BALTIMORE (July 17, 2025) – At a closing held on July 10 in Baltimore City, UNITE Mount Vernon, Inc. became the new owner of the 153-year-old Mount Vernon United Methodist Church.
The Church, built in 1872 and designed by Thomas Dixon in the Norman Gothic-style of Notre Dame of Paris, stands on the corner of Washington Place and East Mount Vernon Place. Steps away from America’s first monument to George Washington, it is one of Baltimore’s most architecturally significant buildings.
UNITE Mount Vernon Inc. acquired the church with a forward-facing vision for community activation and public benefit. UNITE Mount Vernon Inc. is a recently formed non-stock corporation which has applied for IRS 501(c)3 non-profit status.
Jack Danna, Chair of the Board of UNITE Mount Vernon Inc., celebrated the closing:
“This is a major step towards reactivating this anchor of the Mount Vernon neighborhood. We look forward to working with the community, residents, foundations, businesses, and public partners to chart the next chapter in this architectural wonder’s story.”
Mr. Danna, also a resident of Mount Vernon, serves as President of the Mount Vernon-Belvedere Association. Danna was instrumental in fostering the collaboration that created UNITE Mount Vernon Inc. and developed its mission to ensure the long-term stewardship of the church.
A significant public scoping and engagement process lies ahead. Initial concepts envision a multifunctional site under nonprofit ownership, with an emphasis on public event space and commercial uses. Mission-aligned revenue generation will appropriately balance historic preservation and adaptive reuse.
“Preserving this incredible structure along with direct and tangible community benefits will be our guiding lights in this effort,” explained Ann Powell, UNITE Mount Vernon, Inc. Board member and Mount Vernon neighborhood resident.
In addition to new uses, a restored and activated Mount Vernon United Methodist Church will support the mission of the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy. The Conservancy has raised and invested over $20 million in private, non-profit, and public funding in the restoration of the Washington Monument and in maintenance of the surrounding parks since its founding in 2008. It will soon begin restoration of the North and South Squares.
“Saving the Mount Vernon United Methodist Church goes hand-in-hand with the restoration Mount Vernon Place,”said Henry Hopkins, chair of the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy and UNITE Mount Vernon Board member. “When transformed, these squares will become a jewel for Mount Vernon and Baltimore City. Equally important, Mount Vernon Place will become one of the nation’s premier urban small parks.
Furthermore, this action by UNITE affirms the importance of ensuring Mount Vernon Place and Mount Vernon United Methodist Church remain the cultural epicenter of Baltimore
andfor generations to come, along with the Peabody Institute of Music and the Walters Art Museum, also prominently located along Mount Vernon Place.”
These investments add new impetus to the 40-year-commitment to a preservation-based approach that strengthens the broader Mount Vernon community as well as the historic Charles Street corridor. Since the 1960s, Mount Vernon has worked unceasingly to protect and rehabilitate its historic structures as a means to generate economic growth and revitalization.
UNITE Mount Vernon Inc. has agreed to provide space for the existing Methodist congregation to continue worshipping on-site. While maintaining a living link to the original purpose of the Church, the new owners will provide ample space for expanded secular use.
The neighboring Asbury House was acquired with private funds in a separate transaction by local preservationist Elizabeth Bonner. Bonner’s personal commitment to the preservation and reuse of Asbury House will allow future fundraising efforts to focus exclusively on the imposing Norman-Gothic style church. Asbury, used as church offices and a rectory and once legally part of the church property, was subdivided by a prior developer with support from the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Acquisition of the church was aided through pro bono legal services provided by the Baltimore-based firm of Venable LLC. Preservation Maryland, the statewide historic preservation nonprofit organization, provided essential fiscal sponsorship.
Although UNITE Mount Vernon, Inc. is now the legal owner of the property, the organization is still awaiting its final IRS determination of their non-profit status. Preservation Maryland‘s fiscal sponsorship allows donors, including those who funded the acquisition, to immediately support the project through charitable donation.
“Calling a piece of architecture iconic is not something we do lightly – but that’s exactly what you should call the Mount Vernon United Methodist Church. When the need arose for a fiscal sponsor, we knew we had to step up, given our mission and long-term commitment to the City of Baltimore,” explained Preservation Maryland President and CEO Nicholas Redding.
Until UNITE Mount Vernon Inc. receives its IRS 501(c)3 status, charitable contributions can be made securely through Preservation Maryland on its website via this link or via check (checks should made out to Preservation Maryland, and in the note line be For: Mount Vernon Campaign). UNITE Mount Vernon Inc.’s initial goal is to secure $50,000 before October 1. Donations will defray the start-up expenses of this visionary project.
Additional thanks to State Senator Bill Ferguson for providing the first $250,000 to underwrite the restoration effort, the Goldseker Foundation for providing $50,000 in critical start-up funds, the MVBA for securing $10,000 for the community engagement and development plan component, and Venable LLP for pro bono legal services. A website for Unite Mount Vernon, Inc. is under development. Until that launches, Preservation Maryland will host information on its website.
About the Historic Mount Vernon United Methodist Church
Recorded in the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, “The Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church is the fourth home of a group from a congregation which officially organized the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States. It has always been deeply involved in the business, professional and civic life of Baltimore as well as a link with the most important figure in historic American Methodism, Francis Asbury. Its preservation as a contemporary influence is vital to the heart of Baltimore where it stands as one of the four corners of Mount Vernon Place.”
The church’s National Register nomination also notes that the church was, “Designed in the Norman-Gothic style by Thomas Dixon, a Baltimore architect. Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church was completed in 1872 and stands on the northeast corner of Charles Street in Mt. Vernon Place, Baltimore, Maryland. Blocks of a unique metabasalt, a green-toned Maryland fieldstone, were used for the solid wall surfaces; “true stone” rather than veneer. Windows, entrances, building edges and corners are done in brownstone, as is most of the ornamentation.”
The Maryland Historical Trust, a state agency, holds a conservation easement on the structure, which protects the property’s exterior