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PATTERSON PARK OBSERVATORY

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1891–1892, Charles H. Latrobe. E. Lombard St at Patterson Park.
  • (Photograph by Alexander Heilner)
  • (Photograph by Alexander Heilner)
  • (Smallbones, CC0 1.0)
  • (HABS)

Architect Charles Latrobe, third generation of the family to design buildings in Baltimore, used his experience as a bridge designer and civil engineer to design this fanciful observatory with a prefabricated iron superstructure on a granite base. The four-story octagonal observatory is topped by a conical roof and has projecting balconies at each level reminiscent of a Chinese pagoda. It served to enhance Patterson Park’s greatest natural asset—its hilltop view of the harbor and the Chesapeake Bay. The park was incrementally expanded starting in 1860 from a small 1827 promenade popular in this densely developed residential area of east Baltimore. While it is smaller than Druid Hill Park in northwest Baltimore, the improvements to Patterson Park exhibited the same picturesque English-inspired design and civic-minded goals, with an increased emphasis on athletics in the early twentieth century.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie
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Data

What's Nearby

FELL’S POINT HISTORIC DISTRICT
SHIP CAULKERS’ HOUSES
NATIONAL CAN COMPANY
ROBERT LONG HOUSE
CAPTAIN STEELE HOUSE

Citation

Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie, "PATTERSON PARK OBSERVATORY", [Baltimore, Maryland], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MD-01-BC76.

Print Source

Buildings of Maryland, Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2022, 197-197.

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