Grace & St. Peter's

The Church Building

Built for Grace Church and opened in 1852, this was the first brownstone building in Baltimore as well as the first church built of stone in the city. Plans were made by J. Crawford Neilson.

The stained glass windows were imported from England (Hardman of London and Birmingham) and Germany (Mayer of Munich) and are fine examples of nineteenth-century design.

Floor tiles were also imported from England.

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The Font

As you enter, you will see the white marble font, the bowl held by an angel, designed by the Danish sculptor, Albert Bertal Thorwaldsen.

This design is seen in only four places: Copenhagen, Inverness, New York (Saint Bartholomew's), and here.

The Chancel

The stone high altar, designed by Henry M. Congdon, was built in 1898. Central to the reredos is a stone copy of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper." On the front of the altar other stone carivngs show sacrifices made in the Old Testament by Noah, Melchisedek, and Abraham. An inscription tells, in the words of the Catechism, why the Christian Church celebrates the Eucharist: "For the Continual Remembrance of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ and of the benefits which we receive thereby."

Other figures carved in the reredos depict John the Baptist and Luke the Evangelist, and the figures in the stained-glass windows of the sanctuary represent the prophets (Moses, David, Isaiah), apostles (Peter, John, Paul), and martyrs (Stephen, James, Polycarp).

St. Peter's merged with Grace Church in 1912. (St. Peter's was an older congregation, incorporated in 1802, with a newer building still standing on Druid Hill Avenue.)

The Lady Chapel

Several alterations have been made in this building to beautify and improve its facilities for worship. To the right of the chancel has been added the Lady Chapel,dedicated to the honor of Our Lady, St. Mary. Gabriel's annunciation to Mary is seen in figures at the top of the reredos which is a triptych framing a copy of a painting by Fra Filippo Lippi of the Blessed Mother adoring her Child. Altogether, this Chapel, with its oak carvings delicately touced with color, is one of the loveliest in the country. At this altar the Blessed Sacrament is reserved for the communion of the absent and adoration of the faithful.

The Sacristy

Also added to the original building, to the left of the chancel, is a commodious sacristy, given by Henry and Mary Jacobs - in whose memory, on that side of the chancel arch, stands a sixteenth-century statue from the Rhineland called Our Lady of Grace.

Over the sacristy door is a bas relief of St. Cecilia.

Votive candles may be lighted here and at the statue of our patron, the apostle Peter, as well as at the statue of St. Charles Stuart, King and Martyr.

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Stations of the Cross and Resurrection Chapel

Stations of the Cross carved and polychromed by Robert Robbins of New York hang along the walls of the nave, and at the back of the nave is the Chapel of the Resurrection. It contains a confessional for the Reconciliation of the Penitent. This chapel also houses a Columbarium.