Unknown Studio to Lead Vision Plan for Druid Lake

745-acre Druid Hill Park is one of the first large public parks in America and Baltimore’s first large municipal park. It is the third oldest established park in the United States, after Philadelphia’s Fairmount and New York’s Central Parks.

The land now called Druid Hill Park has been continuously inhabited for over 12,000 years due to its network of mature forests, springs and creeks that can be seen to this day. The Susquehannock tribe ceded the land and its environs in 1652 to Lord Baltimore. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the area which is now considered Druid Hill Park was primarily inhabited by three generations of the Rogers Family and served at various times as a plantation and site of enslaved labor and later a private family estate. Mayor Thomas Swann established as an official city park in 1860 when Lloyd Rogers sold most of the land to the city of Baltimore. The park was developed as part of the American Parks Movement- to provide large parks for urban dwellers. Druid Hill Park is now on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Druid Lake (formerly Chapman Lake) is one of the Park’s most well-known elements, beginning construction in 1863 as a drinking water reservoir for the City of Baltimore. The earthen puddle-core dam was the largest work of civil engineering of its type at the time and Baltimore’s municipal water system was at the vanguard of engineering at installation. With the potable water supply currently moving to an underground tank system, the Lake is now an opportunity for recreation, thriving ecosystems, and restored connectivity from the Park to its surrounding neighborhoods long severed by mid-century freeways.

Unknown Studio has brought together a renowned local team with expertise ranging from urban ecology to multi-modal transportation:

Nationally recognized firms with Baltimore roots include Biohabitats and Toole Design Group. Biohabitats is a national ecological planning firm with its origins and headquarters in the Jones Falls Valley of Baltimore. Toole Design Group is woman-owned a mobility planning firm that brings equitable planning and engineering to our city's public realm for pedestrians, cyclists, differently abled and other vehicular modalities.

Local talent and support includes Assedo Consulting, a minority and woman-owned Transportation Planning and Public Engagement firm who will ensure the engagement process is inclusive, diverse, just and equitable. Woman-owned MK Consulting Engineers will provide civil engineering, regulatory strategy, and cost estimating.

For more information about Druid Hill park, see: https://bcrp.baltimorecity.gov/parks/druid-hill