200 Washington Street: Known as the "Corner Building," this has served as a landmark for the business district since about 1905 and was the last built. The Romanesque-style and copper turret are unique.

202 Washington Street: The "Center Building," built much earlier than the Corner Building, has lost its own identity to the corner building since the façade is treated in the same manner—it has become an extension of the concrete block corner building.

204-206 Washington Street: The "Northernmost Building" is as old as the Center Building, if not older. It originally had three floors with the fourth added later

Corner Building. In 1888, the “Spencer House” advertised in the Havre de Grace Republican that they provided board by day or week, with “special attention to supplying parties,” all under the proprietorship of Lewis W. Williams. But by 1889 Lewis Williams “sold everything” to Walter Maxwell. The “Spencer Hotel” appears on the 1894 to 1910 Sanborn Insurance Maps at the corner of North Washington Street and Pennington Avenue and the “Hotel Maryland” is shown in the same place on the 1921 Sanborn Insurance Map.

John N. Spencer is known to have built a hotel here but it was sold with other holdings in 1917 after he died and, no doubt, renamed by subsequent owners.

In the 1916 telephone directory, 200 North Washington Street is listed as the location of Veasey’s Hotel, owned by William E. Veasey (1883-1958). He was in the insurance business prior to that. He served as Mayor from 1921-1923 and at the end of his term he advertised locally in 1923 to obtain “machinery to begin to manufacture brick and other clay products.”

Also, Rebecca and Firman D. Horner were early proprietors of the Maryland House Hotel and Restaurant. In 1919, they sold the property to Kate and Gregory Prevas who had moved to Havre de Grace from Baltimore with their children. The Prevas family and their business partner, Harry Vantor, operated the hotel, restaurant, and confectionery business throughout the 1920’s. An advertisement in the Havre de Grace Republican announced: “Candy and Taffy of All Kinds – Fresh Made. Ice Cream – All Flavors. Coffee, Tea, Milk, Pie, Sandwiches, etc. Everything fresh and good at the Maryland House Candy Kitchen.”

In 1927, three years after the death of her husband Gregory, Kate Prevas married Harry Vantor and together they continued a thriving family-run business selling candies, ice cream, cigars and tobacco in addition to renting hotel rooms to lodgers. By 1931, he advertised that they had the “Biggest Confectionery in Harford County.” After the death of Kate in 1937, Harry Vantor continued ownership of the property for seven more years until 1944.

During the post-WWII years, the building was owned by Walter McLhinney (1896-1977) and his wife Eleanor A. McLhinney (1903-1992). The McLhinneys had run the McIlhinney News Depot at 212 North Washington Street since 1923 and Walter served as Mayor for several years during the 1950s. Their granddaughter, Mary Frances Walker, says most of the building when they owned it (1944-1982) was individual rooms with a shared bathroom on each floor that were rented to veterans for $5 or $7 a night. There was a tavern on the ground floor with a large shoe-shine stand outside the front door. A photo exists of the stand with two men standing outside the tavern—the man on the left side of the photo is Walter McLhinney.

In 1964, the ground floor of the Corner Building, under the turret, became the very popular Maryland Restaurant, owned by Robert L. Murphy and his wife, Arline (“Fly and Flip”). Fly and Flip lived in an apartment above it. Flip’s sister, Rebecca, also worked there and her nick name was “Flop” so customers could call them Flip and Flop! Cindy Lee says Rebecca had a wonderful doll collection that she would let Cindy look through when she was there.

The Maryland Restaurant became known for lively conversation as well as great food, 5¢ coffee and 35¢ pancakes, milkshakes and cheeseburgers. William R. Pyle remembers eating here nearly every day when he worked in Hecht’s Hardware store across the street. Fly was also known for sponsoring the Havre de Grace Chiefs, a local baseball team. During the early 1960s the Maryland Restaurant moved to the opposite side of Pennington Avenue (142 North Washington Street). After Fly moved from here, George Tucker “Tuck” Yingling (1936-2006), who had been running his sub and pizza shop on Erie Street, moved his business into this space. He was a WWII veteran. Tuck’s sign can be seen in a photo from 1974.

The ground floor of the Corner Building, under the turret, became Gallery East after a major renovation of the building by A & M Properties in 1989. The Gallery was operated by the East Coast Artists Cooperative, to contribute to the cultural life of the community. By August 1992, local artist, Valerie A. Lloyd, had relocated her “Lloyd’s Studio” gallery and frame shop to the ground floor. The painted tin ceiling was a notable feature. In 1996, the space became Graham’s Victorian Shop, followed by The Last Tango Art Gallery with Sharon Gallagher in 1998; a pet care shop called Pampered Paws Grooming Treats and run by Karen Reedy in the early 2000s; and now is storage space for The Vineyard Wine Bar. All three of these buildings have rental apartments on upper floors.

Center and Northernmost Building. In the early 1900s, the Maryland House Café was on the ground floor of the Center Building and the Wilmington Brewing Company sold lager and beer on the ground floor of the Northernmost Building. At some point after that, D.F. Furlow rented the ground floor and operated a “5 and 10¢ Store” here. In the mid-1950s, Adolph T. Baynes took it over and operated the second location of his “A.T. Baynes 5 and 10¢ Store” (his first had been in the Masonic Temple Building). Jeanne Hawtin remembers earning 25¢ an hour working for Adolph Baynes and loved working there. The store had several departments and used to advertise that they had “thuro-bred blood tested peppy, lively, baby chicks” for 15¢. In the 1960s, Chalmer J. Mingle was running the “Little 5 and 10¢ Store” here. Ham Channell remembers that they sold parakeets in 1964 along the back wall.

By 1982, the ground floor space in the Center Building became the Bay Hardware store, run by Bob Feldman, offering a variety of merchandise for the homemaker and contractors. In 1990-1993, the store was J.R. Williams Country Store and in the early 2000s it became Walton’s Hardware, run by Caleb Walton. the ground floor space became Brookbend Interiors in 2020 for about a year before they relocated, leaving this space open again.

200-206 North Washington Street now has the same owner as the large property at 137-141 North Washington Street, Eriter LLC of Pennsylvania.

County Records
Built 1930. 11,053 sq ft, apartments/multiple residence, 5487 sq ft lot.