The Pratt Street Power Plant — also known as the Pier Four Power Plant, The Power Plant, "Pratt Street Toenail", and Pratt Street Station — is a historic former

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

located in downtown

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), 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; ...

, USA. It has undergone significant repurposing development since retirement and 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 artist ...

in 1987.

History

The building and its active years

The structure is a complex of three buildings located at

Pratt Street Pratt Street is a major street in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It forms a one-way pair of streets with Lombard Street that run west–east through downtown Baltimore. For most of their route, Pratt Street is one-way in an eastbound direc ...

and Pier 4 at Baltimore's

Inner Harbor The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and landmark of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. It was described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as "the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world". The ...

. The structures are brick with

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracot ...

trim and steel frame construction. It was built between 1900 and 1909 and is a massive industrial structure with Neo-Classical detailing designed by the architectural firm of

Baldwin & Pennington Baldwin & Pennington was the architectural partnership with Ephraim Francis Baldwin (1837-1916) and Josias Pennington (1854-1929) based in Baltimore, Maryland. The firm designed an incredibly large number of prominent structures throughout the Midd ...

. It was one of only 11 buildings in the zone of the Baltimore Fire of 1904 to survive that event.See HAER entry. It served as the main source of power for the United Railways and Electric Company, a consolidation of smaller street railway systems, that influenced the provision of citywide transportation and opened up suburban areas of Baltimore to power its electric

street railway A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

in the city. It later served as a central steam plant for the Consolidated Gas, Electric Light and Power Company, a predecessor of the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company. The boilers were coal-fired, and the plant's location on the harbor allowed easy delivery of coal by ship. The location also provided access to cooling water for the condensers, with intake on one side of the pier and discharge on the other. The plant, with by-then obsolete equipment, was used sparingly until it was returned to service to meet the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

production demand for electricity. Baltimore Gas & Electric finally ceased use of it in 1973.

Post-retirement life

After the electric plant was retired from service, the building was vacant several years, eventually becoming acquired by the

City of 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 ...

. It has since been redeveloped and repurposed for a variety of commercial projects. The first two attempts at redevelopment - an indoor

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amu ...

theme park named Six Flags Power Plant (1985–1989) and a short-lived dance club called P.T. Flagg's (1989–1990) - were not successful. Since that time, other projects have had more success. The Power Plant's more recent tenants have included the first ESPN Zone in the country (opened July 11, 1998; closed June 2010 and replaced by Phillips Seafood, which moved from nearby

Harborplace Harborplace is a shopping complex on the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. Description The property is composed of 2 two-story pavilions: the Pratt Street Pavilion and the Light Street Pavilion. Each of these buildings contains many stores an ...

Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and ...

(opened July 4, 1997), Barnes & Noble (opened 1998, closed August 28, 2020),

Gold's Gym Gold's Gym International, Inc. is an American chain of international co-ed fitness centers (commonly referred to as gyms) originally started by Joe Gold in Venice Beach, California. Each gym offers a variety of cardio and strength training eq ...

(closed early 2010; and replaced by Pandion Performance Center in June 2015), and loft offices.

Maryland Art Place The Maryland Art Place is a not-for-profit contemporary art gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. established in 1981. The gallery is located at 218 West Saratoga Street within the Bromo Tower Arts and Entertainment District on Baltimore's west s ...

, a contemporary art gallery for Maryland artists, is located in the northwest corner. It lends its name to the nearby Power Plant Live! nightlife complex. The

Cordish Company The Cordish Companies (previously The Cordish Company) is a U.S.-based real estate development and entertainment operating company with its headquarters on the 6th floor of the Pratt Street Power Plant in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded i ...

has its headquarters on the sixth floor.Contact Us
"

. Retrieved on September 13, 2011. "601 East Pratt St., 6th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202" Cordish also developed the adjacent Pier IV building, whose tenants include Dick's Last Resort.

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Buildings and structures in Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore Former coal-fired power stations in the United States Power stations in Maryland Towers in Maryland Energy infrastructure completed in 1909 Energy infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore 1909 establishments in Maryland Exelon Historic American Engineering Record in Baltimore Tourist attractions in Baltimore Adaptive reuse of industrial structures in the United States Former power stations in Maryland