Mount Vernon, Baltimore
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mount Vernon is a neighborhood located just to the north of downtown Baltimore, Maryland. It is one of the city's oldest neighborhoods. The name derives from the home of George Washington; the Washington Monument, a massive pillar commemorating the first president of the United States, is the defining feature of the neighborhood.
The neighborhood is roughly bounded by Centre Street to the south, Howard Street to the west, and the Jones Falls Expressway to the north and east. The northern half of this area is often referred to as Midtown. The Inner Harbor is about half a mile south of Centre Street.
[edit] Architectural History
Mount Vernon is home to some of the most beautiful and well-preserved 19th century architecture on the East Coast of the United States. The centerpiece of the neighborhood is the area around the Washington Monument, where stately palatial homes face onto four small parks that surround the monument. The parks, which have survived almost intact, are considered to be the finest existing urban landscapes by the beaux-arts architectural firm of Carrere & Hastings, who also designed the New York Public Library, portions of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and the residence that houses the Frick Collection. Elsewhere in the neighborhood are many older apartment buildings and three- and four-story rowhouses; most of the latter were originally single-family dwellings. Though many have been broken up into multiple apartments, a growing number are being restored back to single family use.
On the northeast corner of Washington's monument sits the Mount Vernon United Methodist Church. Conceived as a cathedral of Methodism, it was built on the site of the Charles Howard mansion – the house in which Francis Scott Key died.
The neighborhood also has a reputation as a gay village. Although it is by no means an exclusively gay community, many of Baltimore's most prominent gay bars are in Mount Vernon, and is the center of activity during Baltimore's annual Gay Pride festival.
Being close to downtown, Mount Vernon is well-served by public transit. Most area major bus routes head through the neighborhood on their way to the financial district. The Light Rail line runs down Howard Street on the west edge of the neighborhood, and the Metro Subway runs beneath Eutaw Street a block west of that; both have stations within easy walking distance of the neighborhood. Penn Station is also a quick walk across the JFX to the north.
