The Ivy Bookshop, a popular retailer on Falls Road, is opening a satellite for the holidays in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood.
The Ivy Bookshop at Mt. Vernon is the name of a pop-up holiday bookshop that will open at noon on Dec. 4 – the same day as the 54th annual lighting of the Washington Monument – and continue until Dec. 24.
The location is the vestibule and sanctuary of Mount Vernon Place Church, the 1872 landmark at 2 E. Mount Vernon Place that was acquired this summer by UNITE Mount Vernon Inc., a local non-profit group that is working to preserve it as a key feature of Baltimore’s Mount Vernon historic district.
Using part of the church as a book shop and gathering space is part of UNITE Mount Vernon’s strategy for activating the church while its board develops a long-range plan for the property. It makes Ivy Bookshop the church’s first tenant since it changed hands in July, joining the Methodist congregation that leases the Mount Vernon Room and other spaces behind the main sanctuary for Sunday services.
Other plans by UNITE Mount Vernon to bring people into the church are a holiday concert on Dec. 18 featuring vocalist and composer Clayton Bryant and a tour on April 25, 2026, as part of the Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage. The building was available for tours during Doors Open Baltimore weekend in October and was one of the most popular stops, drawing more than 600 visitors.
“UNITE’s mission is to preserve, restore and explore new purposes for this remarkable building – including as a dynamic cultural gathering space,” states the bookshop’s website. “The Ivy Bookshop is excited to be a collaborator in this process of creative community-oriented exploration. The bookshop team will be re-imagining the church’s vestibule as an intimate holiday bookstore, and the sanctuary as a location for exploration and imagination inside the sanctuary’s soaring architecture.”
“It’s another great way to get people to come in and see the church and connect with each other,” said Elizabeth Bonner, part of the four-member board of UNITE Mount Vernon and a driving force behind the church’s restoration.
Located at 5928 Falls Road, The Ivy Bookshop is owned by Emma Snyder, who acquired it in 2019 from Ed and Anna Berlin. A Baltimore native and former Executive Director of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, Snyder became a co-owner of the bookshop in 2017. She also owns Bird in Hand Coffee & Books in Charles Village.
Opening at noon
The Ivy Bookshop at Mt. Vernon will be launched with a series of events starting on Dec. 4 at noon, when the pop-up shop and the church will open for browsing.
At 3:30 p.m., The Ivy at Mount Vernon will be the starting point for a one-hour guided walking tour of Mount Vernon organized by Chris Riehl at Baltimore Rent-A-Tour. Ticket information is here.
Throughout the afternoon and evening, music in the sanctuary will be provided by harpist Alyson Kanne and The New Choir of Mt. Vernon.
Activities associated with the Washington Monument lighting will take place just outside the church starting at 5 p.m. on Dec. 4, with the official lighting and fireworks display scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
After Dec. 4, The Ivy Bookshop at Mt. Vernon will be open from noon to 6 p.m. every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from Dec. 5 to Dec. 21. On Dec. 22 and 23, it will also be open from noon to 6 p.m., and on Dec. 24 it will be open for last-minute shoppers from noon to 3 p.m.
‘Inspiring model for community reimagination’
As part of its pop-up shop, the Ivy team is positioning a series of book displays in the church’s sanctuary, providing facts about the building’s history and architecture.
“At the Ivy, we conceive of retail as installation art, and bookstores as collaborative experiments in social fabric of a community,” Snyder said in a statement. “The opportunity to move on-site at this architecturally significant building in the heart of our city, and to use books as a means of inviting people inside this stunning space to dream about its future, is thrilling. UNITE represents an inspiring model for community reimagination of important social spaces, and books are a natural framework to help reflect on the church’s past and imagine its possibilities. Collaborating with UNITE feels like the best holiday present ever.”
“At the Ivy, we see again and again the ways books connect people to one another in real time and allow us to imagine new possibilities together,” said Ivy events manager Hannah Fenster, in a statement. “Books — as a shorthand for history and fable, science and reflection — allow us to riff associatively on places and ideas. We’re honored to invite that spirit into the historic Mount Vernon Place Church, where books will highlight the church’s history and inspire new visions. After all, there’s nowhere better than Baltimore to turn old stories into new stories.”
