One Charles Center

{{Short description|Building by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = One Charles Center

| nrhp_type =

| image = One Charles Center Baltimore.JPG

| caption =

| location = 100 N. Charles St., Baltimore, Maryland

| coordinates = {{coord|39|17|27|N|76|36|56|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = United States Baltimore#Maryland#USA

| built = {{Start date|1962}}

| architect = Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

| architecture = International Style

| added = July 13, 2000

| area = less than one acre

| refnum = 00000745{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

}}

One Charles Center is a historic office building located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is a 23-story aluminium and glass International Style skyscraper designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and constructed in 1962. It was the first modernistic office tower in Baltimore and part of the city's downtown urban renewal movement. The base consists of a concrete-faced podium topped by a paved plaza, with the T-shaped office tower atop.{{cite web|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/NR_PDFs/NR-1241.pdf |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: One Charles Center|date=May 2000|access-date=2016-03-01 |author=Betty Bird|publisher=Maryland Historical Trust}} The tower includes metal trim and gray glass.{{cite book|last=Dorsey|first=John|author2=Dilts, James D.|title=A Guide to Baltimore Architecture|publisher=Tidewater Publishes|location=Centreville, Maryland|date=1981|edition=Second|pages=[https://archive.org/details/guidetobaltimore00dors/page/95 95]|isbn=0-87033-272-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/guidetobaltimore00dors/page/95}}

The tower was previously the subject of a design competition. It was completed in 13 months at a cost of $10,350,000. One Charles Center was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. It is located next to the Fidelity Building, which was completed in the 1890s.{{Cite news|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1999/05/27/angelos-may-purchase-1890s-fidelity-building-15-story-structure-could-be-converted-into-apartments-commercial-real-estate/|title=Angelos may purchase 1890s Fidelity Building|work=tribunedigital-baltimoresun|access-date=2018-06-20|language=en}}

In 1983, the Charles Center stop of the Baltimore Metro Subway opened one block south of the Charles Center complex at the intersection of Baltimore Street and Charles Street. This stop serves as a transportation hub that connects the Metro (extending west to the northwest suburbs of the city and east to Johns Hopkins Hospital) to local bus routes and the Charm City Circulator.{{Cite web|url=https://mta.maryland.gov/transitblog/look-back-art-metro-subway-occasion-its-32nd-birthday-3|title=A look back at the art of the Metro Subway on the occasion of its 32nd birthday {{!}} Maryland Transit Administration|website=mta.maryland.gov|language=en|access-date=2018-06-20}}{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}

An anchor tenant, CSX Corporation, sold and vacated the property in the mid-1990s, leaving the tenancy rate low. This prompted an auction for new ownership in which Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, its mortgage holder, bought One Charles Center in 1993 for $11.5 million.{{cite web|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-08-18-1993230054-story.html|title=SOLD! FOR $11.5 MILLION One Charles Center is purchased by its mortgage holder|first=Ellen James|last=Martin|website=baltimoresun.com|access-date=21 May 2019}} Three years later in 1996, the building was purchased for $6 million by Peter Angelos, a lawyer native to Baltimore and the majority owner of the Baltimore Orioles major league baseball team. After renovations, new tenants moved into the building, including the law offices of Peter Angelos as well as the firm Wright Constable & Skeen.{{cite web|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1998-12-11-1998345007-story.html|title=Angelos unveils renovation plan for building One Charles Center would get $12 million in improvements; 'Original luster' sought|first=Kevin L.|last=McQuaid|website=baltimoresun.com|access-date=21 May 2019}}

Former tenants of One Charles Center include T. Rowe Price, an investment counsel firm and the Center Club of Baltimore.{{cite web|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1996-11-13-1996318052-story.html|title=Angelos bids $6 million for One Charles Center He plans to spend $4 million on improvements|first=Kevin L.|last=McQuaid|website=baltimoresun.com|access-date=21 May 2019}}