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32-531: In 2004, BACVA launched a totally redesigned website. A major event for BACVA in 2004 occurred in May when it officially opened a totally new Baltimore Visitor Center. This was radically different from the old visitor center, which was inside an antiquated modified construction trailer. The new 8,000-square-foot (740 m) Baltimore Visitor Center is located next to the Light Street Pavilion of Harborplace and has

64-581: A "divergence of convictions" with many partners not seeing the value to TAC of the Design Research line of work Thompson had initiated. In 1953, he founded Design Research in Cambridge, a company that provided interior furnishings and accessories. His iconic five-story, all-glass showcase retail store for Design Research was opened in Harvard Square , Cambridge, Massachusetts , in 1968. Design Research

96-557: A failure and the city is still losing convention business and struggling to find more business. Visit Baltimore is now supporting an estimated $ 900 million proposal floated by the Greater Baltimore Committee and local businessman and the current owner of the Sheraton Inner Harbor hotel in early 2011 that would build a brand-new 18,500-seat arena to replace the 1st Mariner Arena , a brand-new 500-room hotel to replace

128-453: A proposal to tear down the existing pavilions and replace them with a 32-story and a 25-story apartment building, two commercial and retail buildings, and another retail building with an amphitheater. To proceed, the project would require a charter amendment to allow residential development, rezoning changes, and an amendment to the city's urban renewal plan governing the Inner Harbor , which

160-573: A unique design. It cost $ 4.5 million to construct. In its first year of operation (May 7, 2004 – May 7, 2005), the center attracted nearly 390,000 visitors, which exceeded BACVA's original estimate of 250,000. Visitors to the center in its first year of operation booked 422 hotel rooms, worth $ 48,296, and bought 14,942 tickets worth about $ 223,286. Inside the Baltimore Visitor Center are racks of brochures with information ranging from Baltimore's neighborhoods to major attractions, including

192-524: The Baltimore Business Journal reported that as of May 30, 2019, Harborplace was placed into court-ordered receivership and that Ashkenazy Acquisitions lost both management and ownership of Harborplace as a result. Deutsche Bank cited Ashkenazy's default on its loan, a $ 1.13 million judgment against them for "failing to maintain in good order and repair" the common areas, and that "multiple vendors" had been unpaid for months. The BBJ reported that

224-639: The Baltimore Convention Center . In 2006, BACVA succeeded in its joint effort with the BDC to have a Hilton Hotel built directly adjacent to the Baltimore Convention Center. The hotel officially opened in August 2008 with a direct connection to the Baltimore Convention Center via elevated skybridge crossing Howard Street. In 2009, BACVA made a decision at its annual meeting to change its name from

256-677: The Faneuil Hall Marketplace (1976) in Boston, Massachusetts which incorporated the historic Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market buildings. In this and other similar projects his firm worked in collaboration with the firm of developer James W. Rouse . In this work, he also worked closely with Jane Fiske Thompson , who later became his second wife and frequent collaborator. The Marketplace epitomized Thompson's perspective that vital cities required people to interact with art directly, and that good food, lively design, and commerce can all be part of

288-549: The Harvard Graduate School of Design , and served as Chair of the Architecture Department 1964–1968. His 1966 essay, “Visual Squalor and Social Disorder”, argued for an urban architecture that would encourage, rather than discourage, joy and social life. To this end, in 1967 he proposed reviving Boston's obsolescent, historic wholesale food markets with food stalls, cafes, restaurants, and pushcarts appealing to

320-757: The Maryland Science Center , the National Aquarium in Baltimore , Power Plant Live! , and Camden Yards Sports Complex . There is also a 50-seat theater that shows an 11-minute film on Baltimore and Maryland . In 2005, BACVA made a joint effort with the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) to pitch a controversial $ 305 million, 752-room Hilton Hotel to the Baltimore City Council in an attempt to bring in more conventions to

352-885: The Academic Quadrangle (1961), the Social Science Center (1961, three buildings), and the East Quadrangle (1964). On the occasion of the university's 50th anniversary in 1999, it was observed that "[no other architect] has contributed more to the overall campus image than Benjamin Thompson". Thompson relied on a consistent vocabulary at Brandeis: low horizontal structures with heavy, flat overhanging roofs; structural concrete frames with non-bearing exterior walls; few visual tricks or trendiness; and an "almost Japanese attitude toward composition and siting". Thompson's buildings for Brandeis include: Other projects for which Thompson

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384-595: The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association to Visit Baltimore to make it easier for the public to recognize Baltimore's tourism agency and that it followed an industry standard at the time of having tourism agencies have a name that reflect their mission. The 2005–2008 efforts to bring in more conventions by having the Hilton Baltimore built at a cost of $ 305 million – the most expensive public works project in city history – were basically

416-637: The Baltimore Circuit Court had appointed IVL Group, LLC of Montclair, NJ to manage, maintain, lease, provide security for Harborplace, the receivership order also authorizes IVL Group to seek a new buyer. In April 2022, the Baltimore development firm MCB Real Estate entered into an agreement to purchase Harborplace. The deal was finalized by the Baltimore City Circuit Court in December 2022. On October 30, 2023, MCB Real Estate announced

448-466: The Light Street Pavilion on June 26, 2012, and closed in May 2020. General Growth Properties (GGP) acquired Harborplace from the Rouse Company in 2004 as part its $ 12.6 billion acquisition of the company. In November 2012, the property was sold to Ashkenazy Acquisitions for $ 100 million. Renovations were announced in 2015 and ended in 2018, three years later than expected. On June 3, 2019,

480-460: The Old Post Office, and Richmond's Sixth Street Marketplace. On the weekend of July 1, 2005, Harborplace celebrated its 25th anniversary with a ceremony featuring Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich , Baltimore Mayor Martin J. O'Malley , and Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association (BACVA) president Leslie R. Doggett. A Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium museum opened in

512-653: The Pratt Street pavilion." Harborplace opened on July 2, 1980, as a centerpiece of the revival of downtown Baltimore. The Baltimore "festival marketplaces" became an "architectural prototype, despite opening several years after Quincy Market," attracting both local residents and out-of-town visitors, and spawning a series of other similar projects: Waterside in Norfolk, Portside in Toledo, and even non-waterfront projects like Philadelphia's Gallery at Market East, Washington's Pavilion at

544-470: The Sheraton and demolish and rebuild the east half of the Baltimore Convention Center as an expansion of the newer, 1996 half. The hotel and arena would be funded by private-sector money while the convention center expansion would be funded by public money; it is unknown what the breakdown of costs will be as that will be determined by a second study to be conducted soon that will continue to see if construction of

576-586: The end of the war, Thompson's ship docked in Boston, and he was introduced to Walter Gropius , founder of the Bauhaus School and then head of the Harvard Graduate School of Design . Thompson began his architectural career in 1946 as one of seven founders of The Architects Collaborative (TAC) which also included Norman C. Fletcher , Jean B. Fletcher , John C. Harkness , Sarah P. Harkness , Robert S. McMillan and Louis A. McMillen . The young architects persuaded

608-515: The entire project is feasible and exactly how much the project would cost the city and state potentially and what the next steps will be. 39°17′2″N 76°36′44″W  /  39.28389°N 76.61222°W  / 39.28389; -76.61222 Harborplace Harborplace is a shopping and dining complex on the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland . The property consists of two pavilions, each two stories in height; one along Pratt Street,

640-446: The experience. This project was an early example of the now widely employed "adaptive reuse" of historic buildings that have outlived their original purposes. Thompson & Rouse were likely inspired by an earlier Boston project featuring reuse of a historic building by Carl Koch . In 1973, Koch, functioning as both architect and developer, had transformed the beautiful but obsolete Lewis Wharf warehouses into luxury condominiums. In

672-775: The fall of 1938 he entered the Yale School of Architecture , where he earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1941. He served for four years in the United States Navy during World War II as a Lieutenant aboard a Destroyer Escort in the North Atlantic and Pacific theaters. He completed his service in the Office of Strategic Services , and provided design services at the United Nations founding conference in San Francisco. Near

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704-648: The following decade, Thompson and Rouse worked together on other festival marketplaces including Harborplace (Baltimore, 1980), South Street Seaport (New York, 1985), Bayside Marketplace (Miami, 1987), and Jacksonville Landing ( Jacksonville , 1987). Thompson's interest in modernism was balanced by appreciation of older architecture. In the late 1950s, he renovated Harvard Yard 's historic dormitories by updating their interior arrangements without visible exterior effect. Shortly thereafter he persuaded Harvard to remodel Boylston Hall (built 1857) rather than demolish it. During those years, Thompson taught architecture at

736-512: The former Light Street site of the Baltimore Steam Packet Company 's steamship terminal and docks. Because the land was owned by the city and was in an area designated as a park in the city charter, a citywide referendum was required to proceed with the project, championed by then Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer . The amendment "limited the size of any project there to the top of the U.S.S. Constellation docked in front of

768-861: The general public. Thompson received honorary doctorates from Colby College , the University of Massachusetts Amherst , and Minneapolis College of Art and Design . In 1987, BTA received the AIA Firm Award and in 1992, Thompson received the highest honor in American architecture, the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects . Benjamin Thompson was first married to Mary Okes Thompson from 1942 to 1967. The Thompsons lived on Six Moon Hill , an innovative residential development in Lexington, Massachusetts that

800-430: The other on Light Street. The pavilions house a range of stores and restaurants, some of which once sold merchandise specific to Baltimore or the state of Maryland , such as blue crab food products, Baltimore Orioles and Baltimore Ravens merchandise, Edgar Allan Poe products, and University of Maryland Terrapins clothing. Harborplace was designed by Benjamin C. Thompson and was built by The Rouse Company near

832-538: The term "partner in charge" to identify the people with primary responsibility for a particular project. Thompson's first project for an educational institution was a set of new buildings for the historic Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts (begun in 1959). Thompson was partner in charge for three major building groups for Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts during an 11-year period beginning 1961. These were

864-627: The well-known Bauhaus founder, Walter Gropius , to join the firm and provide them with guidance. Their first project was an innovative, modernist development in Lexington, Massachusetts which they named Six Moon Hill . All of the TAC founders settled there in houses they collaboratively designed, with the exception of Gropius who had already built his home, Gropius House in Lincoln, Massachusetts . TAC's philosophy led them to emphasize collaboration as opposed celebrating individual "stars." They did however use

896-577: Was approved by Baltimore voters in 2024. This Baltimore location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Benjamin C. Thompson Benjamin C. Thompson (July 3, 1918 – August 17, 2002) was an American architect . He was one of eight architects who founded The Architects Collaborative (TAC) in 1945 in Cambridge, Massachusetts , one of the most notable firms in post-war modernism, and then started his own firm, Benjamin Thompson and Associates (BTA), in 1967. Thompson

928-554: Was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota , to Benjamin C Thompson and Lillian Mudge. He spent early years on his family's farm, and received his early education at St. Paul Academy and at Avon Old Farms School , a progressive school founded by architect Theodate Pope Riddle in Avon, Connecticut . His interest in architecture was nurtured by travels in Europe with his mother, an artist and art collector. In

960-483: Was one of TAC 's earliest projects. She continued to live there until her death in 2004. They had five children. In 1959, they purchased a seven-acre waterfront property in Barnstable where the family spent summers together. Thompson's second marriage was in 1969 to Jane Fiske McCullough , a writer and design critic, who handled his public relations and later became a collaborator on certain of his planning projects. He

992-491: Was primarily responsible while at TAC include Greylock Quadrangle (1964-1965) at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts . In 1966 Thompson left TAC to form his own firm, Benjamin Thompson & Associates (BTA). As described by his son, Anthony Thompson, his strong entrepreneurial spirit and individualism were at cross purposes to TAC's focus on "communal housing and social responsibility." Jane Thompson also noted

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1024-523: Was the first US importer and retailer of the Finnish clothing and textiles of Marimekko . The firm eventually added stores in New York (1964) and San Francisco (1965). In 1969, he designed the company's revolutionary second Cambridge store, notable for its extreme openness and use of glass. In 1970, Thompson lost financial control and ownership of Design Research. Thompson is probably best known for his creation of

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