The Old Treasury Building was constructed in 1735 and is the oldest public building in the State of Maryland. In 2019, MCWB Architects prepared a Historic Structures Report which included a use analysis and restoration plan for the building. MCWB performed probing procedures to reveal hidden conditions and fully documented the building’s fabric and structure through the use of our in-house scanning and droning technologies to produce scalable orthographic imagery. The report revealed that much of the first period of construction is intact and a building restoration project commenced through the production of a complete Revit model that included options for design interventions to provide wheelchair access to the site.

The exterior work of the building included the restoration to its 1773 appearance, following the addition of a porch. The work was made more complex because it was previously restored three times, in 1913, 1951, and 2008. Our work included removing later window sash and frames, restoring the original windows with their shutters, and restoring a missing early door. It also involved a complete repointing of exterior masonry and repair of several areas of modern brickwork. Because of the age of the building and because of the previous restorations, the evidence for its historic appearance was fragmentary and elusive, requiring careful inspection and microscopic paint analysis to determine the configuration of original windows with their unusual security hardware.

MCWB also directed the installation and upgrade of electrical and mechanical systems and the provision of wheelchair access. As with any modern preservation project, we found creative ways to incorporate these to minimize their visibility and without damaging historic fabric.