BNHA One Charles Center

One Charles Center, designed by internationally renowned German architect Mies van der Rohe and constructed in 1962, is a 23-story aluminum and glass International Style office building. It was the first modernistic office tower in Baltimore and the keynote of the city’s nationally recognized downtown urban renewal project: Charles Center. In addition to office space that was sorely needed downtown, Charles Center included underground parking, apartments, shops, and the Morris Mechanic Theater. The plan called for three open-space plazas and the preservation of four significant historic structures. The first of two buildings Mies van der Rohe designed in Baltimore, One Charles Center—exceptionally significant as the work of a master architect—pioneered International Style modernism in Baltimore. The building derives additional significance for its role in the early stage of Baltimore’s downtown renaissance. The remarkable success of Charles Center empowered Baltimore officials to expand the reinvention of downtown to include the Inner Harbor.