Like most people in the fetish community, I was shocked and saddened to learn about the demise of 824 North Calvert Street, the former home of the Baltimore Play House. For those not familiar with what happened, the building at 824 North Calvert Street in Baltimore was the site of a major fire in the early morning of January 24 (more photos). As I understand it, the building, already damaged (and never repaired) from the effects of Hurricane Sandy a few months prior, caught fire when the roof cracked under the weight of ice, which led to an electrical fire. That more or less destroyed it, as the entire building went up, and there was a partial collapse of the roof. There were no firefighter or civilian injuries related to the fire. My understanding is that the Play House staff had vacated the building about two weeks prior, but it was later revealed that all of the contents of the Play House had not yet been removed, and were lost in the fire. The loss of the building was one thing, but the loss of the contents of the building really made me sad. After all, when a person moves their residence, putting all of one’s stuff into the new place makes the new place start to feel like “home”. And the Play House had a lot of neat stuff in it that was different from that at The Crucible in DC and DCDungeon (now DC Speakeasy) in Rockville.
I had planned a trip up to Baltimore for April 5, where I was going to do some vanilla photography. I am something of an accomplished photographer in my spare time, and was out shooting photos in a few neighborhoods in Baltimore. So while I was already up in Baltimore, I made a stop over by the old Play House. Since this was a vanilla trip, my official purpose of photographing the building was to document urban decay as exemplified by a burned out structure, or, as an employee at Iggie’s Pizza (the restaurant next door to the old Play House) described it, “ruin porn”.
To clear up one misconception, which I believe that the Play House operators may have inadvertently caused people to believe: the Play House did not burn completely to the ground. The building’s outer brick walls still stand, and they appear to be more or less undamaged from what I could tell. The interior and the roof, on the other hand, are quite literally toast. The roof did at least partially collapse, and the interior, from what I could tell from outside, is more or less cooked, though many parts are still recognizable. Some of the former Play House’s equipment was also visible through the windows. The parking garage that is attached to the building appeared to be undamaged. A door to the garage from the street was open, but I did not venture inside. That would be trespassing, plus that garage was already pretty sketchy looking when it was attached to a working Play House. I didn’t dare risk going in to discover what might be inside now that the garage is attached to a burned out and unoccupied Play House.
And here are the photos that I shot at the Play House. First, some overview shots of the exterior:
East facade, facing north Calvert Street. The first floor windows, which contained the smoking lounge and the offices for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, are boarded up. The windows for the dungeon spaces are broken out.
View from the northeast, across both Calvert and Read Streets from the Play House.
East facade, looking up from the sidewalk immediately in front of the building.
North facade facing Read Street, containing the bay window and the entrance to the parking garage.
View from the northwest, showing the west (rear) side of the building. Those who had been to the Play House may recall that the third floor was split, with a lower area in back, and the main dungeon area on that floor being higher up to accommodate the higher ceiling on the second floor.
Next, more detailed views of the exterior:
The “Central Parking System” sign on the east facade appeared undamaged following the fire. From what I can tell, the parking garage is still in operation.
An air conditioning unit on the east facade appeared gutted, and leaned back into the building. Of all of the things on the building, this made me the most nervous, as this seemed like it presented an imminent danger of falling onto those on the street below.
Middle window on the second floor, broken out like all of the other windows.
Charred frame and broken glass around the left window on the first floor, next to the main entrance.
The porch light over the main entrance on Calvert Street. It appears mostly intact following the fire, though it is probably irreparably damaged.
“Emergency Condemnation and Demolition Notice” at the entrance to the old Play House, declaring the structure unsafe. From this vantage point, I could also get a whiff of what the building smelled like. When I visited the Play House in May 2012, it had that “older building charm” scent about it. That scent has now been replaced with the awful scent of burned timber and rain. It was quite pungent, with the burnt timber’s scent combined with rainwater, creating a very pungent and unpleasant smell. I was surprised at how strong the scent was, as more than two months had passed since the fire at the time that I took these photos.
The bay window, viewed from beneath on Read Street. The bay window was probably in the roughest shape as far as the exterior went, due to its being made of wood rather than brick.
Bay window as viewed from across Read Street, showing the collapsed roof. From what I could tell, lacking access to view the structure from above, the roof collapsed over the middle part of the higher portion of the third floor, starting at the bay window.
I also took a look inside the building using my zoom lens as much as I could. I had no access to ladders, lift equipment, or surrounding buildings, so this is just what I could observe from the sidewalks around the building.
Sagging roof section on the third floor, west of the exterior fire escape stair.
View through the far left window on the back of the building, showing the lower part of the third floor.
Light fixture hanging by a wiring conduit, viewed through the middle window on the second floor, on the back side.
From my visit to the Play House, I recall that this was a small kitchenette in what was otherwise a social room right off of the parking garage. It was still recognizable as such, though badly burned.
This was the biggest piece of BDSM equipment that I could see from the street. During the open play night that I attended here in May 2012, my bound wrists were attached to this device, and cranked up over my head via these pulleys. This piece of equipment seems to have survived the fire intact, save for some rust. If it were able to be removed from the old Play House and erected somewhere else, I would be interested to test it to see if it retained its strength, or if it was weakened by the fire. I hate to see this very cool piece of heavy-duty equipment go to waste if it’s possibly salvageable, but I doubt that it will ever be recovered.
Additionally, in preparing for this post, I did some research on the property at 824 North Calvert Street. According to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, the building was built in 1900. While the facility had been a BDSM dungeon since 1997, in 1961, it housed offices for the the Maryland State Veterinary Medical Association, according to Volume 3 of Maryland Veterinarian. Additionally, the site (if not the present structure) was the home of Dr. John F. Monmonier at the time of his death in 1894, according to Find a Grave.
Looking forward, I guess we’ll all find out what happens to the old Play House venue together. Will it be rebuilt for another use? Perhaps. Will it be demolished? Perhaps. The Great Lakes Den article quotes the Play House’s operators, through their FetLife group, as saying that the building’s owners had not maintained the building as they should, and when I came by more than two months after the fire, the building had been partially boarded up, but otherwise looked no different than the photos taken shortly after the fire. My guess is that the old building stays in that burned out state and remains a blight on the neighborhood for some time to come unless the owner’s hand is forced.
I only went to the Play House once, in May 2012. However, I remember that one visit to the Play House quite fondly. Now that the Play House at 824 North Calvert Street is gone, I know that the wonderful experience that I had there can never be repeated. I can be stripped naked, tied up, blindfolded, gagged, tickled, flogged, and waxed again in the future. But never again while surrounded by the old Play House’s vintage charm. A future new Play House will be a different experience.
And lastly, I give my best to the Play House’s operators, wishing them the best of luck as they work to create a new Play House at a new location. I’ve read on FetLife where they have high hopes for a new dungeon, and I hope it comes to fruition.