Your climb brings you to one of Baltimore's most beloved landmarks, a wooden observation tower raised in 1891 in the style of a Chinese pagoda atop the park's highest point. The pagoda was designed by Charles Latrobe, a grandson of the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe who designed the Baltimore Basilica, and was built for the practical purpose of allowing park visitors to climb above the treetops and enjoy a panoramic view of East Baltimore, the harbor, and the surrounding neighborhoods. The octagonal wooden structure rises five stories with overhanging eaves at each level in the characteristic pagoda silhouette, and the ground-floor balconies offer views in every direction.
Patterson Park itself was established in 1827 on land donated to the city by William Patterson, a Baltimore merchant who was the father of Elizabeth Patterson — the young Baltimore woman who captured the heart of Napoleon's youngest brother, Jerome Bonaparte, and created an international scandal when Napoleon refused to recognize the marriage. The park was significantly expanded in the 1850s and again after the Civil War, when it was redesigned in the naturalistic landscape style popularized by Frederick Law Olmsted. East Baltimore's immigrant communities — Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, and later Latino — have used the park as their gathering space for over 150 years.
The pagoda fell into disrepair in the twentieth century but was meticulously restored in 2002 through a community fundraising campaign.