Baltimore City Circuit Courthouses - Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr, Courthouse

Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr, Courthouse

In 1894, 79 local and national architectural firms responded to a design competition under the Tarsney Act for the new courthouse. This act required competition in the design of federal buildings and was administered by the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury. Of the entries, a Greek Revival–styled courthouse proposed by the Baltimore firm of Wyatt and Nolting was chosen. The cornerstone for the Baltimore Courthouse was laid in 1896 and the building was dedicated at a public ceremony on January 8, 1900. Concerns over the austere nature of several courtrooms and lobby interiors gave cause for the addition of murals executed between 1902 and 1910 by a number of artists, including the 1904 Burning of the Peggy Stewart by Charles Yardley Turner. A bronze statue of Cecilius Calvert ((1605-1675), the second Lord Baltimore and First Proprietor of the Province of Maryland was erected on the steps outside the west entrance, facing Saint Paul Street sponsored by the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Maryland, Decovrey Wright Thom - Governor of the Society, and dedicated November 21, 1908. It is the site of annual "Maryland Day" (March 25th) ceremonies which are later continued inside in the ceremonial chambers.

A joint study of the structure was completed in 1946 by architect O.E. Adams and Henry Adams (mechanical engineer), after which it was expanded and renovated to serve modern judicial needs. In 1985, Baltimore City's main courthouse, located in the midst of the downtown business district, was rededicated in honor of Baltimore's Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. A study of the original Baltimore Courthouse was presented in 1989, though substantial exterior improvements did not proceed until after 2000. The study by architectural firm Richter Cornbrooks Gribble again concluded that the building should be re-used, rather than abandoned in favor of new facilities; actual renovation then proceeded at the direction of architect Kann & Associates. Despite their criticism of the earliest renovation, the architects recognized that the earlier reconfiguration "probably prevented it from being demolished altogether." Further study continued into 2002, when architects Richter Cornbrooks Gribble Inc. of Baltimore and Ricci Associates of New York suggested a remodeling that returned the interior formal spaces to configuration closer to the pre-1940s arrangement.