First & Franklin Presbyterian Church is on track to get its sidewalk back.
Representatives announced this week that the Mount Vernon landmark has been selected to receive a $480,381 matching grant to support masonry rehabilitation for its brownstone façade and brownstone and cast-iron spire, the tallest in Baltimore at 273 feet.
First & Franklin (www.firstfranklin.org) is one of 30 congregations that will receive grants this year from the National Fund for Sacred Places. It was selected out of 466 applicants nationwide.
Located at 201 W. Madison St., the Gothic Revival church was dedicated in 1859 as the First Presbyterian Church of Baltimore. In recent years, the sidewalk in front of the church has largely been blocked with scaffolding to protect pedestrians in case any debris falls from the front façade or spire, which was completed in 1874. After the restoration work is completed, the scaffolding will come down and the sidewalk will be open again.
The National Fund for Sacred Places is a program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Established in 2016 with $64 million in funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc., the Fund provides matching grants of $50,000 to $500,000 to congregations of all faiths and sizes that are undertaking significant capital projects at historic houses of worship, along with wraparound services such as training, technical assistance and planning support.
Since its inception, the program has awarded or pledged more than $42 million to 197 congregations representing 29 faith traditions or denominations in 46 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico — including $9.1 million in 2026.
First & Franklin received one of the largest grants this year and was the only Baltimore church selected. Another Maryland recipient is St. Paul’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Ocean City, a Gothic Revival church that dates from 1878 and is one of the town’s oldest institutions. It received a matching grant of $157,746 for stained-glass restoration, roof and beam repairs, moisture mitigation and pest eradication. Applications for 2027 are due on March 3, 2027, and grantees will be notified in October.
According to the Baltimore Architecture Foundation, design work for the Mount Vernon landmark was started in 1854 by architect Norris G. Starkweather and completed by Edmund Lind. The interior contains Tiffany stained-glass windows, a triple vaulted sanctuary and rich plaster tracery.
In 1973, First Presbyterian Church merged with the Franklin Street Presbyterian Church to form the First and Franklin Street Presbyterian Church. In 2012, the name was shortened to First and Franklin Presbyterian Church. In 2009, Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects prepared a restoration plan that continues to guide church improvements.
The congregation has in-person worship services in the church’s sanctuary every Sunday at 10:30 a.m., with Children’s Sunday School and Adult Education in the adjacent Backus House at 9:15 a.m.
The church will also be open to the public on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., as part of the 13th annual Doors Open Baltimore festival organized by the Baltimore Architecture Foundation and others. More information about that free event is available at www.doorsopenbaltimore.org.
