It has been a residence, a restaurant, a school, a bird house, and office space for the Baltimore Zoo.
Now the historic Mansion House in Druid Hill Park may assume yet another role, possibly that of a museum or education center, if the city follows recommendations in a master plan for the park that was unveiled recently.
Landscapes Inc. of Westport, Conn., the master planner, urged in its report that the zoo's administrative offices be relocated to free the mansion for public uses. The planners argue that the city and state are missing an opportunity to make better use of the historic structure.
"The mansion is in pretty bad shape," said consultant Patricia O'Donnell. "There needs to be a long-term use that is more positive for the Mansion House."
A national landmark, the mansion was built in a Federal style in 1801 by Col. Nicholas Rodgers. That makes it the oldest Federal Style country estate left in Baltimore -- two years older than the 1803 Homewood House on the Johns Hopkins University campus.
In 1860, the Rodgers family sold the house and its surrounding 400 acres to the city for use as a park. In about 1863, J. H. B. Latrobe altered the house to serve as a park pavilion, adding the wooden porches that obscure the masonry dwelling within.
Those porches were enclosed in 1935, when a short-lived restaurant opened on the first floor.
In 1944, the mansion became headquarters for the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association of Baltimore, which opened a day school there.
In the early 1950s, the enclosed porch was fitted to contain a series of cages for exotic birds and dubbed the Hall of Jewels. In 1978, it was converted to zoo offices at a cost of $850,000.
The building is still owned by the city but leased to the state, which subleases it to the Maryland Zoological Society, the nonprofit group that operates the zoo.
Representatives of both the zoo and the city parks department say they agree with the consultants.
They point out that the zoo alone can't afford the high maintenance costs and that the mansion does not function well for zoo staffers. Many work in cramped cubicles on the windowless upper level.
They say the zoo would be better able to justify sharing the cost of upkeep with the state or some other funding source if the mansion had a "shared use" that would benefit visitors to both the zoo and the park.
"It could be a conference hall, concessions, a museum," said Gennedy Schwartz, chief of capital development for the parks department. "It's one of the major elements of the park, and it should be part of the park."
Bill Carter, director of finance and administration for the society, said the zoo's mission is, and must remain, conservation, education and caring for animals, not preservation of the mansion. "It's not that we want anything bad to happen to it, but it can't be our top priority."
Myra Brosius, a landscape architect for the parks department, said the best solution would be to find a guardian with a preservation agenda to invest in the mansion.
She suggested that it would be a good place for an information center, a catering facility, or an education center used in tandem with the nearby Maryland Building.
While planners explore reuse possibilities, the zoological society is proceeding with a $300,000 restoration of the exterior of the building, which has peeling paint and other cosmetic problems. The General Assembly allocated the funds last spring.
After receiving bids from four architects, the zoo has recommended that the firm of Grieves Worrall Wright and O'Hatnick be hired to oversee the work.
The Grieves office has extensive preservation experience, including restoration of the Hackerman House, the 1904 building of the Walters Art Gallery, and the walls of Fort McHenry.
Affordable housing
Affordable housing projects by 12 local designers will be featured at the exhibit sponsored by the Baltimore chapter of the American Institute of Architects. An opening reception and lecture will be held today from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 421 N. Charles St. The exhibit will then move to the AIA Gallery at 11 1/2 W. Chase St.