Take an audio tour of The Peale, Baltimore's Community Museum and the oldest museum building in the United States! Listen to WYPR's Aaron Henkin recount the fascinating stories that surround this historic building. Includes 16 stops.

Did you notice the extra tall doorways to the two smaller rooms on this floor? Rembrandt Peale (pictured) used those rooms as his painting studio, and he needed the extra height to get large canvases in and out. The large window in the restroom on this floor is north facing; it would have provided the perfect light for Rembrandt’s painting studio, before the building was added next door.

His cousin, Sarah Miriam Peale, also painted in these rooms. She began coming to Baltimore to study with Rembrandt when she was 17 years old.

In the third floor stairwell a window is bisected by the landing. Which do you think came first: the landing or the window?

In fact the window was added during the building’s time as City Hall: an economical way to increase light levels on both sides of the landing designed by budget-minded civil servants!