Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church and Asbury House is a historic

United Methodist church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

located at 2-10 Mount Vernon Place,

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The church "is one of the most photographed buildings in the city, completed in 1872 near the Washington Monument on the site where

Francis Scott Key Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet from Frederick, Maryland, who wrote the lyrics for the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". Key observed the British bombardment ...

died in 1843. Its sanctuary seats 900 and its rose window is modeled after the one in the

Notre Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

in Paris." The church is a Norman-Gothic-style church that was completed in 1872. It was designed by Thomas Dixon, a Baltimore architect and is built of blocks of a unique

metabasalt Amphibolite () is a metamorphic rock that contains amphibole, especially hornblende and actinolite, as well as plagioclase feldspar, but with little or no quartz. It is typically dark-colored and dense, with a weakly foliated or schistose (flaky ...

, a green-toned Maryland

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

, with

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

ornamentation. It features three spires. Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church and Asbury House was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1971. It is a contributing building in the

Mount Vernon Place Historic District Mount Vernon is a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, located immediately north of the city's downtown district. Designated a city Cultural District, it is one of the oldest neighborhoods originally home to the city's wealthiest and most fashio ...

, a

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

designated in 1971. See included map of district at page 24 of PDF document. Baltimore architects

Niernsee & Neilson John Rudolph Niernsee (May 27, 1814 – June 7, 1885) was an American architect. He served as the head architect for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B. & O.). Rudolph also largely contributed to the design and construction of the South Caroli ...

designed the Asbury House, and it was built around 1850. In 1893 it became home of George von Lingen, the German

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

in Baltimore. Von Lingen renovated its second floor library, which has a ceiling painting and intricate carvings done by German workers. In 2020, Baltimore's Planning Commission approved a subdivision of the church vs. house properties. This was sought by a developer with plans to sell the Asbury House, but with arguably vague plans for the church itself. The split was criticized, on grounds that the continuing preservation of the church proper would be threatened, with less asset value to ensure its maintenance. It was argued that the property should instead be donated to a local or national preservation-focused nonprofit which could handle the preservation requirements. The subdivision was overturned, disallowed by Baltimore Circuit Judge Jeannie Hong, in a ruling that was the third reversal of a Planning Commission decision in 18 months. Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church should not be confused with another church of the same name in Washington, DC, which served as the national representative congregation for the

Methodist Episcopal Church, South The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...

from 1850 to 1939.

References

External links

*, including undated photo, at Maryland Historical Trust
Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church website
Churches in Baltimore United Methodist churches in Maryland Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore Churches completed in 1872 19th-century Methodist church buildings in the United States Gothic Revival church buildings in Maryland Thomas Dixon (architect) buildings Mount Vernon, Baltimore Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore Historic district contributing properties in Maryland Mount Vernon Place Historic District {{Maryland-church-stub