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Survey of
Historic Sites and Buildings

	HAMMOND-HARWOOD HOUSE Maryland
Location: Maryland Avenue at King George Street, Annapolis. Hammond-Harwood House

Ownership and Administration (1961). Hammond-Harwood House Association, Inc., Annapolis.

Significance. Annapolis is a city containing many distinguished 18th-century houses, of which three, the Brice, the Chase-Lloyd, and the Hammond-Harwood, are the most notable. Although all three are of first rank architecturally, the last appears to be the most significant in terms of English colonial associations. Not only is it a superior example of the Georgian dwelling but, of the three, each attributed to William Buckland, the Hammond-Harwood House appears also to have the soundest claim to this distinction. One authority has said of Buckland's design, "Here at last, it seems, he merits the appellation of 'architect' rather than 'decorator'." [13] The writer notes further that the house marks the period of Buckland's architectural maturity, achieved in the years just preceding his untimely death at the age of 40. As an example of period architecture and a reflection of the genius of William Buckland, the Hammond-Harwood House is an outstanding survivor of the flowering of American architecture at the end of the colonial period.

Present Appearance (1961). Probably completed in 1774, the year of Buckland's death, the Hammond-Harwood House is a symmetrical building typical of Georgian houses in the area. Its five-bay center section, constructed of salmon-colored brick laid up in Flemish bond, is flanked by two-story wings with polygonal bays. One wing served the house's builder, Matthias Hammond, as a law office, and the other housed kitchen and service rooms. Hammond is worthy of notice in his own right, for he was one of Maryland's distinguished leaders on the eve of the Revolution.

The low-pitched hip roof and center pavilion are typical of the late Georgian period. The arched fanlight doorway features tall Ionic columns and rich moldings. A wealth of carved woodwork gives ornamentation to the first-floor dining room and the second-floor ballroom. Decorations and furnishings, including many pieces that were in the house originally, adhere faithfully to the period. A number of portraits by Charles Willson Peale adorn the interior. [14]