Baltimore City College High School 
Baltimore, MD

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Size: 345,000 SF

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Opened in October 1839, Baltimore City College (BCC) is the third-oldest active public high school in the United States. After moving through multiple buildings in its early years, ground was broken for the school’s current location in 1926 and construction was completed in 1928. The new school came to be known as ‘Castle on the Hill’.
 

The original construction included a 4-story Gothic stone structure with arched windows, cornices, cloisters, gargoyles, stained glass, mahogany paneling, stone arches, and chandeliers. Many of the original components of the existing building are still intact today, including details inside the building which have been concealed throughout the years. Through the renovation of this historic building, Samaha's work will preserve and restore the building to much of its original condition while modernizing the interior to conform to current educational specifications. 
 

Samaha completed a full preservation and programmatic design for this school through construction with a Construction Manager at Risk. The work includes restoration of historic elements of the historic school and incorporation of 21st century learning environments. Working with stone facades, limestone tracery, existing plaster, masonry clay tile walls, hardwood and terrazzo floor systems required an extreme amount of detailing. Incorporating ADA accessibility and approximately 15 unique floor level in the existing school led to a challenging but also exciting design process.  
Samaha led the project team through a series of community input meetings which culminated in design workshops for students and community members to influence the interior design of the project.