Terminal Warehouse - Baltimore MD - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Also known as Flour Warehouse.

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY,- NOMINATION FORM

The availability of transportation facilities, including canals and railways, played an important part in the commercial development of Block 607. The Terminal Warehouse built in 1894 illustrates the area's industrial archeological significance. The extension of the Northern Central Railway's Guilford Avenue line correlates property development and transportation as is illustrated by the Terminal Warehouse. Railway lines leading into its 316 Guilford Avenue side, as well as high interior spaces and wood beam construction, suggest its original function as a warehouse.

The Terminal Warehouse remains one of the oldest warehouses in continuous use by the same corporation. It also presently houses the Baltimore City Archives and the Baltimore City Department of Planning. The preservation of this block is important not only because of the fine example of a turn of the century warehouse and related industrial technology but also because it is in proximity to architecturally outstanding structures throughout the municipal center. The "Flour Warehouse," as it was called from its inception, was designed by Benjamin B. Owens, a well-known name in Baltimore architecture of the period and a member of the Baltimore Branch of American Institute of Architects. The contractor on the original building was S. H. and J. F. Adams, also well-known for construction in this area; on the addition in 1912, the Noel Construction Company.

The Flour Warehouse was created as a depot for flour from the West. To that end, flour chutes were installed. When received, bagged merchandise was carried from the first floor loading docks to the upper floors on hand tracks by elevator, but for speed in handling at time of delivery the flour chutes were faster and more efficient. At the close of the first year of operation the warehouse contained flour in barrel and bags, sugar, peas and beans, timothy and clover seed, bags of wool, barbed wire in reels, etc., most of it coming from the West via the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The "superior workmanship" noted in the minutes of the Board of Directors upon completion of the building is evident in the "No. 1 pressed brick set in tinted cement"; the use of Port Deposit stone at extra cost rather than Falls Road stone; the 12/12 lights in segmental-arched wooden frames set in recessed brick arches. The wrought iron fire escape, the octagonal tower to cover the water tank, the circular iron staircase from the first floor to the sixth inside the building, and the flour chutes, are unusual features of its architecture. Two of its five elevators are hydraulically pistoned and still function.

Street address: 211 E. Pleasant Street Baltimore, MD United States 21202 County / Borough / Parish: Baltimore (Independent City) Year listed: 1978 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1900-1924, 1875-1899 Historic function: Commerce/Trade Current function: Commerce/Trade, Government Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/10/2021 Don.Morfe visited it