Baltimore, MD: 1906 B&O Headquarters

Old Headquarters: (Satellite?, corner of East Baltimore Street & North Calvert Street, but which quadrant?)

Depot: (HAER; Satellite?)

1906 Headquarters: (3D Satellite)

Baltimore & Ohio Ellicott City Station Museum posted two images with the comment:

On this day in history, 7th February 1904, the Great Baltimore Fire began. This fire was the most devastating in Baltimore’s history. The fire began on the morning of 7th of February and would burn until 5pm the next day. The fire started in the Hurst building, a dry goods store, within minutes all the surrounding buildings were ablaze as the fire swept rapidly through downtown Baltimore. The battle against the raging inferno involved 1,231 firefighters. These firefighters included volunteers from the surrounding counties and outlying towns of Maryland. It is likely that members of the Volunteer Fire Department of Ellicott City also came to Baltimore to assist in fighting the blaze. The B&O Railroad played a vital role in bringing firefighters and fire equipment from nearby cities such as Frederick and Washington, DC. However, due to the lack of standardization of fire equipment, firefighters from outside of Baltimore found that their hoses and pump equipment were not compatible with the water systems in Baltimore, limiting their effectiveness.

The Great Baltimore Fire burned 70 city blocks of downtown Baltimore with over 1500 buildings destroyed in the blaze. One of the greatest losses was the destruction of the B&O headquarters on the corner of Baltimore and Calvert streets. This 1888 building was designed in the ornate Second Empire architectural style that symbolized the grandeur of the B&O Railroad. Sadly, many of the irreplaceable records and documents from the first decades of B&O Railroad were lost in this fire. A loss that is still felt by historians to this day. 

The Great Baltimore Fire was the most destructive fire in the United States since the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It destroyed much of Baltimore’s historic 19th century era Downtown and caused an estimated $200 million in property damage. The destruction of fire led to a massive reconstruction effort. In 1906, the Baltimore Sun reported that “one of the great disasters of modern time had been converted into a blessing.” The fire spurred a massive downtown urban renewal project, the city built new safer fireproofed buildings, modern sewerage systems and wider streets designed to facilitate streetcar traffic. In 1906 The B&O Railroad would complete its new headquarters building, a 13-story Beaux Arts style skyscraper on Charles Street. The new B&O Railroad headquarters was declared to be “a monument to the city’s progressiveness” that represented the rebirth of Baltimore in the aftermath of the fire.

Images: The old Baltimore and Ohio Headquarters building destroyed in great fire of 1904 

The ruins of downtown Baltimore in the aftermath of the fire (Enoch Pratt Free Library / State Library Resource Center)

Conor Conneally shared

Edward Bommer: The B&O office building burned down in the early 1900's with the loss of nearly all the company's records. It could well be that gas was the issue and the building had been piped for gas lighting throughout when built in the late 1800's. Oddly at time, many people felt that those new "Edison lights" from electricity were more dangerous than gas. They could shock someone if they touched it wrong, or if it sparked from a short circuit that could start a fire. Gas could be easily shut off at the light. But was it always really SHUT OFF? Most working folks simply blew out their lit coal oil lamp to turn off the light at home and doing that unthinkingly at a gas-lit office may have been more common than we'd like to think. From the wreckage of the B&O office building, signs of an explosion are visible.

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1 of 7 photos posted by Irving Vnay

The B&O Railroad Headquarters Building is a historic office building at 2 North Charles Street in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a 13-story, 220-foot skyscraper designed by the Boston and Baltimore-based architectural firm of Parker & Thomas and constructed in 1904–1906.

"When the original Second Empire style headquarters on the corner of Baltimore and Calvert Street was destroyed in the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad executives decided to build a new 13 story steel-framed building two blocks west of the old site. The building's entrance is adorned by two sculptures: Mercury, the Roman god for commerce, and a figure named Progress of Industry, which holds a torch and a locomotive; Progress of Industry clearly invokes the company's position not only as an industry leader, but also the company's aspiration to be a vehicle of progress."

It was designed by the architectural firm of Parker and Thomas of Baltimore and Boston, assisted by Herbert D. Hale and Henry G. Morse, and built by the construction firm of the brothers W. W. and E. A. Wells of Chicago. The same group had successfully teamed up a couple of years earlier on the Belvedere Hotel, an eleven-story Beaux-Arts building, about one mile up North Charles Street in the Mount Vernon area of downtown Baltimore.

"The 13-story office building, built in 1906, served as headquarters for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for 75 years. The building's beauty and elegance of its marbled lobbies, ornate stairs and Tiffany stained-glass windows became an instant landmark in downtown Baltimore and it symbolized the power and prestige of America's largest and oldest railroad." The impressive building includes seven different kinds of marble imported from six countries representing four continents. The first 3 floors of the exterior façade are clad in New Hampshire granite, while Bedford stone is utilized from the fourth floor and above. The trim is terra cotta tile. The building's H shape design provides for a large number of window offices. The ornate main lobby contains two white marble staircases, grand chandeliers and many decorative details.

As the building neared completion in 1906, The Baltimore Sun ran a glowing piece under the headline, A Palace for B. and O. - Headquarters a Monument to City's Progressiveness, "A model of architecture, with ornamentation and decorations, inside and out, of the richest and most up-to-date design, the new Baltimore and Ohio building, now nearing completion at the northwest corner of Baltimore and Charles Streets, opposite the new home of the Baltimore Sun, will be a lasting monument to Baltimore's progressiveness. Not only is it the largest office building in Maryland, and perhaps along the Atlantic Coast south of Philadelphia, but it ranks among the finest in the world in style and completeness." The article went on to relate the tremendous skill of the craftsmen, the gigantic size of the structure, including 1,600 windows, and the great number of employees, who would work there, 1,000 in all, 500 of whom could be fed at any one time in the company dining room.

When the B&O Headquarters Building was completed, it was the second tallest structure in Baltimore to the 16 story 249-foot Continental Trust Company Building, two blocks away at 201 East Baltimore St., which was constructed in 1900–1901 to designs prepared by the Chicago skyscraper architect D.H. Burnham and Company.

Oscar G. Murray was the president of the B&O Railroad when their new Headquarters Building opened in 1906. His 1914 will established a fund for his employees’ widows and orphans. It survives 100 years later and is administered today by the Baltimore Community Foundation.

The current occupant of the building, The Hotel Monaco, rhapsodizes on its website, "The (B&O) Headquarters opened its doors at midnight on September 12, 1906, to the dazzling spectacle of more than 5,000 electric lights that 'burst into fire and presented a grand spectacle', as reported by The (Baltimore) Sun. The newspaper went on to point out that Oscar G. Murray, B&O Railroad president, chose to move into his office suite the next day, September 13. 'The structure is 13 stories high; Murray started in the railroad business on January 13, 1872; and he was elected the thirteenth president of the railroad,' furthered the news report. Of course, Murray's office number was 13 and his phone extension was the same. Amusing anecdotes aside, the building is known for architectural greatness. The exterior is dignified and monumental, with beautiful carving and ornamental work showing off the craftsmanship of yesteryear. Perhaps one of the most compelling features is the building's statuary over the main entrance. Believed to predate the statuary at New York's Grand Central Station and designed by John Evans & Co. of Boston, the figure of Mercury and an allegorical feature cradling a locomotive represent transportation and commerce."

The B&O Railroad Headquarters Building lies within the Baltimore Business and Government Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. In 2001 the City of Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation and the Maryland Historical Trust designated the B&O Building one the city's ten most historically consequential buildings.

Randall Hampton shared
Tom Dunne posted a copy of Irving's description
Mabry E Pouncy: I worked for the B&ORR Road Forces ( Electrical Dept) in 1963 , we changed every office light from incandescent to Troffer florescent style fixtures. No sooner did we finish all 13 floors , dropped ceilings became the rage and we took every one down, and replaced them with layin lights. What a job.
Martin Myers: Many years ago I was doing some restoration work at the B & O building. The original brass door knobs had the B&O logo cast in them. They couldn't find the stock of old ones that were supposed to be there so new knobs were cast and installed. Later I was working a job at Pier 5. Guess who's door knobs were on the the doors.

Tamme Pompilio, Jun 2022

This 7:21 video has a brief history of the B&O railroad as well as the headquarters building.