When the Building Has History, the Demo Plan Has to Be Better
Baltimore's 21st Century School Buildings ProgramBaltimore Is Rebuilding Its Schools. ISI Demolition Is Clearing the Way.
The 21st Century School Buildings Program is one of the most ambitious public school modernization initiatives in the United States. Managed by the Maryland Stadium Authority and funded through the state of Maryland and Baltimore City, the program set out to replace or fully renovate 28 school buildings across the city with a total program value over $1.1 billion.
ISI Demolition completed the demolition work on two of the program’s most complex projects — a direct reflection of the reputation ISI Demolition has built since 1990 as one of the top-ranked demolition contractors in the region.
These are not simple gut jobs. Many of the buildings in this program are decades or even a century old. Some are architecturally significant. Some are structurally complex. All of them are in active urban neighborhoods with communities watching closely. Getting the demolition right — on schedule, safely, with minimal disruption — is the job that makes every other trade’s work possible.
Frederick Douglass High School
Built in 1923–24 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Frederick Douglass High School is more than a building. It is the first public high school in Maryland specifically constructed for Black students, and for decades it was the only secondary school in the region open to Black students. It shaped generations of Baltimore’s civic, cultural, and professional leadership, and still stands in the West Baltimore neighborhood it has anchored for over a century.
The 21st Century Schools program is giving it a future worthy of that history. The $117 million project will renovate and restore the original Late Gothic Revival structure while adding three new additions to co-locate Frederick Douglass High School and Joseph C. Briscoe Academy. The historic building envelope will be preserved. Everything inside is being rebuilt from the ground up.
That distinction — preserve the outside, gut the inside — defined everything about how ISI Demolition approached this job.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
- Location: 1645 N. Calhoun Street, Baltimore, MD
- Project type: Historic renovation / interior demolition
- Year Built: 1924
- Construction manager: Dustin Construction
- Architect: Samaha Associates
- Demolition Completed: Fall 2025
Services Performed
- Architectural / interior demolition
- Structural steel cutting
- Mechanical system removal
- Auditorium gut and seating structure removal
- Shoring & bracing
- Chimney demolition (boom lift at height)
- Selective exterior razing of non-historic additions
- Debris management and haul-out
Frederick Douglass isn’t just another school building — it means something to this city. When you’re working inside a building like that, you feel the weight of getting it right. Our job was to clear the way for what comes next without compromising what’s been there for a hundred years.
Selected by construction manager Dustin Construction, the ISI Demolition team executed a full multi-floor interior gut, basement mechanical system removal in tight low-clearance conditions, structural steel cutting in the historic auditorium from aerial work platforms, bleacher and seating structure removal with temporary shoring, exterior chimney demolition from boom lift at height, and selective razing of non-historic annex additions.
Working inside a 100-year-old building while protecting its historic exterior demands a level of precision and sequencing that goes well beyond a standard interior scope. The Gothic arched windows that define the building’s character appear in nearly every interior photo from this project, a constant reminder of what the demo plan was built to protect, not just remove.
Frederick Douglas High School Demolition Photos
Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School
Where Frederick Douglass demanded precision around what stayed, Commodore John Rodgers called for a clean break. The existing elementary/middle school serving Southeast Baltimore’s Butchers Hill neighborhood had reached the end of its useful life and the community needed something built for the next generation. That meant the existing structure had to come down completely to make way for an entirely new 112,500 sq. ft. facility.
Selected by construction manager CAM Construction, ISI Demolition executed the scope in deliberate sequence: interior demolition and abatement first, followed by full exterior demolition, then sheeting and shoring for the extensive site retaining walls the new construction would require. Operating in a dense residential neighborhood meant dust suppression, careful material management, and site discipline were non-negotiable from the first day to the last.
When ISI Demolition completed its scope, CAM Construction had what every GC wants at the start of a new build: a fully cleared, prepared site and a clean runway to begin construction on schedule.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
- Location: 100 N. Chester Street, Butchers Hill, Baltimore, MD
- Project type: Architectural demolition
- Construction manager: CAM Construction
- Architect: Crabtree Rohrbaugh & Associates
- Demolition Completed: Fall 2025
Services Performed
- Architectural / interior demolition
- Exterior demolition
- Abatement
- On-site concrete crushing
- Shoring & bracing
- Dust suppression
Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School Demolition Photos
Ready to Talk About Your Next Project?
ISI Demolition has worked with construction managers, owners, and developers on demolition projects of every size and scope across Maryland, DC, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Florida, and the broader Eastern US since 1990. Let’s talk about what your project needs.