With this year’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations and Black Heritage in mind, I was reminded of this 1993 article I wrote about Baltimore’s historic Orchard Street Church.
When he first saw the project in 1990, architect Brian Kelly “could hardly wait to get his hands” on the building. Today, after three years of research, design and construction, Orchard Street Methodist Church is once-again a place to be revered.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976, Orchard Street Church has a proud history. Designed in 1882 by noted Baltimore architect Frank Davis, the Italian-Renaissance style church was immediately considered a landmark and an important cultural center. The oldest African-American church in Maryland, Orchard Street was built by former slaves and is rumored to have been a part of the infamous Underground Railroad, a network of tunnels and hiding places that laid the tracks to freedom for southern slaves.
Three generations of church buildings were built on the site since 1840; however, the structure was left abandoned for seventeen years. Vandals destroyed windows. The homeless used the building for shelter and built fires inside to keep warm. The building was a sad shell of its former self and an eyesore to the community. Several attempts to renovate the property had failed. Then the Baltimore Urban League, the 68-year-old local affiliate of the National Urban League, acquired the property from the City of Baltimore in 1989 and began work.
In association with Anthony N. Johns, professor and chairperson of Architecture at Morgan State University, Baltimore architects Kelly Clayton & Mojzisek (KC&M) began renovations in September, 1991. KC&M was in competition with 50 other firms nationwide for the job, but their experience with historic renovations, particularly with church projects, made them well known in the Mid-Atlantic region and an obvious choice for this local project. In business since 1953, the firm has completed several award-winning projects. Their renovation of Corpus Christi Church won a Baltimore Heritage Preservation Award, and the Marine Service Building on Hanover Street won an AIA (American Institute of Architects) award. KC&M was also involved in the $22 million Charlestown Retirement Community.
KC&M directed the replication and restoration of all materials in the 22,000-square-foot brick building, although time had taken away many clues. Just fragments of the original stained glass was left to replicate. Analysis revealed decorative details created originally from fish oil paint. An artisan, who happened to be a descendant of the original craftsman, was found to help recreate the details.
The 5,000-foot sanctuary, with its refurbished Arkansas pine wainscoting, cherry railings and balusters and circular stained glass windows, will eventually serve as an African-American cultural center and museum. Excavation into a sub-basement level revealed several artifacts, an old farm well, and part of an underground tunnel, all of which will be incorporated into the museum.
Looking at the finished project, any visitor should be impressed by how well the Urban League fits into the layout. The bright interior paint colors and rich stained wood convey an energetic, yet cohesive quality. The large, open fellowship hall, located on the first floor of the church beneath the sanctuary, houses the group’s Manpower Program, while the basement beneath the sanctuary and hall was easily deepened to accommodate air and heating units and additional storage space. The Urban League, whose programs include job training, placement, consumer services, AIDS education, teenage pregnancy programs and a literacy center, will also allow neighborhood groups in the surrounding Seton Hill and lower Druid Hill Avenue areas to use its meeting rooms.
“Designing for handicap accessibility, to service various user groups, and for security were tricky problems to resolve,” admits Kelly.
The Sunday School annex, originally designed by Francis Tormey and completed in 1903, was adapted to house the administrative and program offices. A double-loaded corridor near the annex entrance, originally used for classrooms, is now being reused as such. The wood flooring and traditional classroom furniture has been preserved. To provide enough offices for staff, a mezzanine level has been added, but much of the original detail of school, like the church itself, has been retained. While the sanctuary and the rest of the church was polychromatic, with stenciling and gold leaf detail, the Sunday School has dark brown trim, a pressed tin ceiling and pastel walls.
Even the Sunday School’s stage has been preserved. The coffered plaster proscenium arch cornice now frames the activities of the Urban League’s president and board of directors, as the stage has been transformed into a glass-enclosed conference room, with a separately paneled area that serves as the president’s office.
Urban League president Roger Lyons believes no group could have a better reminder of its heritage. Like the people who traveled the Underground Railroad, the Urban League moved from their small suppressed world in the basement of Mondawmin Mall to the freedom of sanctuary in an urban oasis. Numerous private donors, in addition to funds from the city, state and the Maryland Historic Trust made the project a reality. Future plans call for a vacant lot in front of the church to be landscaped and transformed into a plaza and drop-off point for tour buses.
On a site where slaves and freed Blacks once worked by torchlight to build their first church, a piece of the past has been saved, thanks to caring civic leaders, engineers, designers and artisans.
“The great thing about this building is we were able to do it correctly and authentically,” says Kelly. “Because of the preservation effort, it is going to have a higher intrinsic value than anything that could be built.”
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| Restored church sanctuary (inset, before restoration) |
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The Sunday School annex, before restoration
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The Sunday School annex, renovated for use as Baltimore Urban League offices
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Article and photos reprinted from the Baltimore Engineer magazine, October 1993. I was Editor of the magazine during my time as Publications Manager for The Engineering Society of Baltimore.
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