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Description:
The Maryland White Lead Works, constructed c. 1867, is a U-shaped industrial complex that survives to represent its association with Baltimore's white lead paint industry leader. The industrial quadrangle consists of 9 interconnected brick and wood-frame buildings, which vary in height from one to four stories, surrounding a yard. The buildings in the complex include the powerhouse, two production sheds, a manufactory loft with an office wing, and a service building. The powerhouse, comprised of the gable-roofed engine room, hip-roofed furnace room, and stack, was the nucleus of the complex, and its essential power center. Production shed 1 contained four floors of grinding mills to pulverize the lead. This 8-bay long shed has a flat roof, a corbeled brick cornice, brick jack-arched windows, and wooden sills. On the interior, a graceful row of fluted cast-iron columns bisects each floor. Production shed 2 housed washing and drying rooms. This building, with a gable roof topped by a monitor, also has a corbeled brick cornice, brick jack-arch lintels, and wooden sills. The roof is carried on timber Pratt trusses with wrought iron hangers. The manufactory loft housed an oil mill on the first floor, mixing on the second floor, and a storage space on the third floor. This 4 x 7 bay brick building, with two additions dating to between 1914 and 1951, has a gable roof and the same cornice, lintels, and sills as the other buildings, and its roof is also carried on timber Pratt trusses with wrought iron hangers. The brick service building complex included a two-story, three-bay stable, a three-story, six-bay cooperage, and a two-story, three-bay carpentry shop. Packaging was produced on site in the cooperage and carpentry shop. Product distribution began with horse-drawn wagons housed on-site in the stable. The roofs and portions of the interior structures of these buildings have collapsed and the cornices are crumbling. The exterior walls are primarily intact and the footprint of the building remains. An 1873 engraving of the site demonstrates that the complex is largely intact. The Maryland White Lead Company occupied the site from 1867 to 1896. Alterations to the complex between 1890 and 1951 and the demolition of two buildings at the rear of the site have not altered the site's association with the Maryland White Lead Company.
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Significance:
The Maryland White Lead Works, constructed in 1867, housed Baltimore's first and most substantial manufacturer of lead paints. Established by William T. Davison, the founder of Davison Chemical, the Maryland White Lead Works powered the growth of paint manufacture, a significant component of Baltimore's late-19th century industrial base. The concern was a pioneer in the development of Locust Point, which ultimately became one of Baltimore's premiere industrial districts. The Maryland White Lead Works is historically significant for its association with one of the most significant operations in Baltimore's important paint manufacturing industry. While other small industrial and retail concerns used the site largely for warehousing after the Maryland White Lead Company abandoned it in 1896, the complex is largely intact and still closely resembles an 1873 engraving depicting the site.
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