Maryland Casualty Company Building

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Maryland Casualty Company Building
Pietsch Baltimore Casualty Company.jpg
Site Information
Address711 W 40th St
Geo-reference39°20′12″N 76°37′49″W / 39.33664°N 76.6303°W / 39.33664; -76.6303
Building Data
Building TypeCommercial
Design
ArchitectOtto G. Simonson
Construction
Completed1921

Designed by architect Otto G. Simonson and built in 1921, The Maryland Casualty Company Building marked a shift in corporate culture in Baltimore. This Neo-Georgian building was one of the first of its kind. Office buildings for companies in finance were usually located in dense downtown districts. The Maryland Casualty Company changed this long-held precedent. After outgrowing its Tower Building at 222 E. Baltimore Street, they moved to the more residential Hampden neighborhood, which set the standard for suburban corporate campuses and helped rein in a new era of pastoral capitalism. The Maryland Casualty Company had purchased the 25-acre Dulin Estate in 1919. By 1921, they established their extensive campus with a number of amenities: a clubhouse with a dining room, an auditorium to seat 1,500 guests, a landscaped park, tennis courts, and a baseball diamond. The idea was to provide employees with an idyllic workplace that was removed from the pandemonium of downtown. What’s now known as the Rotunda, with its 65-foot bell tower and clock, has been a landmark of the Hampden community for over a century.