Closing of C. Grimaldis Gallery is a setback for a once-bustling block of Charles Street

The 500 block of N. Charles Street has lost a number of distinctive businesses over the years – Andre’s Empire Salon; Cokesbury Books; the Buttery all-night coffee shop; Sascha’s Café; and Louie’s Bookstore Café, to name a few.

It’s losing another one this fall with the departure of C. Grimaldis Gallery at 523 N. Charles St.

Owner Constantine Grimaldis announced on social media that the current exhibit will be the gallery’s final one at its longtime home.

“After 48 years of continuous operation in Baltimore, the C. Grimaldis Gallery will be closing its doors,” he wrote. “Our final exhibition – a variation of our Summer Show, renamed ‘The Last Picture Show’ – is available to the public through November 10.” [Update: the exhibit is now on view through Nov. 22].

Starting on January 1, 2026, “the gallery will transition to a primarily online presence through our website, www.cgrimaldisgallery.com, as well as platforms like Artsy and Artnet, and participation in selected art fairs,” Grimaldis wrote. “In this new capacity, we will serve as a resource for our collectors, curators and museums as we facilitate primary and secondary market sales and online exhibitions.”

The gallery’s closing is a setback for the once-bustling block of Charles Street. Grimaldis’ announcement calls attention to the fact that, with its vacancies and turnovers, it’s a block in transition.

C. Grimaldis Gallery and Louie’s and Sascha’s were the sorts of businesses that urbanist Jane Jacobs would have loved, places that made Baltimore Baltimore. They activated handsome old buildings between downtown and Mount Vernon Place. They generated foot traffic and enlivened the streetscape. They offered jobs and provided goods and services in ways no one else did. C. Grimaldis Gallery added a bit of highbrow luster that counterbalanced the late night coffee shop three doors down.

Alternative to Harborplace

Located at 518 N. Charles St. from 1981 to 1998, Louie’s Bookstore Café was a hive of activity from morning to night. Owned by artist Jimmy Rouse, who named it after his first son, Louie’s was an ideal lunch spot for people who worked nearby, and a popular place to go on a date. Patrons could browse the books and magazines in the front of the building while they waited for a table, or admire the ever-changing artwork for sale on the walls.

Louie’s was an alternative to the shiny new Harborplace pavilions that Rouse’s developer-father opened at Pratt and Light streets. It was a place where locals could feel comfortable, a gathering spot for Baltimore’s arts community. It’s one of the few places in the city that was so memorable it still has a Facebook page devoted to it (Louie’s the Bookstore Café, Baltimore 1981 – 1999), and periodic reunions, years after it closed.

Since Louie’s closed, there have been other restaurants in the space, but none has been as popular, or lasted as long, as Louie’s. At one point developer C. William Struever proposed erecting a fabric screen in front of the open lot to the north to conceal the gap in the row. At present, the Louie’s building is vacant and has a For Sale sign in the window. Maja Likakis of Monument Sotheby’s International Realty is the listing agent.

Across the street, Sascha’s Café at 527 N. Charles St. was just as memorable in its own way, with its sloping floor and trapeze artist sculpture over the bar. Owners Sascha Wolhandler and Steve Suser are characters, and the building is steeped in history.

Wallis Warfield Simpson had her hair done there before she became the Duchess of Windsor, when it was Andre’s Empire Salon, a high-end beauty parlor for high-society Baltimoreans. Barry Levinson filmed a key scene of “Diner” there. In its kitchen, food was prepared for Tom Brokaw, Richard Gere, Arianna Huffington and all the Christmas parties of John Waters. It housed Sascha’s Café and Sascha’s Catering from 1997 to 2017.

Now Sascha’s has been replaced by a restaurant called The Buttonwood, and The Buttery at 529 N. Charles St. is a 7-Eleven. But 519 N. Charles Street has an empty storefront and For Rent signs in its bay window. Much of the foot traffic on the block these days comes from residents of Westminster House, the senior housing tower on the corner, who hang out on the sidewalk and watch the traffic rush by.

Baltimore’s oldest contemporary gallery

Grimaldis’ announcement means that Baltimore’s oldest contemporary gallery, specializing in postwar American and European art, will no longer have a brick-and-mortar location in the city. The building is owned by The Theosophical Society in Maryland Inc., which is putting it up for sale, according to a Mount Vernon Belvedere Association board member.

According to Grimaldis, the gallery opened in September of 1977 in the front parlor of a Mount Vernon row house at 928 N. Charles St. In 1986, it moved to 523 N. Charles, its current home. From 1990 to 1993, Grimaldis also had a building at 1006 Morton St. to show large-scale sculpture, which he called the C. Grimaldis Gallery Sculpture Space. That building is now the headquarters of Ziger Snead Architects.

“We have had the honor of promoting artists within our gallery stable across many generations,” Grimaldis wrote on social media. “Some have already passed, but their work remains and continues to define the gallery’s ethos. Artists Eugene Leake (1911-2005), Raoul Middleman (1935-2021), and Grace Hartigan (1922-2008), were instrumental in the development and success of the gallery, as well as my personal development as a dealer.”

‘Icons of art history’

Starting in 1981, “we introduced the Baltimore public to icons of art history with exhibitions of Alice Neel (1900-1984), Elaine de Kooning (1918-1989), Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), and British sculptor Sir Anthony Caro (1924-2013),” Grimaldis wrote. “Their pioneering solo exhibitions established the gallery as an important art venue beyond the limits of our city and state. Through carefully curated group exhibitions that placed these major figures alongside emerging talents, we aimed not only to build trust in our vision, but also to shine a light on the significance and promise of younger artists’ work.”

In the ensuing years, “many artists have joined the gallery; every one of you should know that your work and spirit have enhanced not only the evolution of the gallery, but of the whole art scene in our city as it’s reaching a pinnacle today. We hope our commitment to you has been self-evident in the relationships we’ve built, collections we’ve stewarded, and careers we’ve helped to shape. It is a nostalgic exercise indeed to reflect upon how much each one of you has meant to me throughout this outstanding journey.”

The list of artists who have exhibited work at C. Grimaldis Gallery includes: Chul-Hyun Ahn; Markus Baldegger; Henry Coe; Madeleine Dietz; Frank Dituri; Hasan Elahi; Joel Fisher; Carol Miller Frost; Cheryl Goldsleger; Jon Isherwood; Hidenori Ishii; Mel Kendrick; Heejo Kim; Jae Ko; Dimitra Lazaridou; Jane Manus; Ben Marcin; Rania Matar; John McCarty; Beverly McIver; Christopher Myers; Christine Neill; Bernd Radtke; Giorgos Rigas (1921-2014); Ulrich Rückriem; John Ruppert; Jim Sanborn; Annette Sauermann; Wade Saunders; Bill Schmidt; Nora Sturges; John Van Alstine; Costas Varotsos; Joan Waltemath and John Waters.

On nights when it hosted opening receptions for artists, the gallery would draw scores of patrons eager to see the featured work. Many would stay in the area afterwards, go to a bar or restaurant nearby, and make a night of it.

The Last Picture Show

For his 48^th Annual Summer Show, Grimaldis curated an exhibit featuring work from artists that reflected the gallery’s longstanding partnerships as well as its newest collaborators. It showed sculpture, painting and photography that “tells stories of our connection to environment, memory culture and everyday life.” It included work by Chui Hyun Ahn; John Van Alstine; Jose Manuel Fors; Grace Hartigan; Hidenori Ishii; Heejo Kim; Jae Ko; Eugene Leake; Ben Marcin; Keith Martin; Giorgos Rigas; John Ruppert; Nora Sturges, Amelie Wang and John Waters.

For the final show, which opened last month, the gallery continues to show works that were on display over the summer along with some additions from its stable of artists and pieces from the secondary market.

The Last Picture Show includes work by John Van Alstine; Jose Manuel Fors; Grace Hartigan; James Hennessey; Hidenori Ishii, Heejo Kim; Jae Ko; Dimitra Lazaridou; Eugene Leake; Ben Marcin; Giorgos Rigas; John Ruppert; Nora Sturges, Amelie Wang and John Waters.

The gallery’s Charles Street location will close on Dec. 31, 2025.

“I am profoundly grateful to each of you, collectors and artists, for your generosity of spirit, time and support, and your shared commitment to promote the arts as a critical pillar of our society,” Grimaldis wrote on social media. “May this continue onward.”