Evergreen Museum & Library is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

and research library in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

, United States. It is located between the campuses of the

Notre Dame of Maryland University Notre Dame of Maryland University is a private Catholic university in Baltimore, Maryland. NDMU offers certificate, undergraduate, and graduate programs for women and men. History The Roman Catholic academic/educational religious congregation ...

and

Loyola University Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a private Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is the ninth-oldest Jesuit college in t ...

. It is operated by

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

along with

Homewood Museum The Homewood Museum is a historical museum located on the Johns Hopkins University campus in Baltimore, Maryland. It was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1971, noted as a family home of Maryland's Carroll family. It, along with Evergree ...

; both make up the Johns Hopkins University Museums.

History

The mansion was built in the mid-19th century and bought in 1878 by the president of the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

John W. Garrett John Work Garrett (July 31, 1820 – September 26, 1884), was an American merchant turned banker who became president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1858 and led the railroad for nearly three decades. The B&O became one of the most ...

. Railroads were then a key industry in the United States and, as Baltimore's Garrett family owned and managed one of the biggest rail companies, the home grew and became both luxurious and famous. John Garrett's son T. Harrison added a wing containing a billiard room, bowling alley, and a gymnasium, which in later years were converted into an art gallery and private theater. Evergreen served as a home for the family until 1952, when it was donated to the university. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1983.

Architecture

The house, a magnificent example of

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Wes ...

architecture, sits on a landscaped site in Northern Baltimore and is on the

. The initial design was a more modest

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

house but, with the Garretts, it became a 48-room mansion with a 23-karat gold plated bathroom, a 30,000-book library, and a theatre painted by famous Russian artist

Léon Bakst Léon Bakst (russian: Леон (Лев) Николаевич Бакст, Leon (Lev) Nikolaevich Bakst) – born as Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich (later Samoylovich) Rosenberg, Лейб-Хаим Израилевич (Самойлович) Розенбе ...

. The abundant decorative items in the house reflect the Garretts' travels and interests, including a red Asian room displaying Japanese and Chinese items, works by

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, Modigliani, and

Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is espec ...

, glass by Tiffany or Dutch marquetry. Today, the university manages the museum and offers guided tours.

Library

The John Work Garrett Library is under the aegis of the Department of Special Collections at the Johns Hopkins University. The collection totals over 30,000 volumes, the majority of which were collected by John Work Garrett (1872–1942) and his father, T. Harrison Garrett (1849–1888). The collection is especially strong in literature of the English Renaissance, including the Shakespeare Folios of 1623, 1632, and 1663. Other collection strengths include natural history, such as the original pattern plates for

James Sowerby James Sowerby (21 March 1757 – 25 October 1822) was an English naturalist, illustrator and mineralogist. Contributions to published works, such as ''A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland'' or ''English Botany'', include his detailed and app ...

's ''Mineral Conchology of Great Britain'', travel literature, architecture, and early Americana, such as the manuscript of ''The History of the Ancient and Honorable Tuesday Club'' by

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charle ...

. It also has a small but choice collection of incunabula and books of hours. The museum holds the earliest known example of printing produced in colonial Maryland; a small booklet printed by Nicholas Hasselbach, who set up the first printing shop in Baltimore in 1765. Wroth, 1922, p. 113

Citations

Sources

External links

* at Maryland Historical Trust
Evergreen House websiteEvergreen House (grounds entrance) on Google Street View
*
Evergreen House – Explore Baltimore Heritage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evergreen Museum and Library Johns Hopkins University Museums in Baltimore Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore Neoclassical architecture in Maryland Renaissance Revival architecture in Maryland Houses completed in 1850 Historic house museums in Maryland University museums in Maryland Houses in Baltimore Baltimore City Landmarks Gilded Age mansions