The Hammond-Harwood House: A Registered National Historic Landmark

A REGISTERED NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK
MARYLAND AVENUE AT KING GEORGE STREET ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND
The Hammond-Harwood House was built in 1774 by Matthias Hammond, a Maryland patriot deeply involved in the public affairs of his day. A man of wealth, education and spirit, he wished his house to occupy a proud place among the distinguished buildings already lending character and urbanity to the colonial city of Annapolis. William Eddis, Crown Surveyor of the Customs, said of the city in 1769,—“there are few towns of the same size, in any part of the British dominions, that can boast a more polished society.”
At the age of 25, Matthias Hammond was elected to the Provincial Assembly. He was a member of the General Convention of 1774 and a member of the Committee of Correspondence. He signed the Proclamation of Freemen of Maryland, the Declaration of Rights, and was Quartermaster of the Severn Battalion of Anne Arundel Militia.
The legend has persisted through the years that Mr. Hammond built the beautiful house for his intended bride. The delicacy and abundance of the carved ornamentation, the elegance and refinement of detail, seem to bear witness to the story. A bachelor would have been content, perhaps, with the splendid plan, solid construction and fine proportion of his house. Ironically, it was because of his intense preoccupation with the very details designed to please her, that his fiancée became disenchanted and refused to marry him. Whether broken-hearted or embittered, he remained a bachelor to the end of his days, devoting himself to affairs of state.
The talented architect William Buckland was entrusted with the design. His mastery of mass and proportion, as well as the perfect execution of detail had been well demonstrated by his work at Gunston Hall, George Mason’s famed house in Virginia, and other fine houses of the period. The Hammond-Harwood House is eloquent testimony of his ability, and marks the zenith of his career. Built in three sections of handsome salmon-coloured brick typical of Maryland clay, it is considered by all authorities to be one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the United States.