Located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, City House Charles is a new boutique mixed-use development consisting of ground-floor retail and class-A office space above. The design incorporated the preservation of two historic buildings dating back to the 1840s and the construction of a new 8-story office building.

The main entrance from Charles Street introduces a new glass 3-story atrium delicately situated between the 2 historic buildings. As you enter the building, the lobby opens up to a shared common area flanked by a café and restaurant space. The glass atrium offers a modern connection between the historic buildings, while also providing natural daylight to the second and third-floor office space tenants within the existing buildings. Above and behind the existing buildings, the new construction office tower massing is intentionally set back to maintain the scale and character of the historic streetscape along North Charles Street. The floor layouts provide flexible spaces for businesses of various sizes, each with access to an exterior balcony or terrace as a result of the setbacks.

As the building turns along Eager Street, the context becomes mostly residential and is known as one of the best-preserved historic residential streets in Mount Vernon. Respecting the residential scale of Eager Street as part of the new development was very important to both the community and the design team. To balance the existing historic building on the corner of Charles and Eager that was to remain, the design team created a ‘2 East Eager’ massing which bookends the new office tower and steps the building back down to a residential scale. Stoop and entry placement, window heights and sizing, overall height and massing, and materiality of the ‘2 East Eager’ bookend were taken from the neighboring buildings to create a seamless transition to the existing residential historic context

Reactivating this prominent corner in Mount Vernon was the driving force behind City House Charles while maintaining the historic character and bringing a new gathering place for the neighborhood to enjoy.