Historic Garden

  • Peale Garden, 2020

Originally completed during the 1930 renovation of the Peale Museum, our historic garden has undergone as many transformations as the building itself. After sitting unused and overgrown for 20 years, it was returned to public use as part of the Birdland and the Anthropocene exhibition, curated at the Peale by Lynne Parks. Today the garden features working gaslights, historic architectural pediments, a pollinator garden designed by Ashley Kidner, and a quiet oasis hidden in the heart of downtown Baltimore.

When the Peale reopens after renovation, the Garden will also include a glass staircase down to the garden from the 2nd floor Picture Gallery, additional entrances into the building, and a brick garden including the names and messages of those who participated in our ongoing Brick Campaign.

Click the play button below and move your cursor to look around the garden in 3D!

The large pediment that sits at the back of our garden was created by Italian sculptors Andrei and Franzoni, who also worked on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC before it was burned by the British in the War of 1812. The sandstone sculpture originally appeared on the First Union Bank Building, completed in 1806, and designed by architect Robert Carey Long, Sr. who also designed the Peale building, which opened in 1814.  The pediment was moved to the Peale when the garden was created during the 1930 renovation.

Click below to view a 3D Scan of pediment below, created by Direct Dimensions.

Pollinator Garden

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A Pollinator Garden has been planted at the Peale for all to use and enjoy, and the pollinators are already returning! The new garden has been supported by Green Grant from BGE and other generous donors. The Peale’s garden is a sculpture and horticulture exhibition all to itself.

Preliminary Sketch for the Peale’s Pollinator Garden, by Ashley Kidner
Before: The Peale’s Garden before a massive clean-up effort in 2017.

HOPE Crew at the Peale

Students and mentors from Morgan State University School of Architecture in the HOPE Crew project at the Peale, June 25-July 13, 2018. L-R: Monique Robinson, Jamil Nelson, David Gibney (preservation contractor), Akiel Allen, Tiffany Dockins, Nathaniel Mitchell, Taylor Proctor, and Wendy McGee-Preti.

In 2018 and 2019, thanks to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s HOPE Crew (Hands-On Preservation Experience), an ambitious team of six architecture students from Morgan State University repointed and relayed brickwork in the Peale’s historic garden, repaired decorative ironwork, and repainted our 19th century gas streetlights. Read all about their great work to restore this peaceful oasis in the heart of downtown Baltimore.

July 10, 2018 Media Day for the HOPE Crew at the Peale

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The renovation of the Peale’s historic garden and its gas lights has been made possible by support from BGE and the Baltimore Foundry Works, the hard work of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Hands On Preservation Experience (HOPE Crew) from Morgan State University’s School of Architecture, expert volunteers, and generous donors. Come enjoy their gifts when we reopen in early 2022!

Garden Clean-up 9 September 2017

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