St. Mark's Episcopal

North side of W. Lombard east of Parkin Street (left side of #864 W Lombard St) Built in 1850-51 and designed by the premier architectural firm of Baltimore Niernesee & Neilson.

This building was part of a trio of Gothic Episcopal churches put up at this time, which Niernsee & Neilson had a hand, including St. Luke's Carey St. and Grace Park Ave. St. Marks was smaller than the other two. Though favored by Bishop Whittinham, who often attended St. Mark's, by 1899 the congregation was failing  and the congregation decided to close. The building was sold to a Pentecostal congregation, one of the first in the city. It was fortuitous that that they produced a booklet, in the 1930s, which shows the interior,  much as was left by St. Marks. The plastered walls were scored with faux mortar joints and the rectangles tinted to look like stone. This treatment of plaster was called "ashlaring". An ashlar being  the name of a cut stone used in buildings.


In 1955 the church was struck by lightning and burned. The remains were demolished. Curiously this church site was in an area of the city which suffers lightning and storm damage and has taken a number damaged or destroyed several churches.

St. Barnabas Episcopal

Located on  W. side of Biddle street just north of  Argyle Ave. Currently occupied by Martin Luther King Blvd. 

In the mid 1850s the Episcopal Diocese bought St. Barnabas Chapel  from the Catholic Archdiocese. It had originally been put up in the late 1840s - early 1850s.  In 1859 the building was demolished by fire and a new building erected in the same site. This second building also was destroyed by fire in 1893. A 3d building was put up on the same site. In 1906-07 the congregation voted to merge with St. Georges church to be the starter congregation for the Cathedral of the incarnation. The Biddle St building was sold back to the archdiocese who created St. Barnabas Catholic church, an African American parish. This lasted unto the 1931 when St. Barnabas RC merged with St. Pius RC. The building became vacant and in 1941  became an auto repair garage. Information has yet surfaced if the building  was extant in the early 1970s when Martin Luther King Blvd was being built. If so, the new boulevard would caused its final demise.

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church , building #3 ,late 1890s early 1900s.

Sun Paper 1907 Dedication of the Newly Christened St. Barnabas Catholic Church

1896 Baltimore City Atlas, St. Barnabas W. Biddle St, near Argyle Ave.

Cove Street Methodist

 
This is one of the oldest houses of worship still standing in Baltimore. This humble little building seems to have been put  up by the Methodist Protestant conference and shows up on the 1822 map by F. Lucas shows a building at the location of SE  Cove Street and Cowpen Alley. Later known as Fremont Ave and Raborg St. (presently at the #5 N Fremont Ave.  Cove Street was the original street name, but the street was renamed by the 1840s.  Over the decades of the 19th century the Cove Street Chapel was the home for various denominations. In the 1840s The ill fated 6th Presbyterian congregation made use of the building, and the Emmanuel Evangelical Congregation also used it in the 1840s. In the late 1840s and into the early 1850s a tiny congregation called “Bethel” met at the site.  At some time it was converted to non church uses and today, looking very shabby, is a venue which can be rented for parties. The present owner is Biopark Fremont LLC , a shell company for the University of Maryland. They will, of course,  demolish this little bit of rare Baltimore history along with the Fayette Street Methodist building as part of their never ending expansion.

Introduction

Baltimore Historic Places of Worship is a place to explore the history of churches and synagogues which have been built in the City of Baltimore.  Pictures, maps and other graphics will  be inserted when possible. 

This is an educational blog is to provide a public airing of an important aspect of Baltimore history which, in today's commercial saturated society, receives  little or no media attention. This is not a commercial venture. I will remove any graphic which an owner asks to  be removed.

Nearly every year  one or more of Baltimore's historic places of worship is demolished. Sometimes this is due to natural calamities such as fire or storm damage, some disappear as a result of commercial expansion, and most are razed as part of the never ending expansion of "not for profit in name only" entities such as colleges and universities are in the way and are razed.