Mount Vernon Cultural Walk: One Charles Center

Be Here Stories

The Mount Vernon Cultural Walk is created by The Baltimore National Heritage Area (BNHA), which promotes, preserves, and enhances Baltimore's historic and cultural legacy and natural resources for current and future generations. A walking tour of this and other destinations is available at www.explorebaltimore.org/tours. Located at 100 North Charles Street Hard times hit downtown Baltimore in the 1950s, when the rise of suburbia caused an exodus of businesses and shoppers from the city center. Meanwhile, the shipping industry vacated the harbor for deeper waters in nearby Dundalk, leaving a derelict waterfront. In 1955, two business groups—the Committee for Downtown and the Greater Baltimore Committee—commissioned a plan to rejuvenate the central business district. The result was Charles Center, a bold and massive redevelopment funded by public and private sources that contained office buildings, apartments, shops, a theater, underground parking, and outdoor plazas. The plan preserved four historic structures, though many older buildings were demolished. The centerpiece was One Charles Center (1962), designed by world-renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The 23-story aluminum-and-glass skyscraper brought International-style modernism to Baltimore. Though later decades presented new challenges, the structure still embodies the success of the nationally-recognized Charles Center project—which did indeed revive downtown and emboldened officials to embark on the acclaimed Inner Harbor renaissance. Outside the building, a double statue of Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. (father of Nancy Pelosi) overlooks one of the plazas. Installed in 1987, it recognizes his critical role in promoting Charles Center.