8. Baltimore Trust Company Building
10 Light Street 
(1929, Taylor & Fisher; Smith & May, architects)

Baltimore's Art Deco masterpiece rose 34-stories above Charles Street in 1929, making it the tallest building in the city at the time and downtown's only “setback” skyscraper. Following the national trend of treating business towers such as New York's Empire State or Chrysler Buildings as “cathedrals of commerce,” the Baltimore Trust Building combines a geometrically- abstracted, early-20th-century Moderne aesthetic with towers, gargoyles and other Gothic architectural forms. The skyscraper's ornamental program, seen in the bronze door and window surrounds, the relief sculpture of the limestone lower levels and the carved and gilded ornamental spires, features crabs and clipper ships in reference to the city's maritime heritage, as well as emblems of the company's commercial identity,  such as the beehive (representing industriousness), grapes (abundance and prosperity) and the owl (wisdom).  For more information download the Baltimore Trust Company Building .PDF file. (188 KB) 

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