment and the œuvre of the archi- English parish churches transplanted Christian St. Paolo in Rome provid- tect. to Baltimore neighborhoods. It is ed inspiration for the design of its thus surprising that Upjohn, who is namesake in Baltimore. The fact The complete report for this structure, including best known as the architect of that the Baltimore church burned in bibliographic citations and references, may be Gothic Revival Trinity Church in 1854 (as the Roman one had in obtained from the Historic American Buildings New York, and Old St. Paul’s—the 1823) and would be similarly Survey beginning in September 2002. Copies of “mother church” of an Anglo- “rebuilt” within surviving walls this information sheet may be downloaded at no Catholic diocese on the verge of a might have confirmed the aptitude cost from the HABS web site: Ecclesiological building program— conceptually of Upjohn’s design for should end up with a very non- Old St. Paul’s that had been in www.cr.nps.gov/habshaer/habs/ Gothic looking church. development since 1852. During the summer of 2001, the Historic One reason for the choice of the In fact, the reformist impulse of the American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the boxy basilica form is surely practical. Ecclesiological movement logically Maryland Historical Trust, in coordination with The parish’s wish to retain as much might have led—Romantic national- the City of Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation surviving fabric as possible from the ism in England aside—to early (CHAP) and Preservation Maryland, recorded Robert Cary Long church on this Christianity as the “purest” form of ten historic buildings and sites within Baltimore’s site (which burned in 1854) dictated liturgy and supporting architecture, Central Business District through large-format a rectangular footprint and thick but it rarely (if ever) did, except at photography and original historical research. brick walls that were incompatible Old. St. Paul’s. Given the parish’s The heart of the downtown area and focus of with the Gothic Revival style. The status as the earliest in Baltimore, intensive redevelopment efforts, Baltimore’s Ecclesiological aversion to the the idea of fashioning “The Mother Central Business District is a designated city his- toric district and home to a diverse array of his- Classical tradition in architecture Church” of Baltimore in the image toric commercial and civic buildings, churches, eliminated a vast array of stylistic of the earliest surviving Christian theaters and other landmarks. Many of them possibilities. Even so, the unusual basilica—the very first basilica any- predate the district’s Great Fire of 1904 and choice of a basilica form did not where dedicated to St. Paul (as the chronicle Baltimore’s rise as a financial, com- automatically dictate an Early Roman church is built on the site of mercial and civic center. This project, resulting Christian basilica style. The decision his burial)—makes for a powerful in more than 150 photographs by Baltimore photographer James W. Rosenthal for HABS and to express the basilica plan in a rhetorical statement. In conjunction ten detailed architectural histories by Laurie basilica style so closely resembling with the more conventional use of Ossman, PhD., also a Baltimore resident, grew Early Christian models (by way of English Gothic models in the other out of concern about the recent loss of the their Medieval emulators) seems log- diocesan projects of the period, the Merchants & Miners Transportation Company ical, but was unprecedented in design of Old St. Paul’s may be seen Building at 17 Light Street and other buildings of Ecclesiological practice. as an expression of an analogy: Old architectural distinction in Baltimore. St. Paul’s is to the other parishes of Ranging chronologically from the Peale Museum The Baltimore church’s Roman the Episcopal Church in Baltimore (1814) to the Bank of America Building (1929; namesake, the Early Christian basili- what St. Paolo fuori la mura in formerly the Baltimore Trust Company ca of San Paolo fuori la mura (St. Rome is to the Church in Western Building), and in function from Old St. Paul’s Paul’s Outside the Walls, built 384 Europe. Taken a step further, the Church (1846) to the Gayety Theatre (1906), C.E.) may have provided the inspira- reference may indicate that the dio- the ten landmarks selected for this study illus- tion for Upjohn’s design. Believed to cese as a whole ultimately “looked trate the architectural diversity of the district and the myriad forces that have informed the have been one of the most perfectly to Rome” (rather than to district’s growth and evolution over time. The preserved examples of an Early Canterbury or London) for its start- exhibit, launched at the Maryland Historical Christian basilica, the church suf- ing point. Society in May 2002 during National Historic fered a catastrophic fire in 1823. Preservation Month, and the companion walking The reconstruction of the basilica The facility with which Upjohn ful- tour provide a glimpse into the architectural his- was renowned not only for its filled all the Ecclesiological prereq- tory of Baltimore’s Central Business District. It is hoped that the exhibit and brochure will authenticity, but for the scholarly uisites—as noted above—into an encourage further exploration and preservation opportunity the work provided for atypically Ecclesiological building is of Baltimore’s tremendously rich architectural the study of construction and not only a remarkable testament to heritage. 2 Built to Last No. 10.