Proposed Masonic Temple, Baltimore, Maryland, c. 1865-1866

The architect Edmund George Lind (1829-1909) was born in England and educated at the School of Design in London. He immigrated to America in 1855 and settled in Baltimore, Maryland. He worked briefly (1855-1856) with architect Nathan G. Starkweather and had a short partnership (1856-1860) with William T. Murdock in New York City before establishing his own practice in Baltimore. A charter member of the American Institute of Architects (est. 1857), Lind served as its vice president in 1872 and 1876. Among his best known works in Baltimore is the Peabody Library at Mount Vernon Place (erected 1861, 1878). He was architect in the Treasury Department during President Ulysses S. Grant’s administration. In 1882 he moved his practice to Atlanta, Georgia. In 1893, following a severe economic depression he returned to Baltimore where he continued to practice on a limited basis. His work encompasses a wide range of styles, including Greek Revival, Italianate, and Gothic Revival.