Historic American Buildings Survey,
Engineering Record, Landscapes Survey
View photos from this survey. (Some may not be online).
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Walters Art Gallery, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Independent City, MD
- Title: Walters Art Gallery, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Independent City, MD
- Other Title: Walters Art Museum
- Creator(s): Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
- Related Names:
Walters, William T
Walters, Henry
Delano & Aldrich
Pope, John Russell
Barye, Antoine Louis
Price, Virginia B , transmitter - Date Created/Published: Documentation compiled after 1933
- Medium:
Photo(s): 2
Data Page(s): 47
Photo Caption Page(s): 1 - Reproduction Number: ---
- Rights Advisory:
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html)
- Call Number: HABS MD-1209
- Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
- Notes:
- Significance: The present museum complex is heir to a long history of philanthropy and cultural institutions centering around the Mount Vernon Place neighborhood of Baltimore. Once the monument to George Washington was erected (1815) and the parks and the Howard family lots platted (1830s), Baltimoreans began to live there. In the 1850s, the trustees of the Peabody Institute selected East Mount Vernon Place as the site for their library, music academy, art gallery, and lecture series. Members of the group selected by George Peabody to administer the Institute followed his lead and in turn sponsored their own civic-minded, academic-leaning entities. These were the Enoch Pratt Free Library and Johns Hopkins University. Other trustees gave collections of art and books to the Institute, such as John Work Garrett and John Pendleton Kennedy. William T. Walters and his son Henry were also trustees for the Peabody and were both involved with its art gallery, however, it was their private art collection that flourished. The elder Walters opened his house at No. 5 West Mount Vernon Place to the public on selected days beginning in 1874, and continuing annually from 1876 onward. He installed paintings in the space over the rear stable building in the 1870s and in 1883-84 expanded to create a new gallery on the lot behind the residence. Formerly 606 Washington Place, this space was connected to the Walters family house by a walkway extending out over the alleyway; the gallery featured ebonized woodwork, plum damask wall coverings, red-and-green Indian carpet runners, and plastered ceiling coves molded with Louis XVI designs which were then painted olive green. Paintings were double and triple hung on the walls. In 1884, the opening was a grand affair and was accompanied by the first painting catalogue. The admission fees were then donated to a local poor association. Henry Walters continued this tradition, except in the early 1900s he commissioned the architectural firm Delano and Aldrich to design a purpose-built structure to hold the burgeoning collection. This building faced Washington Place and was just around the corner from Walters's dwelling. The museum welcomed the public in early February of 1909. Henry Walters bequeathed his house, museum building, and collection to the city of Baltimore upon his death in 1931. The city re-opened the gallery in 1934 and changed the name to the Walters Art Museum amidst work on the new atrium entrance in October of 2000. Both Walters traveled intensively and lived abroad for a number of years. The younger Walters inherited wealth and fine art from his father, but added his fortune and his artworks to William T. Walters's legacy. At the time of his death, Henry Walters lived mostly in New York City and was said to be one of the richest men in the country. Cosmopolitan as he was, Walters likely tapped the young architectural firm Delano and Aldrich to design his gallery in 1903 because his sister Jennie was married to Warren Delano III, a relative of the architect William Adams Delano. Similarly, his wife's son-in-law John Russell Pope planned for interior alterations to the building around the time of Walters' death. Family connections drew Walters into an architectural discourse traceable to the Ecole de Beaux Arts and explain his design choice for a classical, rusticated and rather severe block at the corner of Charles and Centre streets for his museum building.
- Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1437
- Survey number: HABS MD-1209
- Building/structure dates: 1905-1909 Initial Construction
- Building/structure dates: 1970-1974 Subsequent Work
- Building/structure dates: 1989-1991 Subsequent Work
- Building/structure dates: 1998-2001 Subsequent Work
- Subjects:
- Place:
- Latitude/Longitude: 39.296571, -76.615863
- Collections:
- Part of: Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)
- Bookmark This Record:
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/md1689/
The Library of Congress generally does not own rights to material in its collections and, therefore, cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material. For further rights information, see "Rights Information" below and the Rights and Restrictions Information page ( http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/rights.html ).
- Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
- Reproduction Number: ---
- Call Number: HABS MD-1209
- Medium:
Photo(s): 2
Data Page(s): 47
Photo Caption Page(s): 1
If Digital Images Are Displaying
You can download online images yourself. Alternatively, you can purchase copies of various types through Library of Congress Duplication Services.
HABS/HAER/HALS materials have generally been scanned at high resolution that is suitable for most publication purposes (see Digitizing the Collection for further details about the digital images).
- Photographs--All photographs are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
- Make note of the Call Number and Item Number that appear under the photograph in the multiple-image display (e.g., HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-2).
- If possible, include a printout of the photograph.
- Drawings--All drawings are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
- Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
- If possible, include a printout of the drawing.
- Data Pages
- Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.
If Digital Images Are Not Displaying
In the rare case that a digital image for HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is not displaying online, select images for reproduction through one of these methods:
- Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
- P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
- Hire a freelance researcher to do further selection for you (a list of researchers in available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/resource/013_pic.html).
- You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
- Make note of the Call Number listed above.
- Look at the Medium field above. If it lists more than one item:
- The entire group can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.
- All the items in a particular medium (e.g., all drawings, all photographs) can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.
- Call Number: HABS MD-1209
- Medium:
Photo(s): 2
Data Page(s): 47
Photo Caption Page(s): 1
Please use the following steps to determine whether you need to fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room to view the original item(s). In some cases, a surrogate (substitute image) is available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm.
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Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will
be visible on the left.)
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Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.
As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
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No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.
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Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that
a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?
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Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.
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No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.
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If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.
To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.
