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Bank of America Building
General information
Type	Residential
Architectural style	Art Deco
Location	10 Light Street Baltimore, Maryland
Coordinates	39°17′21″N 76°36′51″W / 39.2892°N 76.6141°W / 39.2892; -76.6141
Completed	1929
Owner	CP5 10 Light Street LLC (Arrive Inner Harbor)
Height
Antenna spire	179.832 m (590.00 ft)
Roof	155.143 m (509.00 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	37
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Taylor & Fisher Smith & May
Developer	J. Henry Miller & Son
Structural engineer	Girard Engineering, Inc.
References

The Bank of America Building, also known as 10 Light Street and formerly as the Baltimore Trust Company Building, is a 34-story, 155.15 m (509.0 ft) skyscraper located at the corner of East Baltimore and Light Streets in downtown Baltimore, Maryland.

Description

10 Light Street was the tallest building in the state, and the tallest office building in the United States south of New York City when constructed in 1929. The Art Deco building was designed by the firm of Taylor and Fisher, and completed in eighteen months, fashioned from Indiana sandstone and local brick over a steel frame at a cost of (U.S.) $3 million.

The building's exterior is decorated with carved Romanesque human and animal images, stylized eagles, and is capped with a copper and gold roof. The ornate, two-story main banking lobby is highly decorated with mosaic floors designed by Hildreth Meiere, and historic murals by Griffith Baily Coale and McGill Mackall on historic themes: the Baltimore fire of 1904, and the writing of the National Anthem at the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. These mosaics are planned to be covered by artificial turf, so that the historic lobby can be used as an Under Armour gym.

History

Shortly after the Baltimore Trust Company moved into the building in 1929, the Great Depression began and the company floundered. The building was essentially vacant within a year, as the bank went into bankruptcy in 1933 and receivership in 1935. The empty building was subsequently used by the New Deal's Public Works Administration in Maryland.

From the 1940s into the 1960s, the building was first known as the Mathieson Building and then the O'Sullivan Building, reflecting its then-current major tenants. In 1947, the building housed the transmitter and antenna of WMAR-TV, the first TV station in Maryland and 14th overall in the country and the 3rd CBS affiliate. At that time, just down the Street was Sun Place, the headquarters of the Baltimore Sun who founded the TV station. That top floor is now a private lounge for tenants of the building, but the TV tower atop the building is still there unused to this day.

During those years, Semmes, Bowen and Semmes, a major Maryland law firm with origins in the 19th century, occupied the twenty-first floor, and later as many as four whole floors (when the firm employed almost 150 attorneys), remaining in 10 Light Street until approximately 1990, at what was called the "Baltimore Trust Building", according to the 1952 memoir of Whittaker Chambers, whose Semmes attorneys were Richard F. Cleveland (youngest son of President Grover Cleveland) and William D. Macmillan.

In 1961, the building was purchased by Maryland National Bank, successor of Baltimore Trust, and the building name was changed to "Maryland National Bank Building". Maryland National was itself purchased by NationsBank in 1993, and the name of the building was changed again, to "NationsBank Building". The structure then obtained its current name following the NationsBank merger with BankAmerica in 1997. Major portions of the building were restored, including the copper-clad dome, which is once again floodlit at night.

In December 2012, the building was acquired by a Virginia firm, Metropolitan Partnership Ltd., which plans to convert all floors above the fourth into 445 residential apartments. The lower floors of the building remained available for retail tenants. Bank of America announced that it would close the ground floor banking center in May 2013. Miles & Stockbridge, a prominent Baltimore law firm, had maintained offices in the building since 1932 when one of the firm's founders, Clarence Miles, moved into the building. Now a portion of the ground floor is occupied by the FX Studios & Under Armour Performance Center while the majority of its remainder is employed as apartments or office space, the building now also features a penthouse.

• Top of the building
• Rear side view from West Baltimore Street
• Main entrance on 10 Light Street
• The historic lobby floor pictured in 1933, now covered by artificial turf for the UA Fitness Performance Center

See also

• List of tallest buildings in Baltimore

References

1. "Bank of America Building". CTBUH Skyscraper Center.
2. "Emporis building ID 118977". Emporis. Archived from the original on April 4, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
3. "Bank of America Building". SkyscraperPage.
4. Bank of America Building at Structurae
5. ^ Kelly, Denwood N., Shank Jr., Armand M., and Gordon, Thomas S. (1996). Money & Banking in Maryland. p. 48. Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore. ISBN 0-938420-52-6
6. ^ Olson, Sherry H. (1997). Baltimore: The Building of an American City. pp. 314-15. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. ISBN 0-8018-5640-X
7. "Baltimore Trust Company Building (10 Light Street): Banking hall floor; lobby entrance floor". International Hildreth Meière Association Inc. Retrieved 2024-05-21.
8. "Rare artwork, underfoot, could soon be out of sight". Baltimore Brew. 2015-11-11.
9. Chambers, Whittaker (1952). Witness. New York: Random House. pp. 728–730 (summary, building, insight). Retrieved 25 November 2016.
10. ^ "10 Light Goes Residential". The Daily Record. Baltimore, Maryland. December 4, 2012. p. 1.
11. "10 Light Street to be Converted into Apartments". Capital Gazette. 2012-12-03. Archived from the original on 2021-06-23.

External links

• "Arrive Inner Harbor". Arrive Luxury Communities. Official website

v t e Bank of America
Divisions	Bank of America Home Loans Bank of America Private Bank BofA Securities Merrill
Historical components	Banc of America Securities Bank of America, Los Angeles Bank of America NT&SA Bank of Italy Bank of New England BankBoston Barnett Bank Baybank Benj. Franklin Savings and Loan Boatmen's Bancshares Cassatt & Company Central Bank and Trust Citizens & Southern National Bank Commercial National Bank Continental Illinois Countrywide Financial E. A. Pierce & Co. Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles First Franklin First Republic Bank Corporation Fleet Bank Fourth Financial Corporation G. H. Walker & Co. Gibraltar Savings and Loan Gibraltar Savings Association LaSalle Bank Mercury Asset Management MBNA/Maryland National Bank Michigan National Bank Montgomery Securities National Westminster Bank USA NationsBank North Carolina National Bank Provident Institution for Savings Rainier Bancorp Robertson Stephens Seafirst Bank Security Pacific Bank Shawmut Bank Standard Federal Bank Sovran Bank Summit Bancorp Suretrade Western Savings and Loan White Weld & Co.
Buildings	555 California Street (San Francisco) 701 Brickell Avenue Albuquerque Plaza American Security and Trust Company Building (Washington, D.C.) Bank of America Building Baltimore Midland Oakland Bank of America Center Baltimore Houston Los Angeles Norfolk Tulsa Bank of America Corporate Center (Charlotte) Bank of America Plaza Atlanta Charlotte Chicago Dallas Fort Lauderdale St. Louis Tampa Bank of America Tower Jacksonville Manhattan Phoenix St. Petersburg Boulder Towers Hearst Tower (Charlotte) Miami Tower Museum Tower
Executives	Amadeo Giannini Ken Lewis Brian Moynihan
Category Commons

• Downtown Baltimore
• Residential skyscrapers in Baltimore
• Art Deco architecture in Maryland
• Office buildings completed in 1929
• Bank of America buildings