Preservation Maryland recently announced our 2023 Best of Maryland award winners, recognizing the organizations and individuals who are doing the essential work of protecting the places that make Maryland such a special place to live, work, explore, and celebrate. This year’s Stewardship Award winner is Lewis Contractors for work on the construction of the Nature Education Center at Cylburn Arboretum in Baltimore City.
The construction of the Nature Education Center at Cylburn Arboretum involved the renovation/restoration of the dilapidated former Carriage House for the Cylburn Mansion as well as construction of a new addition to the structure to create exhibit and education space. Like the mansion itself, the late 19th-century carriage house was designed by George A Frederick, the famed architect for Baltimore’s City Hall and many other public buildings, using stone quarried from the Tyson family quarry at Bare Hills. Damaged by fire and falling trees, in 1912 the carriage house was re-constructed as a garage to house the family vehicles. Once the 200+ acre Cylburn property and mansion was acquired by Baltimore City as its largest public park and only certified arboretum, the carriage house was used as an adjunct structure for the nearby greenhouses yet was never fully restored.
Through the efforts of the Cylburn Arboretum Friends (CAF), who had partnered with the City since 1954 to oversee the care of the park, in 2019 CAF signed a lease with the City to restore the carriage house. Painstakingly restored, the carriage house space has been expanded by its complimentary addition which now documents not only the many trees and gardens within the arboretum but serves as education space to students at City Schools and other visitors to the park.
Beloved by City residents and many others throughout Maryland, the new Nature Education Center will serve both the CAF Horticultural Program with its garden workroom, model yard and storage shed, expand the offices of CAF and provide educational services to the many visitors to the arboretum.
The Stewardship Award recognizes individuals or organizations to recognize exemplary stewardship of Maryland’s historic buildings, collections, landscapes, and archaeological sites.