Five Minute Histories: The Chesapeake Cadillac Company

Hiding in plain sight at the Charles Village Safeway are some clues to the site’s former occupant, the Chesapeake Cadillac Company! Join us, including special guest Julian Frost, Baltimore Heritage’s summer research intern, as we highlight the Art Deco architectural details that give us a window to the past. Thanks for watching and see you later this week!
This is our series called "Five Minute Histories." We record short videos about different historic places all over Baltimore and post them on our Facebook page, RUclips channel, and website. For more information or to become a member of Baltimore Heritage, check out: baltimoreherit...

[@billybarnett2846]

I remember going pass the showroom in the mid 70s when I was little.

[@acharleyhorse1]

My Dad worked at Chesapeake Cadillac in the 60s till 1971. He often sold cars to the Colts and Oriole players.

[@dindygirl]

When I was a kid my Dad had a Cadillac and we would go there a few times til he switched to another brand. But I never looked up to see that cool stuff. They had some display inside with pictures made up of vertical strips, like vertical blinds that would flip to reveal a new picture. I was fascinated by that. I remember crawling around on the floor too lol. I am glad to have found these videos - someone linked to it on a Reddit discussion. I subscribed. Keep more coming!

[@adamtjones]

Thanks for talking about Parking Minimums! They really have been a destructive force in this and many other American cities and I don't think they get talked about enough.

[@ThomasHALL-yl9ec]

That location, 2401 N. Charles, was built in 1929 (Howard F. Baldwin, architect) and was first known as Cunliffe Cadillac Company. Chesapeake Cadillac Company took over at that location in 1936. Preservationists should probably call that building the Cunliffe Cadillac Company Building.

[@clarawilhelm2634]

What a city.
Love it..1813ForestdalEF

[@baltoman24]

Thanks for an excellent presentation- I remember the Chesapeake Cadillac showroom well. The Safeway is a good building, and incorporated some of the best elements of the showroom- pretty certain that the architects for the Chesapeake Cadillac showroom were the same as for Read's Drug store- Smith and May and they liked the articulation of corners with sculpture- very elegant!

[@andy41417]

2:40 Buick and Olds did not come out of GM. They later were acquired by GM. Originally started by David Dunbar Buick and Ramsom E. Olds as independent makers.

[@lynda514]

I wonder if that parking lot law is playing into grocery / food deserts in. Baltimore city ?

[@ronaldcammarata3422]

I understand that Mount Royal Avenue was a center for car showrooms in the early to middle of the 20th century.

[@jeepguy95]

Looks like Chesapeake Cadillac has finally gone out of business after many years of service to the Baltimore area, having been bought out by AutoNation, and then promptly closed. :( Great history lesson here! :)

[@nohurry7273]

You two neglected to mention that in the 1920s, Cadillac Motors' test driver had a name too cool not to use for something, so they named a car after him---it was Louis Chevrolet.

[@Pachydiplax1]

According to Wikipedia an arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it.
I don't see a curved structure, is the entrance not an arch perhaps?

[@petervandecastle3036]

Try looking up "jack arch". There is such a thing as a flat arch.