Baltimore ยท Downtown & the Inner Harbor
Lord Baltimore Hotel
William Lee Stoddart's 22-story French Renaissance tower, opened in 1928, which ended its racially restrictive guest policies in 1958.
- Built
- 1928Designed by William Lee Stoddart and opened December 30, 1928; closed in 1982 for renovation and reopened December 30, 1985.
- Style
- French Renaissance
- Architect
- William Lee Stoddart
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Area
- Downtown & the Inner Harbor
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The story
William Lee Stoddart designed the 22-story French Renaissance hotel, which opened on December 30, 1928 on the site of the Hotel Carswell, built after the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. In 1958, after the City Council failed to pass a desegregation ordinance for public accommodations, the hotel voluntarily ended its racially restrictive guest policies. It closed in 1982, reopened after renovation on December 30, 1985, and passed to the FDIC in 1992 after its owners’ bankruptcy; Radisson managed it through much of the 1990s. Rubell Hotels of Miami bought it in August 2013.
The ghost story
Lore centers on Molly, a little girl said to have arrived with her parents clutching a red ball: staff told The Baltimore Banner the 19th floor is the epicenter of reported activity and that guests who don't know the story report seeing a red ball in the hallway, though the paper found no newspaper account of such a death. The hotel bills itself as haunted and sells packages that include a ghost tour of its halls.
Source: www.thebanner.com
Good to know
- Breakfast: available
- Parking: on-site paid
- Pets welcome
- Address: 20 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
Things to do
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Sources (2)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.