Vickers Building-Business and Government Historic District - Baltimore MD - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form

The Business and Government Historic District consists primarily of a cohesive group of governmental and commercial buildings that are located in the historic center of Baltimore near the Inner Harbor. The district is generally characterized by classically influenced facades that line the street. The commercial buildings range from small two and three story high storefront structures to modern twenty-five story high office towers. Although there are extant buildings from the early nineteenth century to the present day, the overwhelming majority of buildings were constructed between 1900 and 1925, most in the decade following the 1904 fire.

Generally the buildings feature classical detailing, symmetry, brick or smooth stone facades, and a heavy cornice at the roof line, however there is a wide range of styles in this heterogeneous, urban district. Among the most distinctive structures in the district are the small classical banks, early high rise office buildings, "revival buildings" (small commercial structures designed as a revival of a foreign architectural style) and the courthouses.

The street plan conforms to a fairly strict grid pattern. Major landscaping features are Monument Square centered on the 52 foot marble Battle Monument erected 1815-1825, War Memorial Plaza to the west of the War Memorial building, and the open space in front of the Fish Market.

Vickers Building-225 East Redwood Street.

From the website:
Vickers Building • Built to Last: Enduring Landmark's of Baltimore Central Business District • Baltimore Heritage Digital Collections

VICKERS BUILDING
One of the largest to utilize brick as a primary structural and facing material following the devastating Great Fire of 1904, the Vickers Building is a rare surviving example of the commercial blocks constructed in the city’s Central Business District in the first years of the twentieth century. The interior of Werner’s Restaurant, an occupant of the building since 1951, is remarkably intact example of late Moderne lunch counter.

East Redwood Street, between Calvert and South Streets, was known until 1918 as German Street (for the preponderance of German-owned businesses in the area) and rests at the core of Baltimore's early 19th-century commercial district. This core, which centers on the intersection of Calvert and Baltimore Streets, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Baltimore Financial District, encompassing 16 city blocks and including 145 contributing structures, of which the Vickers is one.

The present structure replaced a previous Vickers Building in the Second Empire style that was destroyed during the Great Fire of 7-8 February 1904. While most post-Fire buildings in the district were built of stone, the Vickers building is one of the largest to utilize brick as a primary structural and facing material. Typical of post-Fire commercial design in Baltimore, the Vickers Building eschews the Mansard roof and ornamental complexity of the Second Empire style in favor of a more restrained and visually cohesive massing, emphatic symmetry, a flat roof and limited application of classical ornament that was often concentrated at the cornice level. This abrupt change in the district’s architectural character, as exemplified by the comparison of the pre- and post-Fire Vickers buildings, is generally attributed to cultural factors such as the rise of Beaux-Arts Classicism in American design following the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago of 1893.

Pragmatism also played a role in defining the district’s post-Fire character: first, the need to rebuild quickly mitigated against complex massing that was time-consuming to construct; second, the shift toward masonry as a fire deterrent material favored simpler masses for reasons of cost; and, third, the structure and attic space inherent in Mansard roofs was believed to have contributed to the spread of the fire. There were also rhetorical reasons for the shift, such as an institutional desire to portray stability after the 1904 Fire—a desire that favored the associative value of classicizing architectural idioms as symbols of permanence.
The permit for the present structure was issued on 19 May 1904, indicating that Vickers lost no time in commissioning a replacement structure for the building that had been destroyed by fire. Built to house retail establishments at the ground level with rental office space above, the Vickers Building has retained its intended use into the 21st century.

Name of Historic District (as listed on the NRHP): Business and Government Historic District Link to nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com page with the Historic District: [Web Link] Address: 225 East Redwood Street, Baltimore MD 21202 How did you determine the building to be a contributing structure?: Narrative found on the internet (Link provided below) Optional link to narrative or database: [Web Link] NRHP Historic District Waymark (Optional): Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/27/2021 Don.Morfe visited it