Chamber of Commerce Building - Baltimore MD - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The building is now the Staybridge Suites Hotel.

National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form

The significance of the Chamber of Commerce Building derives from its architectural character and its historic role in Baltimore history. As a structure designed in the Renaissance Revival manner, the building displays certain distinctive features, primarily decorative, that were commonly employed during the rebuilding of the financial area in Baltimore following the Great Fire in 1904.

These features include rustication; quoining; dentil, egg-and dart, and modillion cornices; and pilasters. Certain points, however, separate the Chamber of Commerce Building from the other structures in the district. These points include a horizontal quality as opposed to the verticality that generally marks the area and being primarily a red brick structure in an area dominated by stone. Significance is also derived from association with the city's commercial history.

The building was constructed as a grain trading center with a trading room on the upper floor and offices for traders and exporters below. For many years during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Baltimore was the nation's leading exporter of flour and cereal grains. It's deepwater port at the railhead of the Pennsylvania, Western Maryland and B & O lines gave it a natural preeminence. During that period, before the era of modern communication, the focal point of the flow of trade was the exchange floor of the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce.

This building is the second grain trading center to occupy this site. The first one was erected in the 1880s and is said to have been similar in design to the present structure. Following the 1904 fire, the association elected to continue in the same location and employed Charles Cassell of Baltimore to prepare drawings for the new building. Construction was begun in the summer of 1904.

Street address: 17 Commerce Street Baltimore, MD United States 21202 County / Borough / Parish: Baltimore (Independent City) Year listed: 1983 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1950-1974, 1925-1949, 1900-1924 Historic function: Commerce/Trade Current function: Commerce/Trade 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   09/11/2021 Don.Morfe visited it