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H. L. Mencken House

Baltimore City LandmarksH. L. MenckenHistoric district contributing properties in MarylandHouses completed in 1883Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore
Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in MarylandNRHP infobox with nocatNational Historic Landmarks in MarylandUnion Square, BaltimoreUse mdy dates from August 2023

The H. L. Mencken House was the home of Baltimore Sun journalist and author Henry Louis Mencken, who lived here from 1883 until his death in 1956. The Italianate brick row house at 1524 Hollins Street in Baltimore was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985. Mencken wrote of his home: "I have lived in one house in Baltimore for nearly 45 years. It has changed in that time, as I have—but somehow it still remains the same.... It is as much a part of me as my two hands. If I had to leave it I'd be as certainly crippled as if I lost a leg."After his death on January 26, 1956, his home was bequeathed to the University of Maryland. In 1983 the City of Baltimore acquired the H. L. Mencken House from the university, in exchange for the Old Pine Street Station. With period furniture, his restored second-floor office, and backyard gazebo, the H. L. Mencken House opened as part of the City Life Museums and a center for theatrical, literary and musical events. Although the City Life Museums closed in 1997, the landmark still displays a special commemorative plaque about its famous occupant. The organization "Friends of the H. L. Mencken House" led efforts of several groups to redirect and expand the use of it. A $3 million donation from retired naval commander Max Hency in 2018 allowed the organization to begin renovating the house, and it opened to the public in 2019, though only by prior reservation.It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1983.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article H. L. Mencken House (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

H. L. Mencken House
Hollins Street, Baltimore Sowebo

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N 39.287555555556 ° E -76.641833333333 °
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H.L. Mencken House

Hollins Street 1524
21223 Baltimore, Sowebo
Maryland, United States
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Hollins Market
Hollins Market

Hollins Market is the name of the oldest existing public market building in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. It is a contributing property to the Union Square-Hollins Market Historic District. The market, located at 26 South Arlington Ave just west of downtown Baltimore, runs the length of the 1100 block of Hollins St between South Arlington and South Carrollton Avenues. In 1829 the city granted the petition of a piano manufacturer named Joseph Newman and his brother Elias Newman, who together in 1842 founded Newman & Bros., (of whose pianos two are in the inventory of the Smithsonian), to erect a market house at their own expense on land donated by banker George B. Dunbar. That structure blew down in a windstorm in 1838; the market was rebuilt and opened the following year. The market was expanded in 1864 through a $23,000 appropriation by the city to construct the Italianate addition. The market is 29,803 square feet (2,769 m2) The Hollins Market building is at the center of the Hollins Market neighborhood. It is the geographical heart of what many refer to as Sowebo, and on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, is the center of an arts festival called Sowebohemian Arts Festival. Hollins Market is open Tuesday through Thursday 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays. In the early 1900s, many other businesses flourished around the market on Hollins St and other adjacent streets, including Riggy's Bar, Zirclears Bakery, Santo's Barbershop, etc. Actually Santo Scalco thought that it was such a great location, that he moved his barbershop from across the street from the Whitehouse where he cut several Presidents hair to 1141 Hollins St., which was at Hollins St. and Carrollton Ave.The 1990 Barry Levinson film Avalon depicts Hollins Market in the mid-1900s.

Sowebo

Sowebo (South West Baltimore) is a community-chosen name for a historic area in the South West of Baltimore City. Sowebo encompasses the neighborhoods of Union Square and Hollins Market, Baltimore. At one point, the area suffered from decades of urban decay but, in recent years, this community has seen increasing gentrification. On its main thoroughfares, West Lombard Street, Hollins Street, West Baltimore Street and South Carey Streets, spacious three-story row houses predominate. Most are pre- and post-Civil War Italianate in style, but there are many examples of Early Victorian Greek Revival and Late Victorian Romanesque Revival [1]. A majority of these homes have ten- to fourteen-foot ceilings, tall distinctive windows, wood floors, and plaster walls. Exteriors are brick and mortar facades with cornices and marble steps. On side streets and alley streets (which are common in Baltimore) a variety of two-story and two-story-with-attic rowhouses are found. An uncommon synergy prevails in Sowebo as residents, both longtime and newly arrived, work together through various committees and forums to enhance the area's quality of life [2]. An annual arts festival, called the Sowebohemian Arts Festival, is held in the streets around Hollins Market on the Sunday afternoon of the Memorial Day weekend. The University of Maryland's BioPark is a recent addition, with portions still under construction. The state-of-the-art facility contrasts greatly with historic Sowebo, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (The Union Square/Hollins Market District [3]), as is the H.L. Mencken house [4], which is located in the neighborhood at 1524 Hollins Street. Photographer Martha Cooper moved back to her hometown of Baltimore in 2006 and bought a home close to Hollins Market from the artist John Ellsberry where she has become the unofficial "community photographer" for Sowebo. She launched her project with $3,300 of state funds granted through the nonprofit housing organization Southwest Visions. The photo project, with or without more funding, could continue for the rest of her working life, she says.[5]

Maryland Square
Maryland Square

"Maryland Square", later known as "Steuart Hall", was a mansion owned by the Steuart family from 1795 to 1861, located on the western outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland, at the present-day junction of West Baltimore and Monroe streets. In the first year of the American Civil War, the property was confiscated by the United States Federal Government as its owner, George H. Steuart, a former United States Army officer, had resigned his commission to fight in the Confederate Army, in the Army of Northern Virginia as a brigadier general. In 1862, the U.S. War Department built various temporary wooden barracks-style buildings for the Jarvis Military Hospital on the grounds, to care for wounded Union soldiers. The "West Military Hospital" was located on the docks at East Pratt Street, near President Street, at "The Basin" harbor. The Steuart mansion served as the Hospital's headquarters/offices.After the war, in 1866 General Steuart regained possession of his mansion, but did not live there again. He chose to live at "Mount Steuart", his large family plantation further to the southeast of the city of Annapolis on the South River in Anne Arundel County. The next year Steuart leased Maryland Square for use as a school for upper-class boys; it was renamed Steuart Hall. In the 1870s, it was bought by the Roman Catholic order of the Bon Secours Sisters and used as their convent. The mansion was demolished around 1884 for other development. The modern Grace Medical Center, was constructed on the site in 1919 by the religious order and is operating today.