Mount Vernon Methodist Church in Baltimore Essay (Critical Writing)

Baltimore’s Beautiful Places

Baltimore is known for its beautiful places of worship. The region is also famous for its historic buildings. Many of these structures are classified as national historic landmarks. One of the oldest buildings in the area is Mount Vernon Methodist Church. The church is Victorian Gothic architecture. The building was designed and constructed in 1872 by Thomas Dixon and Charles Carson. Gothic architecture was used in the medieval period before the emergence of Romanesque and Renaissance architectural designs.

The medieval period spanned between 12^th and 16^th centuries. Victorian Gothic architecture is characterized by a pointed arch, a flying buttress, and a ribbed vault (Bremner 733). A ribbed vault is a form of an arch created by an intersection between two, three, or four barrel crypts. It is used to support the weight of a ceiling or a roof. The arch supports the weight of the structure above it.

Victorian Gothic architecture does not have a curved dome like structures of other designs. The top of the church has a pointed edge. The interior decoration of Mount Vernon Methodist Church in Baltimore resembles that of other Gothic structures. However, most aspects of the design are influenced by Roman and Medieval architecture.

The interior includes plant decoration with trees that form canopies. The upper part of the church has stained glass that allows little light to pass through. Most of the colors used in decorating the church are dark. They include ochre, purple, black, gold, and forest green. The furniture in the church has Gothic motif. The chairs, cabinets, and tables have a ‘spiral-turned’ shaped structure (Stamp 208). The furniture is also painted using dark colors. The interior decoration has been in use since 1872 when the church was built.

The picture below shows Mount Vernon Methodist Church in Baltimore:

Works Cited

Bremner, Alex. Nation and Empire in the Government Architecture of Mid-Victorian London: The Foreign and India Office Reconsidered. The Historical Journal 48.3 (2005): 703-742. Print.

Stamp, Gavin. High Victorian Gothic and the Architecture of Normandy. The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 62.2 (2003): 194-211. Print.