For years, many buildings on the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University have had one address: 3400 N. Charles St.
Garland Hall, where the President’s office is located, has an address of 3400 N. Charles St. The Milton S. Eisenhower Library is at 3400 N. Charles St. The Homewood Museum, Hopkins Club, Shriver Hall, Gilman Hall, Krieger Hall, Mudd Hall, Latrobe Hall and Maryland Hall – all 3400 N. Charles St.
But this year a new building on the Homewood campus has a different street address. The Bloomberg Student Center, a four-story building that’s opening in phases starting this week, has an address of 3290 N. Charles St. The number is just above an entrance facing Charles Street.
Why is the Bloomberg building bucking the trend?
According to Lee Coyle, Hopkins’ senior director for planning and architecture, the different number is a response to a request from the City of Baltimore. Coyle told a community gathering earlier this year that city officials have asked Hopkins to provide distinct addresses for its various buildings so first responders and others will know exactly where to go in case of an emergency. He said there was concern that multiple buildings on the Homewood campus have the same address and that could cause confusion and delay response times.
Coyle said this week that Hopkins is responding, and the student center is one of the first buildings on the core campus to have a street address other than 3400. From now on, he said, Hopkins will give every new building on the Homewood campus a different address, as requested. The Eisenhower library, currently closed for a $130 million renovation, also will be renumbered, he said.
Other buildings on the periphery of the core Homewood campus already have different addresses. Mason Hall, which houses the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, has an address of 3101 Wyman Park Drive. Alumni Memorial Residence Hall 2 is located at 3510 N Charles St. Google now considers 3400 N. Charles St. to be Hopkins’ “primary address.”
Street addresses aren’t the only way city crews, Uber drivers and others locate buildings. Coyle said this week that first responders use GPS, the Global Positioning System that people have on their phones and other devices, and that supersedes relying on street addresses.
Other Hopkins buildings currently under construction include the JHU Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute, nearing completion on Wyman Park Drive, and a new home for Hopkins’ Homewood Early Learning Center, which will be moving from Wyman Park Drive to the 100 block of West University Parkway.
