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HANSA HAUS

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1911, Parker, Thomas and Rice. 11 S. Charles St.
  • (Alexander Heilner)
  • (HABS)

The Savings Bank of Baltimore commissioned one of the city’s most illustrious firms to design an office for their German tenant Albert Schumacher and Co. The large German immigrant community in the city supported a thriving passenger and freight business between Bremen, Germany, and Baltimore. As agents for the North German Lloyd Steamship Company, company officials requested a unique building possibly modeled on a medieval courthouse in Halbertstadt, Germany.

The two-and-a-half-story, brick and stucco building with decorative half-timbering was named Hansa Haus after the medieval Hanseatic League, a trade confederation of German city-states. The steep jerkinhead roof frames a gable facing Charles Street that includes a tile panel depicting a ship under full sail. Originally the exterior walls were decorated with the coats of arms of the Hanseatic League cities. Still, it is remarkable that Hansa Haus has survived both economic pressures and anti-German sentiment during World Wars I and II and remains largely intact and in use as retail and office space.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie
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Data

Timeline

  • 1911

    Built

What's Nearby

SAVINGS BANK OF BALTIMORE
BANK OF AMERICA (BALTIMORE TRUST BUILDING)
SUN LIFE BUILDING
LORD BALTIMORE HOTEL
TRANSAMERICA TOWER (UNITED STATES FIDELITY AND GUARANTY [USF&G] BUILDING, LEGG MASON BUILDING)

Citation

Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie, "HANSA HAUS", [Baltimore, Maryland], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MD-01-BC25.

Print Source

Buildings of Maryland, Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2022, 167-167.

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