307 W Baltimore St
Baltimore, MD 21201
Faust Brothers Building · Coworking Space Property For Lease

Built in 1870 by George Appold, the Faust Brothers Building was designed and constructed with an elaborate cornice and cast-iron façade composed of arches framed by Corinthian columns. The cast iron façade reflected the surge in popularity of this material that was commonly used for both structural support and exterior decoration in the late 19th century. It was also the natural result of the post-civil war excess capacity in iron production where builders repurposed the iron for facades. With its proximity to both rail lines and the docks at the Inner Harbor, the Westside of downtown Baltimore was a center of light manufacturing in the 1800s and early 1900s. The five-story building was originally built to serve as a warehouse, but was sold to John Faust, a pioneer in shoe manufacturing in 1875. Faust expanded the building and erected a second cast-iron façade at the rear of the building, facing what is today, Redwood Street. Faust Brothers Building is one of fewer than a dozen cast-iron front buildings remaining in the city and the only known building with two cast-iron facades. Many of Baltimore’s cast-iron buildings were lost in the Great Fire of 1904. On February 7, a fire broke out just one hundred yards east of the building, on the site of the current CFG Arena. The prevailing winds blew the fire east and south toward the inner harbor, consuming 1,400 structures in downtown Baltimore in the space of just 36 hours. Over the next century urban renewal schemes replaced most of the other cast iron façade buildings. The building has continued to adapt and survive. Rehabilitated in 2007 and placed on the national historic register, the building houses both artist and coworking space. The building currently serves has home to UMD Institute for Innovation & Implementation and several other prominent art studio and event hosting spaces.