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Annapolis City Hall
Annapolis, Maryland 21401 For public information, call 410-263-1183 While 160 Duke of Gloucester Street now houses the Annapolis City Council chambers, the Mayor's office and various city departments, the building has served a variety of purposes since it was built in the mid 1700's. This information is courtesy of the City of Annapolis. It was written in 1992 by Greg Stiverson, then an Assistant State Archivist with the Maryland State Archives. "The Assembly Rooms" In 1766, Maryland's provincial government began construction of two buildings: an office for the Receiver General of the colony and a room for public entertainments, variously called the Assembly Rooms, Ball Room, or Ball House. The new 2-story brick buildings adjoined each other, facing Duke of Gloucester Street in the block above Green Street. The Revenue Office was a small building, but the Assembly Rooms measured a substantial 33 feet wide by 116 feet long. Completion of the large and fashionable Assembly Rooms delighted the social and cultural elite who lived in Annapolis as well as those who visited during sessions of the General Assembly, or enjoyed the horse races held annually in the fall. The only other large public building in Annapolis at the time was the State House. That building, constructed shortly after the first State House burned in 1704, was in dilapidated condition. In fact, not long after the Assembly Rooms was completed, the General Assembly ordered the State House demolished to make way for a new capital building. The decision to raze the old State House heightened the importance of the Assembly Rooms. From the early 1770s, when the old State House was demolished, the Assembly Rooms building was for several years home to several important government offices and the only suitable site for important public celebrations and festivities.
of Social Life The Assembly Rooms quickly assumed a prominent place in the social life of Annapolis. A few months after arriving in Maryland in 1796, the proprietary placeman, William Eddis, described the new Assembly Rooms and the regularly scheduled balls held there during the winter season: "During the winter there are assemblies every fortnight; the room for dancing is large; the construction elegant; and the whole illuminated to great advantage. At each extremity are apartments for the card tables, where select companies enjoy the circulation of the party-colored gentry without having their attention diverted by the sound of fiddles and the evolutions of youthful performers." One Annapolis visitor who enjoyed the festivities at the Assembly Rooms was the Virginian, George Washington. An avid horseman, Washington traveled to Annapolis several times to attend the fall races sponsored by the Annapolis Jockey Club. George Washington visited frequently In September 1771, Washington spent several days in Annapolis attending the races. Balls were scheduled for the Assembly Rooms for the nights of the 24th, 25th and 27th during race week, and Washington attended all three. Washington was a fine dancer, but it appears he favored the small chambers at the ends of the dancing room where gentlemen gathered to drink and play cards. Washington noted in his financial ledger that during this trip he had lost "By cards -- different times" 13. 4s. 3d. It is worth noting that at the time the average annual income for most Maryland families was about the same as the amount Washington lost at cards on his first visits to Annapolis's new Assembly Rooms. He visited Annapolis on numerous occasions over the next few years.
Once independence was declared, the new state government took control of former proprietary properties in town, including the Assembly Rooms and adjacent Revenue Office. During the war, work on the new State House had to be curtailed because of a lack of building supplies and public monies. Without a State House at its disposal, the General Assembly met in the Assembly Rooms, and other state officials undoubtedly occupied other parts of the building and the adjoining Revenue Office. It is worth noting that while Washington's resignation as commander-in-chief and Congress's ratification of the Treaty of Paris occurred in the Senate Chamber of the recently completed State House, most of the critical deliberations that guided Maryland through the war took place in the Assembly Rooms. While the present Municipal Building was never called Maryland's State House, this was, in fact, close to the truth during the war. The governor probably conducted much of his business at the Governor's Mansion, located on what is now U.S. Naval Academy grounds, but the legislature, and at least part of the state judiciary, had their offices in the Assembly Rooms and/or the adjacent Revenue Office.
Once the new State House was completed, the state had not further use for the Assembly Rooms so they were advertised for sale as confiscated British property (Henry Harford, the last proprietor, remained a British citizen and his property was confiscated by the Maryland General assembly). The property came into the possession of John Shaw, the noted Annapolis cabinetmaker, and for many years he rented the Assembly Rooms to Anne Arundel County for use of the county court. In 1816 the Mayor and Aldermen of Annapolis filed suit in the Chancery Court alleging that the City owned the Assembly Rooms building and that Shaw had illegally kept the rent he had received from the county for the building. Shaw sharply disputed the City's claim, but an accommodation was worked out -- the details of which are not recorded in the Chancery Court case -- by which the City gained legal possession of the Assembly Rooms. The Chancery Court case was dismissed at the City's request in 1830. Fire at City Hall During the Civil War, the federal Provost Guard used the Assembly Rooms as headquarters. During the Guard's occupancy, a fire broke out which severely damaged the building. The federal government compensated the city for the fire damage, and that money was used to rebuild the Assembly Rooms. The Assembly Rooms had apparently been rebuilt by 1868, when the city insured the building for $10,000. Over the next quarter century, the Mayor and Aldermen adopted several "standing orders" relating to use of the Assembly Rooms building. In 1869, rental of the Assembly Rooms to charitable organizations was fixed at $5 per day, indicating that the building once again was seen as playing a role in the social life of the town. The same year, the city police were given a room in the building to serve as police headquarters. In 1875, a new price structure was adopted for groups wishing to use the Assembly Rooms for social purposes. A rental of $30 was to be charged when a group wanted to use the building all night, with a $20 rental levied on groups putting on a concert. In 1881, the council ordered that whenever the Council Chamber was rented for a party, the sponsoring organization would be required to pay $2 to the Council messenger, who was responsible for the chamber.
In his 1887 book, "The Ancient City," Elihu S. Riley's description confirms the impression that the building was used both for city business and public pleasure. "One room," Riley writes, "is now used for the meeting of the City Council, other apartments for balls and social gatherings, and one portion for the [police] department headquarters." Thanks to Mr. Tom Roskelly, public information officer for the City of Annapolis for providing this information. Be sure to visit the City's web page for more information. Thanks also to the Maryland State Archives
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By 1774, the growing political tension between the colonies and the Mother Country cast a pall on social activities in Annapolis. The balls at the Assembly Rooms ceased after the extralegal Convention, which by 1775 had effectively taken control of Maryland's government, banned such frivolities as inappropriate during such perilous times.
Banneker-Douglass Museum