Baltimore skyline revisited - Page 6

getontrac · May 10th, 2007, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eerik

Alameda and 33rd Street: roof of Baltimore City College (not the tower, but the back SW rooftop).

Darn.

I was originally thinking more east, but a bit farther north. I was looking for City College!

nate

PeterSmith · May 10th, 2007, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eerik

Alameda and 33rd Street: roof of Baltimore City College (not the tower, but the back SW rooftop).

Eerik, you know this city better than anyone else I've ever encountered. You can give the year, location and who knows what else of just about every picture posted on this forum. We should have a competition to see who can stump Eerik.

MasonsInquiries · May 11th, 2007, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterSmith

Eerik, you know this city better than anyone else I've ever encountered. You can give the year, location and who knows what else of just about every picture posted on this forum. We should have a competition to see who can stump Eerik.

yep, he has the gift of having the "charm city knowledge".

MDguy · May 12th, 2007, 02:11 AM

here's the skyline after the fire

scando · May 12th, 2007, 06:06 AM

I like the almost dusk or just after dawn photo (next to the bottom). I assume that it's from the Belvedere, but lighting in that one is terrific.

MountVEE · May 13th, 2007, 04:29 AM

I wonder what this city would be like if that fire never happened. Better? worse? Did the clean sweep of buildings benefit Baltimore like the Chicago fire did? I know the city grew like crazy after that. I guess we'll never know.

House3780 · May 13th, 2007, 08:53 AM

I dont think the city benefited at all or at the very least didnt capitalize on the opportunity in rebuilding the way Chicago and San Fransisco did after their disasters which happened in the same period. Ive seen at least two documentaries that discussed how Chicagoans looked at the fire as a chance to build a new an advanced city as far as height and architecture were concerned. The only significant building that we got was the BofA building and that was 20+ years after the fire and remained the only significant building for generations after. And this was at a time when Baltimore was one of the nations largest cities population wise... Larger than Chicago and San Fransisco. Its weird thinking about it. Baltimore was second only to New York for the longest time, yet when you look at things like public transportation and skyline we are so far behind now... what happened??

micrip · May 13th, 2007, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MountVEE

I wonder what this city would be like if that fire never happened. Better? worse? Did the clean sweep of buildings benefit Baltimore like the Chicago fire did? I know the city grew like crazy after that. I guess we'll never know.

The opportunity was taken to widen the downtown streets. That is why Pratt and Lombard Sts, along with Calvert, Light, and Charles, are as wide as they are today. In fact, the northern limit of the burnt district is clearly identifiable as you go north on Charles...it's at the point where the street narrows around Saratoga St.

getontrac · May 13th, 2007, 03:17 PM

I'm fairly certain by the time of our fire we were not as large as Chicago, nor as booming as SF. I think we had settled into 5 or 6 at that point and stayed there till the 50s.

We weren't really behind in public transportation; ours was pretty extensive. Only NY and Chicago has "rapid transit" rail lines, most of which were elevated. Boston (and maybe Philly) had some downtown streetcar tunnel, but that had JUST started, IIRC.

The biggest mistake after the fire was not building the huge, long park where Baltimore St is/was. The merchant's howled too much about losing real estate footprint space.

Nate

MDguy · May 13th, 2007, 08:27 PM

here are a few shots (not the best quality) I took from a plane taking off from BWI in october
edit

MasonsInquiries · May 14th, 2007, 04:17 AM

great aerials!

scando · May 14th, 2007, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MountVEE

I wonder what this city would be like if that fire never happened. Better? worse? Did the clean sweep of buildings benefit Baltimore like the Chicago fire did? I know the city grew like crazy after that. I guess we'll never know.

The rebuilding after the fire was mixed at best. The city did move on by widening streets, building storm drains and burying wires (during the fire overhead wires were so dense that the blocked firefighting water), standardizing fire department equipment, enacting new building codes that banned wooden buildings and banning flammable roofs. On the other hand, the city's pride prevented them from accepting aid that was offered and much of what was built ended up being small brick boxes with somewhat decorative fronts. Unfortunately some of those brick boxes seem historic now in spite of being pretty unremarkable buildings.

The city was definitely set back by at least a decade. When it was ready to catch up, WWI had started, which slowed down development. After war recovery, the beginnings of the Great Depression were starting, much earlier than the "official" beginning in 1929. What was Baltimore's tallest building for a long time (Bank of America) opened shortly before the crash in 1929 and ended up being the last major office building built until the Charles Center project 30 years later. Those 30 years were a sort of living death for the city. Old, pre-fire Baltimore may have been pretty medieval, but all things considered, we would have been better without the fire.

MountVEE · May 14th, 2007, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scando

Old, pre-fire Baltimore may have been pretty medieval, but all things considered, we would have been better without the fire.

I never thought about it being medieval-like. I guess you're right. it would have been very narrow and irregular with a ton of alleys and historic low-rise buildings.

micrip · May 14th, 2007, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MountVEE

I never thought about it being medieval-like. I guess you're right. it would have been very narrow and irregular with a ton of alleys and historic low-rise buildings.

A lot like Boston, perhaps...

jamie_hunt · May 14th, 2007, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MountVEE

I never thought about it being medieval-like. I guess you're right. it would have been very narrow and irregular with a ton of alleys and historic low-rise buildings.

H.L. Mencken referred (tongue in cheek) to Baltimore pre-fire as "the ruins of a once-great medieval city."

waj0527 · May 14th, 2007, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eerik

Alameda and 33rd Street: roof of Baltimore City College (not the tower, but the back SW rooftop).

My alma mater. I should've known that.

bma83 · May 14th, 2007, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waj 0527

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eerik

Alameda and 33rd Street: roof of Baltimore City College (not the tower, but the back SW rooftop).

My alma mater. I should've known that.

Mine too. Class of 2001.

House3780 · May 15th, 2007, 01:26 AM

Booooooooooo shitty college

GO ENGINEERS!!!!!!!!

waj0527 · May 15th, 2007, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bma83

Mine too. Class of 2001.

We probably know each other then.

30 Floors Up · May 15th, 2007, 12:52 PM

My first experiment with creating panorama views. I didn't have a tripod so things are at an angle. Sorry. Hopefully, future ones will be better.

May 12th, 2007, 02:11 AM	#104
MDguy Balto Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Balwash Posts: 3,345	here's the skyline after the fire __________________ Back to Black

May 13th, 2007, 08:27 PM	#110
MDguy Balto Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Balwash Posts: 3,345	here are a few shots (not the best quality) I took from a plane taking off from BWI in october edit __________________ Back to Black Last edited by MDguy; November 23rd, 2010 at 07:58 PM.

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May 12th, 2007, 06:06 AM	#105
scando Registered User Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Baltimore, Maryland Posts: 4,173 Likes (Received): 7	I like the almost dusk or just after dawn photo (next to the bottom). I assume that it's from the Belvedere, but lighting in that one is terrific.

May 13th, 2007, 04:29 AM	#106
MountVEE Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 106 Likes (Received): 0	I wonder what this city would be like if that fire never happened. Better? worse? Did the clean sweep of buildings benefit Baltimore like the Chicago fire did? I know the city grew like crazy after that. I guess we'll never know.

May 13th, 2007, 08:53 AM	#107
House3780 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indian Ocean Posts: 781 Likes (Received): 0	I dont think the city benefited at all or at the very least didnt capitalize on the opportunity in rebuilding the way Chicago and San Fransisco did after their disasters which happened in the same period. Ive seen at least two documentaries that discussed how Chicagoans looked at the fire as a chance to build a new an advanced city as far as height and architecture were concerned. The only significant building that we got was the BofA building and that was 20+ years after the fire and remained the only significant building for generations after. And this was at a time when Baltimore was one of the nations largest cities population wise... Larger than Chicago and San Fransisco. Its weird thinking about it. Baltimore was second only to New York for the longest time, yet when you look at things like public transportation and skyline we are so far behind now... what happened??

May 13th, 2007, 03:17 PM	#109
getontrac Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Mt. Vernon in Baltimore Posts: 924 Likes (Received): 0	I'm fairly certain by the time of our fire we were not as large as Chicago, nor as booming as SF. I think we had settled into 5 or 6 at that point and stayed there till the 50s. We weren't really behind in public transportation; ours was pretty extensive. Only NY and Chicago has "rapid transit" rail lines, most of which were elevated. Boston (and maybe Philly) had some downtown streetcar tunnel, but that had JUST started, IIRC. The biggest mistake after the fire was not building the huge, long park where Baltimore St is/was. The merchant's howled too much about losing real estate footprint space. Nate

May 14th, 2007, 04:17 AM	#111
MasonsInquiries B-MORE than u strive for! Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Baltimore/Columbia, Md. Posts: 2,259 Likes (Received): 0	great aerials!

May 15th, 2007, 01:26 AM	#118
House3780 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indian Ocean Posts: 781 Likes (Received): 0	Booooooooooo shitty college GO ENGINEERS!!!!!!!!

May 15th, 2007, 12:52 PM	#120
30 Floors Up (-8 Floors Down) = X Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 2,292 Likes (Received): 23	My first experiment with creating panorama views. I didn't have a tripod so things are at an angle. Sorry. Hopefully, future ones will be better.