Mount Vernon Place celebrates Baltimore’s rich cultural heritage, offering an extraordinary array of historic architecture, monuments, sculpture and cultural Institutions. The Washington Monument set the stage for this area in 1829, becoming the first public monument to Washington in the United States. Designed by Robert Mills ((1781-1855), it memorializes Washington resigning his commission as commander of the Continental Army. Built in 1815 and 1829, the 178-foot monument has become an icon of Baltimore.The opening of the Peabody Institute in 1866 defined Mount Vernon as Baltimore’s cultural center. The Institute originally consisted of a music academy, a library, and art gallery, and a lecture hall—all open to the public. The music academy, the first music school of its kind in the US, has been internationally renowned since the late 19th century. Since 1977, the George Peabody Library and the Peabody Institute have operated as academic divisions of the Johns Hopkins University.
The Walters Art Museum traces its roots to 1874 when William Walters (1819-1894) began opening his house to the public to share his art. By 1902, Walter’s son, Henry (1848-1931), was acquiring art at an unprecedented scale—whole art collections were purchased.
To exhibit his collection, Henry Walters built the Walters Art Gallery in 1905-09. The Walters Art Gallery expanded in 1974, and in 2000 it was renamed the Walters Art Museum.
Mount Vernon attracted other cultural institutions. The Maryland Historical Society relocated in 1919 from Saratoga and St. Paul streets to the former Enoch Pratt house at the corner of Park Avenue and West Monument Street. In the 1970s CENTERSTAGE, a non-profit professional theater, moved into the former Loyola College and High School building. The Contemporary Museum, Baltimore’s premier contemporary art institution, renovated part of the old Home Mutual Life building at Centre and Park streets into exhibit space in 1999.
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