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Even before it opened, the anticipation around Baltimore’s World Trade Center was unmistakable. “It promises to be the handsomest building built so far in the redevelopment area, a graceful symbol for Baltimore’s renewal and an emblem of the historic economic dependence of the state and the city on the sea,” reported the Sun in December 1976.
The idea for a World Trade building for Baltimore began percolating in the mid-1960s. The center would be a grand symbol of the harbor’s renewal and a hub for maritime business. In 1966, the Maryland Port Authority sponsored Mayor Theodore McKeldin and five other port and city planning officials on a whirlwind trip to Houston and New Orleans to see other world trade centers in those cities. The mayor came back inspired, and Baltimore became one of the sixteen charter members of the World Trade Association.
Construction of the center began in 1973. The five-sided, thirty-story building was designed by the firm of architect I.M. Pei, who was responsible for the design of the glass pyramid of the Louvre in Paris, the East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington D.C., and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, among other projects. The building cost $22 million, double the cost of the original proposition. The apex of two of the walls facing the harbor meet at the shoreline and suggest the prow of a ship. It is the tallest five-sided building in the world.
One of the first tenants, The Canton Company, the parent firm of the Cottman Company, who was the operator of the Canton Marine Terminal, signed a five-year lease for 13,000 square feet of space. Over the years, the tower has also housed the headquarters of the Maryland Port Administration, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, and the World Trade Center Institute, a member of the World Trade Centers Association that operates as a private, non-profit international business membership organization. For many years, the Top of the World Observation Level offered spectacular city and harbor views. This level was slated to close to the public in 2025.
After the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, security measures at the Baltimore World Trade Center changed accordingly so that boat access to the building is blocked to prevent acts of terrorism. Baltimore’s World Trade Center is also home to a 9/11 Memorial that includes three 22-foot long steel beams from the 94th to 96th floors of the north tower of the New York World Trade Center. Twisted and fused together, the steel beams and damaged limestone pieces from the Pentagon's west wall rest atop marble blocks bearing the names and birthdays of the 68 Marylanders who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.