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Open Saturday, October 24th, 2026, from 10 am – 2 pm
For more than 200 years, this Baltimore building has witnessed the city’s history—and now it’s beginning an exciting new chapter. Currently being transformed into five furnished residences, the first floor will soon become home to Baltimore Community Commons, a welcoming gathering space designed to bring people together.
This is a rare survival, a big house from a good period of Baltimore architecture, and its history tells a lot about the flexibility of the Baltimore row house as a building type. Mulberry Street was one of the most fashionable streets in town in the 1830s, when this house was built along with numbers 11 and 13. Samuel Poultney, a prominent merchant, lived here until his death in 1864. It then became a boarding house for women, conducted first by Eliza Snowden and later by Mrs. John J. Hughes. It became a single-family house again in 1882, for Ogden A. Kirkland, a successful auctioneer, and his wife, who modernized the house and added the mansard.
In the late 1800’s, 15 West Mulberry Street hosted a holiday party that was written up in the Baltimore Sun under the heading “Society’s Pleasures: Reception at an old mansion.” It described the setting:
The old mansion at 15 West Mulberry Street, was decorated with palms, evergreen, and holly. American Beauty roses contrasted with the green in the decorations. An orchestra was stationed at the head of the first flight of stairs. Many pieces of colonial furniture throughout the rooms were examined with interest by the guests. Colonel Green cherishes, in addition to the furniture, numerous pieces of glass and crockery which have been preserved in his family since colonial times. A silver punch ladle which was used at the reception was once used at an entertainment given to General Washington.
It remained a house until 1950, after which it became an office building: first for a law firm, then for the Maryland State Arts Council, finally for the architecture firm of Gantt Hart Burnett.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at this incredible restoration during Doors Open Baltimore and see how a historic building is being reimagined for the future.
