After the 1888 gas company merger, Bayard Station continued to produce gas for a few more years before all processing moved to the Spring Garden site. By 1904, the Baltimore Gas Appliance Manufacturing Company had leased the former plant buildings to assemble the famed Oriole Stove; a fixture in many of Baltimore's kitchens. Over the years Consolidated maintained the Valve House for various purposes ranging from offices and record keeping facilities to classroom space. Period photographs show how the building changed over time: a vault was added after 1890, an addition enlarged the west wing, and its floor was lowered to accommodate a street-level entrance in the 1910s. In the 1920's a large motorized blower assembly was featured on the main floor before being modified again to teach apprentice gas fitters in the 1950's. Most of the Bayard Street Station was torn down by the mid-1960s, leaving only the Valve House and Retort House. Consolidated, now BGE, continued to hold the property surrounding the Valve House until the mid-1980s when it was sold into private hands and used as a photography studio over the next decade. We are delighted to become a part of this storied building's future, and are proud to say that Bayard Station is Housewerks' home.
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