This handsome row of eight three-and-one-half story dwellings is Baltimore’s last remaining example of early 19th-century townhouses. In 1819, wealthy merchant Louis Pascault built the rowhouses, now called Pascault Row. They represent an important phase in the evolution of the rowhouse in the great Eastern cities because they illustrate the transition between the Federal and the early Greek Revival period. Residents included the President of First National Bank of Baltimore and Director of the B & O Railroad, the Episcopal Bishop of Maryland, and the first Jewish-American elected to public office in Maryland.
William Small, the architect to whom Pascault Row is attributed, designed many prominent Baltimore buildings including McKim’s School, the Athenaeum, Barnum’s Hotel, the Archbishop’s Residence to the east of Latrobe’s cathedral, several houses, and numerous city schools. The evenly spaced windows, brick construction and rhythmic rooflines of Pascault Row still characterize the appearance of this block, as with other rowhouses around the city. Many of the individual buildings have deteriorated over time or been altered with first floor storefronts. The building at 655 West Lexington Street is the best unaltered example within Pascault Row, which remains an important link to the development of American urban architecture. Pascault Row is located at 651-665 West Lexington St. Not open to the public. |
Pascault Row Photo by Jeff Joeckel, National Register of Historic Places Pascault Row Photo by Grtechen Redden, National Register of Historic Places |