Douglass Place (Baltimore, Maryland)

 NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, historic house

 Upload a photo

516-524 South Dallas Street
Baltimore, MD 21231
mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?NRID=764

Douglass Place is a group of five late-19th century brick row houses located at 516-524 South Dallas Street in the Fells Point area of Baltimore. The buildings are typical of "alley houses" of the period in Baltimore, two narrow bays wide, two stories high over a cellar, with shed roofs pitched to the rear. Italianate influence is reflected in their segmental-arched window and door openings, and in the simple molded sheet metal cornices which crown the buildings. A white marble plaque above the first story of #520 bears the legend "Douglass Place", referring to the group's association with Frederick Douglass, who constructed the buildings about 1892 as rental housing.

Douglass Place is significant for its association with Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), famed abolitionist, orator, editor, and statesman. Douglass constructed the five buildings in 1892 as rental housing for blacks in the Fells Point area of Baltimore. It is the only known property in the city with this association. The property embodies Douglass' connection with the Fells Point neighborhood, where he had resided from the 1820s to 1838. The site upon which the houses stand was the location of the Dallas Street Station Methodist Episcopal Church, which Douglass had attended while living in the area.