The Restoration That Didn't Happen

Despite several restoration campaigns to get the Old Senate Chamber back to its original eighteenth-century appearance, the room remains a reflection of its several centuries of history. With the excitement of the room’s earliest days, it is sometimes hard to remember that fascinating stories happened after Washington’s resignation. From the 1876-1878 desecration, to remaining evidence of some of the earliest restoration efforts in 1904-1906, the room continues to hold scars and additions from its entire life.

Most people know that the most recent major restoration of the room occurred in 1940 under architect, Laurence Hall Fowler. However, few people realize that a decade beforehand, efforts were already being made to begin restoring the room. Though the economic depression made funding the restoration unfeasible, the efforts in part resulted in the 1940 restoration, which provided some of our most valuable resources on Old Senate Chamber furnishings to this day.

Sketched floor plan for the Old Senate Chamber, 1930-1940. Image courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Old Senate Chamber Refurbishment Collection, MS 574, copied from the Johns Hopkins Archives.

Brief Architectural History of the Old Senate Chamber

The jewel of the Maryland State House is the Old Senate Chamber, where the Continental Congress met while Annapolis was the capital of the United States from November 1783- August 1784. It was here that General George Washington, on December 23, 1783, came before Congress to resign his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in an emotional ceremony.  He left immediately after the ceremony to return to Mount Vernon and private life as a farmer. A bronze plaque on the floor marks the exact spot where he stood while delivering his farewell speech. Less than a month later, on January 14, 1784, the Treaty of Paris was ratified in this same room, officially ending the Revolutionary war.

18th Century

Maryland's Old Senate Chamber is not only regarded as one of the most historic and hallowed rooms in our nation's history. Designed by Annapolis architect, Joseph Horatio Anderson,  it was also considered to be one of the most architecturally elegant and refined  public spaces in Colonial America. Featuring a gallery, described as "more elegant than required," balanced on the opposite wall by an ornately carved niche, the Old Senate Chamber was the embodiment of Annapolis-style design and craftsmanship.