Annapolis History Center
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Located at the busy corner of Main Street and Greene Streets in the heart of the Annapolis Harbor in Annapolis , Maryland . This four story 18th Century building had served as many uses and functions including residential, hardware store, meeting hall, tavern and even in recent days a bar called “The Sign of the Whale”
The Historic Annapolis Foundation purchased the building in 1985 with the vision of some day creating a museum and central information center regarding the history of Annapolis and its place in the history of Maryland and the United States of America.
After many years of fund raising and debate over function and services to be provided . The HAF also purchased the adjacent building on Greene street to allow modern services to be created so that the original building on Main street could remain in tact.
The project called for the renovation and restoration of the four stories of the existing 200 year old building. This included: interior demolition, the replacement of the lower level floor with as new concrete floor and under floor drain tile system, refinishing of the existing wood floors and stairs, new walls doors and restoration or certain masonry walls and the reconstruction of the roof and chimneys. All work was done with third party historical review and monitoring of materials and methods to attempt to recreate a finished product similar to the original character.
The Greene Street building called for the complete demolition of the entire building except the façade in a manor that was structurally safe in order to create the modern public service arm of the facility including a four story elevator and emergency stair tower, new museum shop with ADA accessible ramps and entries, new handicap accessible toilet rooms on the second floor, a area for all new HVAC equipment to provide heat and air-conditioning to the facility and a mini kitchen to serve for catered events.