THE STONES OF BALTIMORE: CLASSIC NINETEENTH CENTURY BUILDING AND MONUMENTAL STONES

Baltimore, founded in 1729, was originally a city of wood and brick. Stone was used in large amounts beginning in the early 1800s. Use depended upon transportation available (oxen, water transport along the Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the Baltimore and Ohio Railway), international agreements, and changes in stone use. The Basilica of the Assumption (completed in 1821) was the most important early stone building in Baltimore. The choice of Ellicott City Granite (Granodiorite) as the primary stone for the Basilica was prescient. Not only has this stonework held up well over time, even during the 2011 earthquake, but its complex texture presaged the use of migmatites in modern stone cladding. The portico of the Basilica (added in 1863-1864) used columns made of sandstone from the Maritime Provinces of Canada, imported when the 1854 Reciprocity Treaty was in effect, eliminating import duty.

Cockeysville Marble, extracted from quarries to the north of Baltimore, has pride of place as the most prestigious historic stone used in the city, and would be an excellent choice for designation as a heritage stone. It was used for the Battle Monument (completed in 1825) and the Washington Monument (completed in 1829). Five of the eight important stone structures in Baltimore listed by George Merrill in 1889 were made of this marble, as were many columns for the US Capitol and parts of the other Washington Monument in Washington. It was also used for thousands of front steps of Baltimore’s ubiquitous row houses. Indications that the surface of marble in Baltimore was being degraded was noticed as early as 1857. Recent measurements show that the surface of this marble has been reduced on structures associated with the Battle Monument and the Washington Monument as much as 3 mm, with lesser reduction on City Hall, completed in 1875. Imported Carrara Marble was used for the statue of Lady Baltimore atop the Battle Monument; that statue is badly weathered and is now protected inside the Maryland Historical Society.

Other classic stones in Baltimore include serpentinite (at least in part local) as used for the 1872 Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church. That stone was already being replaced in the 1930s. A variety of North American brownstones were used in the nineteenth century in Baltimore, some have fared poorly.