2008 Woodie Awards
Historical Tour of Campus Unveils Fast Cars, Easy Women and College Degrees
Paul Chandler
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One year ago the new Student Center opened, marking another step forward in the University of Baltimore's strategic growth and development. Over the past eight decades, UB has grown from a single building at 625 St. Paul St. to a well-defined campus in the heart of midtown Baltimore. Former President H. Mebane Turner and current President Robert L. Bogomolny have adopted buildings within the community and expressed their vision of UB's identity as they developed the school's presence and the local economy.
Kathy Anderson, associate vice president for student affairs, recalled how Turner operated with a "long term vision."
"UB worked with the Mount Vernon [Belvedere] Improvement Association and the Downtown Partnership in a large-scale, concerted effort that also established the Meyerhoff, developed the Walters Art Gallery, and recaptured the Lyric theatre," Anderson said.
Fred Guy, Ph.D, professor of historical studies and director of the Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics, started at UB in 1972. "The place has changed so much; it almost feels like working for two or three different universities over the years."
"Several of us started in the 70's and have stayed ever since," he said. "It has always been a friendly atmosphere—sometimes we were real characters, but we wanted to see the school advance, gain recognition, especially within the state overall."
Academic Center
Public Safety Officer Reggie Johnston, who started with UB in 1990, has watched many of the changes first hand.
"The Academic Center comprises three buildings," Johnston said. "As you walk through the halls, the floors rise and fall where the buildings were merged in 1970. Space was at a premium; offices were nearly the size of modern-day cubicles."
In 1947, UB purchased the six-story Charles Hall building, the center of the three buildings. Prior to that, Charles Hall was the Baltimore Athletic Club, which had a swimming pool on the first floor with Romanesque columns surrounding the perimeter. The pool was covered with a wood floor, and the area was converted to a library. Today this area is the TV lounge, adjacent to the Business Office.
In 1961, an extension was built on the north side of the building, creating Charles Hall Annex. Charles Hall and the Annex housed the schools of business and liberal arts as well as a cafeteria and bookstore.
Johnston said that the classrooms on the fourth floor of the Annex were "case rooms" available by reservation only, used by local organizations and banks for company meetings.
In 1970, UB purchased the large, main body of the Academic Center, on the corner of North Charles and Mount Royal. This building was built in 1906 as the Mar Del Mobile Company Headquarters and Automobile Club, the nation's oldest car dealership and repair shop. This grand structure was later known as the Baltimore Automobile Headquarters, and then simply as "The Garage."
In the upper level, patrons could bowl, play pool, shuffleboard, rollerskate and dine at restaurants while their cars were repaired in the lower level. Early advertisements, on archive in Langsdale Library Special Collections, herald that the Garage was open from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., had "long-distance phones," and housed "36 bowling alleys—the largest number in one building in the world." "Practical repair men" were "on duty night and day" to provide services including "vulcanizing" and "electric charging."
Over the past three decades, the buildings were known as the Academic Center, Charles Hall, and the Annex. In 2004, the three buildings were consolidated and formally renamed as one building—the Academic Center—and the classrooms were renumbered.
Business Center
Through the 1970s and 80s, a large university parking lot covered the area where the Thumel Business Center now resides.
Between the current Business and Student centers, two narrow rowhomes used to stand. One structure housed the Fabulous Club Les Gals—a bar with exotic dancers. Anderson said that office space was needed so desperately that once UB acquired the buildings, human resources moved in immediately, before any renovations were done.
In the late 1980s, the two narrow buildings were torn down during construction of the Business Center.
Construction started in the early 90s, and the building opened in 1995. The School of Business received three large endowments from the Merrick Foundation between 1982 and 1998, enabling its expansion.
As classrooms and faculty offices for the Business School moved from Charles Hall into the new Business Center, students and faculty gained more space and resources.
"We immediately filled all available space," Guy said.
Charles Royal
In 1987, UB purchased three adjacent brownstone buildings at the southeast corner of North Charles and Mount Royal, the consolidated structure now home to the School of Communications Design.
In an April 2004 article in The UB Post, Kelly Stevens reported that during the 1930s, the building on the corner was the Silver Tailor shop and a dry cleaner during the late 1940s. In the 60s, the two adjacent buildings were the Century Hotel, which included the Plaza restaurant, and a bar called the Arundel Tavern, which later became the Pink Bucket. The Pink Bucket was infamous in the 70s as a strip bar that rented rooms by the hour.
Since UB acquired the buildings, they have housed the departments of publications design and English, as well as the Graphics and Media Labs. The exterior brownstone remained relatively unchanged over the years, though the three buildings were consolidated.
Crestar Building
Directly behind the Business Center, at the northwest corner of North Charles and Preston streets, stands a building currently under renovation. Past occupants include Loyola Savings and Loan, Crestar Bank and, most recently, SunTrust.
The Crestar building, as it is now known, was built in 1927. Brennen Jensen of the City Paper reported in 1999 that the building was headquarters for the Knights of Pythias, an international, non-sectarian fraternal organization established in 1864. The building was later converted to a Studebaker showroom, and in the 1940s, the first floor housed Club Charles, a popular "New-York-style supper club" where Carmen Miranda, Milton Berle, Tony Bennett and many other celebrities performed.
In 2008, the building will become the new home of the School of Communications Design.
Law Center
The block comprising Gordon Plaza and the Law Center was the home of Pat Hays Buick Showroom and Service in the 70s and 80s. Adjacent to Pat Hays, where Morton Alley meets Oliver Street, stood a three-story brownstone, called Little Caesar's.
Anderson said, "Little Caesar's had the best cheese steak sub in the city."
In the 70s, the building was a nightclub. It was torn down when construction began on the Law Center in 1980.
Pat Hays Buick was torn down in the mid-70s, and for several years, the entire block was used as an unpaved parking lot.
Jane Cupit, Law Library reference librarian said that while working in Langsdale during the late-70s "we would park right here, where the [Angelos] Law Center now stands—it was so convenient!"
Will Tress, director of the Law Library, said that prior to construction of the Law Center, the Law Library occupied the fourth floor of Langsdale.
Construction on the Law Center took place from 1980 to 1982.
"Dean Lawrence Katz shepherded the project from beginning to end," said Cupit, referring to the former law school dean.
Byron Warnken, associate professor of law and director of the judicial internship program, taught the first class in the Law Center when it opened on May 15, 1982.
"Prior to that that time, we had four classrooms on the third floor of the Academic Center, where the president's office now sits," said Warnken. Classes and faculty offices were also distributed between Charles Hall and Langsdale Library.
Warnken started at UB as a student in 1973: "It was pretty packed back then." Warnken has watched the Law School develop during his 34 years.
"I've watched this baby grow up. We also had the Howard Street building on Antique Row, across from Maryland General Hospital. That building later went to the University of Maryland law school; but then in 1964, we gained the 'green monster,'" said Warnken, referring to Charles Hall Annex.
In May 1984, the plaza in front of the Law School was dedicated to Peggy and Yale Gordon, who established a trust advancing the humanities and an endowment supporting the university. The College of Liberal Arts is also named in honor of Yale Gordon, a UB alumnus.
Student Center
The Student Center occupies the lot where another care dealership—The Monumental Motorcar Company, built in 1915—once stood. The mock-Tudor structure was subsequently used by the Odorite cleaning supply company until its purchase in 1989 by UB and the state of Maryland. UB originally planned to construct the Business Center at this corner, but Turner instead sought to preserve the Odorite building. The Business Center was constructed at the east end of the block, at the southwest corner of North Charles and Mount Royal streets.
Tom Hollowak, head of Archives and Special Collections at Langsdale, chronicled the changes over the years in a photo book, "The University of Baltimore," published in 2000. "The Garage and the Odorite building were the two oldest auto showrooms in the country," said Hollowak, adding that the Lyric was also an auto showroom at one time.
In 2004, UB made a second effort to replace the Odorite building.
"President Turner loved the Odorite building and wanted it restored as a historical building, but it did not meet the criteria," Anderson said.
Ultimately, in late 2004, the Odorite building was torn down, and UB proceeded with construction of the Student Center.
Odorite moved their operations to a building opposite the Maryland Avenue Garage.
Looking back, looking forward
Thomas E. Mitchell, director of applied psychology graduate program, reflected on the changes over the years: "President Turner had a grand vision, as does President Bogomolny—an overall plan, with capital investment and interaction with the surrounding community."
"These developments were driven by Turner's vision," Anderson said. "It was an effort to build the school and also to bring money into the community. President Bogomolny sees the area as a hub for mid-city, a feeder to business and cultural growth in the area. As business develops, student life improves, and overall the area becomes better."
A rich heritage of car showrooms is hinted at by the red brick façade of the Academic Center; the legend of a local tavern echoes faintly through the creaking halls of Charles Royal. Decade after decade, brick by brick, UB has reframed the cityscape with a definable commitment to higher education and strong ties to the community. Our presence continues to bloom.
Chandler, senior staff writer for The UB Post, can be reached at paul.chandler@ubalt.edu.
Top Left: Crestar Building (2006) is currently under renovation and will house the School of Communications Design.Middle: The Garage, built in 1906 for the Baltimore Automobile Headquarters, is now part of the Academic Center.
Right: Acquired in 1987, current home of the School of Communications Design. The three brownstones had several identities over the years, including the Silver Tailor shop, a dry cleaner, the Century Hotel, a restaurant, and a bar called the Pink Bucket.
Bottom Left: Early plans for the Business Center and Student Center sought to integrate the Odorite building, a Tudor-style structure, built in 1915, as Monumental Motorcar Company Building.
Middle: Pat Hays Buick Showroom and Service occupied the entire block where Gordon Plaza and the Law Center now stand.Right: A view from Oliver Street shows the rear entrance of Pat Hays Buick, as well as Little Caesar's pizza and sub shop (on left, with Coca-Cola billboard).
Photo 1: File Photo | Photos 2-6 courtesy of Special Collections Department, Langsdale Library, University of Baltimore