The American Brewery
The American Brewery is an East Baltimore icon that many despaired would fall down. My brother, Stephen Hulse, has had ‚Äúthe great privilege,‚Äù as he said, ‚Äúof being the Project Executive on the building’s restoration.‚Äù Last Fall, Steve gave me a tour of the scaffolded building. Now, the scaffolding is down, and this¬† architectural masterpiece is smiling once again in my home town.
History
Built in 1887 by John Frederick Wiessner, a German immigrant, the American Brewery was one of the largest breweries in the state of Maryland. At its peak, the brewery employed 61 workers.
Prohibition forced the facility to shut down in 1920. The brewery was sold to the American Malt Company in 1931, who modernized the interior equipment and operated the brewery until 1973. The building was listed that year in the National Registry of Historic Sites and has been vacant ever since.
Humanim hires Struever Brothers, Eccles & Rouse
Humanim, a non-profit organization, is restoring the building and is planning to house employment programs and clinical support services for the residents of this poverty stricken community.
Baltimore Architects, Cho Benn Holback & Assoc. were hired to plan the restoration. Because the building is historic, restoration (as opposed to renovation) is required. In short, that means lots of “do’s and don’ts regarding exactly what changes can be made to the building. Its historic integrity had to be maintained.
Struever Bros., Eccles & Rouse (the company Steve works for) was, in turn, hired to redevelop the building. If, like me, you have a passion for historic architecture, I know you’ll enjoy this photographic essay.
Restoring A Baltimore Jewel: A Photo Essay
The asymmetrical nature of the building is what makes it so singular. The assortment of windows, combined with the brickwork and wooden buttresses work together in such a perfect way…
It’s like looking at a piece of music transcribed into bricks and mortar.
The Mansard roofs! I’m speechless.
The back end has a new addition. Strict rules had to be followed to maintain the historic nature of the property.
These buttresses are made entirely of wood. The pitch of the roof, and the fact that the roof shielded the buttresses underneath, spared the building, and the extraordinary architectural details like these, from collapse.
This is a shot of the interior Mansard roof. The huge beams were steamed to form the curve of the roof. The windows lie underneath. This room will become a conference area.
I can’t wait to see The American Brewery once the interiors are completed. Much of the brewery’s machinery has been saved in order to incorporate the metalwork into walls and furniture.
I’m homesick now!
Are you from Baltimore? Sadly, here in Detroit, much of our history has been torn down. What’s your opinion of the importance of historic preservation?
10 Responses to “The American Brewery”
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Posted by sippicancottage on February 24th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Fantastic pictures.
They humorously refer to that style of building as “Germanic Pagoda.”
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Posted by Jennifer on February 24th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
I think Germanic Pagoda is quite appropriate. I’m glad you like it. It’s a very cool building.
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Posted by Annie, bossy color on February 24th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
THANK YOU. What an amazing project – and a fascinating building. I’ve always thought B’more was under-appreciated…I tend to feel more protective of those cities (incl. Philadelphia, Detroit) than, say, DC or NY. Thanks again for a great story.
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Posted by SueC on February 25th, 2009 at 6:23 am
Wow! That is an amazingly beautiful building! Thanks for sharing it with us. I hope to see it in person one day. I am adding it to my “city list” file for future reference.
I think Detroit’s grade for rescuing historic buildings is about a “D”. Particularly sad to me is the crumbling Lee Plaza.
It’s almost always cheaper to tear down history and replace with new, but it rips out the part of the soul of the city.
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Posted by shahida on February 25th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
WOW!!!!! way to go go cuz!! an amazing job.
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Posted by Don Isburgh on June 19th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I remember this building well. My step-father, Walter H Voigt, was Assistant Brewmaster and Superintendent of the bottling house. During World War II there used to be Civil Defense meetings there that were held in a room near the bar (where employees could hoist a few after their shifts). In the main building was a freight elevator, so we would ride up to the top floor and then walk down through the brewery and checking on the brews’ progress. In the front of the building was a scale where raw ingridients and waste products (which were sold to farmers as fertilizer) were weighed. I was certainly interested in the restoration of the building and thought it was a wonderful idea. Wonder what happened to the Bottling House?
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Posted by Jennifer on June 19th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
I couldn’t agree more. You would never know that Detroit is 300 years old. The Brewery is actually a restoration as opposed to a renovation. That means they had to follow strict guidelines as to what they can change and the materials they use.
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Posted by Jennifer on June 19th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I’ll ask my brother about the bottling building. I’ll bet he knows something of Its history.
And to all my fellow historic renovation lovers, thanks for your comments. Detroit has certainly suffered more than most cities from a “tear-down” mentality. I haven’t lived here long enough to know what things used to be like. It’s almost all gone now. But I do wish they’d restore the train station.
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Posted by Tim Moeslein on February 26th, 2010 at 2:58 am
Thanks for the great images and history. I stumbled upon this building a couple of years ago – when it was in its state of disrepair. It was a dark, gloomy overcast day that only added to the beauty and spookiness of the building. As I was being routed via my GPS at the moment I was more intent on staying the course and made a mental note to find out more about the building. It wasn’t until today, on my way home from PS #25 that I saw the building again and stopped, got out and took some pictures with my phone. Finally, because of the restoration I could read the building’s name “Humanim at the American Brewery” – which in turn has lead me to your site/blog. Hope you can get the opportunity to get some more recent images as the restoration continues and finally finishes.
Peace+
Tim
What an incredible building! Thanks for sharing your photos. Is the addition completed? It doesn’t seem to suit the rest of the building. Kudos to the group that saved that gem.
I used to read a Detroit blog (wish I could remember the name) that displayed photos of the current condition of a lot of the old Detroit hotels and other historic buildings. I was so disappointed to hear that a great many had been torn down.
I think we should try to save as many of the architecturally relevant historic buildings as we can.