Mount Clare is the oldest Colonial-era structure in Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The Georgian style

Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

 plantation house exhibits a somewhat altered five-part plan. It was built on a Carroll family plantation beginning in 1763 by barrister Charles Carroll

Charles Carroll (barrister)

Charles Carroll was an American lawyer and statesman from Annapolis, Maryland. He was the builder of the Baltimore Colonial home Mount Clare , and a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1776 and 1777....

, a descendant of the last Gaelic Lords of Éile

Éile

Éile, Éle or Éli, commonly anglicised Ely, was an ancient and medieval kingdom of northern Munster in Ireland.-Overview:They claimed descent from Céin , a possibly mythical or spurious younger son of Ailill Aulom and brother of Éogan Mór, and thus kinship with the Eóganachta...

 in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and a distant relative of Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a wealthy Maryland planter and an early advocate of independence from Great Britain. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and later as United States Senator for Maryland...

, signer of the Declaration of Independence

Declaration of independence

A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...

.

The first building on the property was built by John Henry Carroll, barrister Charles Carroll's brother, in 1754, and was probably eventually incorporated as a portion of the larger house.