Interior History | Exterior History | History

The Exterior
Reynolds Tavern is a well-proportioned two-and-a-half story, five-bay wide, gambrel-roofed brick structure with a center entrance. The original cellar window openings have been shortened almost a foot, when Church Circle was graded and paved with brick in 1832.

The brick front façade is laid in all-header bond, above the projecting watertable, which is laid in English bond because of the added strength of interlocking headers and stretchers. A highly distinctive four-course-deep belt divides the front façade at the second-floor line. The belt follows the curve of the arched windows below.

The central entrance has a modern door. The original door hung in place until 1964, when the library replaced it, probably to comply with local building requirements that doors open outward. The transom, however, dates from 1812.

The pedimented entrance porch is an early and valuable addition to the front façade, the work of John Shaw, an important cabinet maker of Annapolis, who was engaged by Farmers Bank in 1812 to make improvements to the property. The design of the porch is similar to the porch Shaw designed and built at his own residence on State Circle.

Paint evidence shows that whitewash was applied to the brick between 1747 and 1812. By 1890, the whitewash was wearing off, and by the turn of the century, the brickwork was stripped clean.