The History of the Brass Elephant Restaurant

924 North Charles Street is not only a gastronomic marvel, but an architectural and historical treasure as well. The building was built in 1850 by Benjamin Shaw Howard, a member of the prominent John Eager Howard family, and his wife Jane Gilmore. The home was later sold to Charles Morton Stuart, a successful businessman who used it as his primary residence until 1870, when local merchant George Wroth Knapp purchased it. Mr. Knapp and his family are primarily responsible for the fineries located throughout the house today.

The Brass Elephant Restaurant is named for the sconces that adorn the main hall. Mr. Knapp's wife had a penchant for elephants and they are found in various motifs throughout the building. The sconces throughout the building were originally filled with oil to provide lighting, and the chandeliers were supplied by gas. All of these were converted to electricity around the turn of the century and some of the hollow poles that served as support and conduit were replaced with chains. The crystals adorning all the chandeliers are Waterford crystal.

The wood walls on the first floor are oak and are all-original to the home. The ornate carvings in the entrance and hallway, as well as in the Teak dining room, are all hand carved teak and created by Moroccan artisans. Amazingly, both the walls and carvings were all painted white when it was a home and have been painstakingly restored to their original color.

All of the mirrors in the home are original to the building, and those located in the Front Room all have gold leaf frames. The artist William Henry Rinehart, a renowned sculptor around the turn of the century, carved the fireplaces in the Front Room from Italian White Marble. The school of sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art is named in his honor. The fireplace in the Oak Room is decorated with tile inlaid with a single verse from a poem in Olde German, which translated states, Wherever my darling is, there also is my heart. The plaster moldings in the Front and Teak dining rooms were done by the artist Meislehm, as well as the plaster work on the ceiling in the Blue Room.

The work of various glass blowers is featured prominently throughout the building. The window and door between the Oak Room and the Atrium are made of bullet or bulls-eye glass. Each piece of glass is formed individually and encased in lead, then set into the frame. The stained glass dome located in the main hallway was actually utilitarian as well as decorative. The center portion of the dome opens by means of a pulley, allowing the air to circulate through an air shaft that runs parallel to the stairway. The stained glass skylight at the top of the stairs, as well as the windows in the Ivory Room and Lounge, are original Tiffany's.

The current owners, Jack Elsby and Randy Stahl, bought the property at auction in 1980 and have garnered numerous local and national awards, including one of only five restaurants in the city of Baltimore, and fifteen in the state honored with the DiRoNa Award. The Brass Elephant is member of   The Country Fare Group.