Patterson Park Pagoda - a little bit of San Francisco in Baltimore MD

When traveling past Patterson Park in Baltimore, do not be caught unawares!  There’s a pagoda in the park that looks really out of place. I don’t mean to be critical or scornful, I’m just saying you shouldn’t slam on your brakes and gawk… just pull to the corner, park, and check it out.

Built in 1891, when the park on Hempstead Hill had already been used by city dwellers for 65 years, it is a classic, if unusual, example of Victorian era Chinoiserie that provokes a WTF reaction from the uninitiated.  But come closer…. The Pagoda is delightful!  There’s stained glass and cast iron steps, and they even open it up so you can travel 60 feet up to the top for spectacular views of Fells Point and greater Baltimore.  The Observatory is open 12 pm to 6 pm on Sundays from mid-April through mid-October.

Like a lot of Victorian era buildings, the Pagoda was out of style and even reviled in the 1950s. It was shuttered in 1951, and several attempts were made to have it demolished.  However, the Pagoda was given Baltimore City Landmark status in 1982. And then, with a $500,000 effort and a lot of civic input, the dilapidated Pagoda was restored in 2001, and it is now up there with the Bromo Tower and the Phoenix Shot Tower  as one of Baltimore’s most iconic landmarks.  I’m sure this would make its designer, former park superintendent Charles H. Latrobe, very pleased.

A 137 acre gem, Patterson Park is the oldest park in the city, and it is an important military site because 20,000 troops and 100 cannon were assembled there in September, 1814 to repel a British attack on the City, and it was used as a Civil War encampment for Union soldiers.  It is named for William Patterson  , a gun-runner during the Revolutionary War, and a founder of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, who donated the first six acres of land in the park to the city.  Patterson’s daughter married Napoleon’s brother, Jerome Bonaparte. Patterson Park expanded in 1850 when the city purchased an additional 27 acres from Patterson’s heirs.  It has grown to include a boat lake where fishing is permitted, a monument to General Casmir Pulaski, active playgrounds and play spaces, a recreation center, a community garden, and the Marble Fountain (another Baltimore Landmark).

UPDATE: NOV 2023

I returned for a walk through the park in the Fall & caught wanted to share some of the images I captured then.  Unfortunately, the Pagoda had a shattered window and was temporarily closed.  I was looking forward to going inside.  The park is a neighborhood gem, and was full of activity late on a Saturday morning.