Background
Ephraim Baldwin was born on October 4, 1837 in Troy. The son of a Civil Engineer who later moved his family to Baltimore.
Ephraim Baldwin was born on October 4, 1837 in Troy. The son of a Civil Engineer who later moved his family to Baltimore.
Ephraim was educated in public schools in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Afterward, he attended Mount St. Mary’s College near Emmitsburg. He studied architecture and engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy.
Prior to the Civil War entered the Baltimore office of John Nierensee where he worked as a draftsman for a time. Following the close of the war, from 1869 to 1873 he was associated with the late Bruce Price in designing the Christ Episcopal Church and other buildings in Baltimore. In 1883 Mr. Baldwin formed a partnership with the late Josias Pennington, and from that year until the time of his decease enjoyed a large and lucrative practice. With years of training and experience in ecclesiastical work, he became a specialist in that field, and as a prominent Roman Catholic layman, was awarded many commissions under the firm name to design churches and institutional buildings. Among those in Baltimore were: St. Gregory's Church; St. Mary, Star of the Sea; Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel; St. Ann's; St. Patrick's; St. Wenceslas; St. Mary's Orphan Asylum; Convent of the Little Sisters of the Poor; the College and Institute of Notre Dame, and a number of Catholic Hospitals. Other ecclesiastical buildings designed by the firm were; the College, Church, and Seminary at Emmitsburg, Md.; St. Ann's Church at Wilmington, Del.; St. Augustine's and St. Mary’s Church in Washington.; Divinity a McMahon Halls at the Roman Catholic University at Washington, and the Immaculate Conception Church at Germantown.