List of tallest buildings in Baltimore

Skyline of Baltimore (Use cursor to identify buildings)

This list of tallest buildings in Baltimore ranks skyscrapers and high-rises in the U.S. city of Baltimore, Maryland by height. The tallest building in Baltimore is the 40-story Transamerica Tower (Baltimore), which rises 529 feet (161 m) and was completed in 1973.^[1] It also stands as the tallest building in the state of Maryland and the tallest building on the East Coast between Philadelphia and Raleigh, after the RBC Plaza was built in 2008. The second-tallest building in the city and the state is the Bank of America Building, which is 509 feet (155 m) high.^[2]

History

The history of skyscrapers in Baltimore began with the completion in 1889 of the Equitable Building at the southwest corner of North Calvert and East Fayette Streets across from the Beaux Arts/Classical Revival architecture of the Baltimore City Courthouse of 1894-1900 and the landmark Battle Monument in Battle Monument Square, commemorating the fallen in the defense of the City against the British attack in the 1814 Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. "The Equitable" as it became known replaced the earlier landmark from 1825, Barnum's City Hotel and was the first steel cage framed building with outside surface panels of stone hung on the frame, a new technique pioneered by Chicago architects like Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham. Shortly after, the 1893 construction of the Fidelity Building, of which both are regarded as the first high-rises in the City.^[3] The building originally rose eight floors, but an additional seven stories with a terra cotta panels façade designed to match the original earlier grey granite rough-cut stone base, were constructed between 1912 and 1915, bringing the structure's total height to 220 feet (67 m), making it the first building in Baltimore over 200 feet (61 m).^[3] Baltimore went through an early high-rise construction boom from the late 1890s to the Great Baltimore Fire of February 1904, when a half-dozen of new skyscrapers' so-called "fire-proof" but their interiors were burned out. Most were later judged by inspecting engineers/architects as structurally sound with their steel I-beam cage framing and masonry facades and were reconstructed and rehabilitated in the next five years in a flurry of downtown rebuilding. The next period from the 1910s to the late 1920s, during which time the iconic Baltimore Trust Company Tower (now the Bank of America Building) were constructed. The City's central business district then experienced a long fallow period due to the Great Depression of the 1930s and the defense industrial efforts of World War II where very few skyscrapers were constructed and the downtown remained relatively stable. But with the proposals by the major business, commercial and industrial interests of the area with the release of the Charles Center project proposal by the recently organized Greater Baltimore Committee and the local Chamber of Commerce with the leadership of several mayoral administrations in 1958 continuing into the early 1970s, followed by a parallel soon-to-be nationally famous "Inner Harbor" redevelopment around the old waterfront piers, wharves, warehouses, offices and businesses of the former "Basin" along the Baltimore Harbor at the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River continued another major building boom from the early 1960s to the early 1990s, during which the City saw the completion of 18 of its 24 tallest buildings, including the 1973 United States Fidelity and Guarantee Company's new iconic headquarters (later the Legg Mason Building, now the Transamerica Tower) at the corner of the harbor at Pratt and Light Streets and the five-sides/pentagonal high-rise centerpiece of the harbor, the Baltimore World Trade Center for the Maryland Port Administration in 1977. The City is the site of two completed buildings that are at least 500 feet (152 m) high, with one more under construction and two proposed for construction. As of June 2008, there are 163 completed high-rises in the city.^[4] The most recently completed skyscraper in Baltimore is 414 Water Street, which rises 344 feet (105 m) and 33 floors.^[5]

Skyline of Baltimore's downtown central business district and Inner Harbor (formerly "The Basin") of the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River and Baltimore Port & Harbor

Tallest buildings

The 1973 United States Fidelity and Guarantee Company, later the Legg-Mason Building, now the Transamerica Tower is the tallest structure in both Baltimore and Maryland.

The copper-skinned William Donald Schaefer Building, the third-tallest building in the city with its corner spire, containing Maryland state offices, (originally built as the Merritt Tower of Merritt Savings and Loan Bank) at the northwest corner of East Baltimore and Light-St. Paul Streets

The 1977 Baltimore World Trade Center on Pier 2, East Pratt Street, the seventh-tallest building in Baltimore, and tallest regular pentagonal structure in the world

Bank of America Building

Commerce Place Baltimore

100 East Pratt Street

250 W. Pratt Street

414 Water Street (background)

HarborViewCondominium

Silo Point Condominium

This list ranks Baltimore skyscrapers that stand at least 300 feet (91 m) tall, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. An equal sign (=) following a rank indicates the same height between two or more buildings. The "Year" column indicates the year in which a building was completed.

Tallest under construction or proposed

This lists buildings that are under construction or proposed for construction in Baltimore and are planned to rise at least 300 feet (91 m), but are not yet completed structures. A floor count of 40 stories is used as the cutoff for buildings whose heights have not yet been released by their developers.

Timeline of tallest buildings

The Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower was the tallest building in Baltimore from 1911 until 1923.

1 Calvert Plaza

This lists buildings that once held the title of tallest building in Baltimore.

Notes

A. ^ ^{a b} The Constellation Energy Building, completed in 1916, tied the height of the Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower. The city therefore had two tallest buildings until the B&O Railroad Grain Terminal was completed in 1923.

B. ^{^} This building was constructed as the B&O Railroad Grain Terminal but has since been renamed Silo Point.

C. ^{^} This building was constructed as the Baltimore Trust Company Building but has since been renamed the Bank of America Building. In the past, the building has also known as the NationsBank Building, the Mathieson Building, the O'Sullivan Building and the Maryland National Bank.^[66]

References

General

• "High-rise Buildings of Baltimore". Emporis.com. Retrieved 2008-06-20. 

Specific

External links

• Diagram of Baltimore skyscrapers on SkyscraperPage

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