The North Avenue Poly Building

The North Avenue Poly Building. Baltimore City Landmark. , "You didn't go to Poly, you joined it." Such is the proud attitude of many Baltimoreans associated with this school, long considered to have one of the best college preparatory programs in the country. Conceived in 1883, the school opened its doors on March 3, 1884 as a free vocational institute known as Baltimore Manual Training School. A few years later, the curriculum was broadened to include engineering, mathematics and the sciences, and the school was renamed Baltimore Polytechnic Institute., For many years, Poly conducted classes in a building on Courtland Street (now St. Paul Place) between Saratoga and Pleasant. In 1909, the School Board bought the Maryland School for the Blind Building, located on North Avenue and Calvert. The East and West Wings, designed by Baldwin and Pennington, were added in 1912., In 1931, the Center Wing replaced the original Maryland School for the Blind building; the auditorium adjacent to Guilford Avenue and the front terraces were added at the same time. The resulting complex, designed by Charles Anderson, is a good example of urban school design prevalent in the early twentieth century., Although Poly moved to its present location on Falls Road in 1967, much of the character and spirit of Poly, as well as the richness of the school's legacy, were formed and fostered by this building, the adjacent "Duck Pond" on Calvert Street, and the surrounding neighborhood.