Crenelated blocks bookend the Frederick Armory ahead of you. It is one of a series of similar armories built for the Maryland National Guard in the early 20th century. From here you can see how the designers explicitly copied features of medieval fortifications: crenelated blocks rise at either end of a long, buttressed drill hall, giving the building the deliberate silhouette of a small fortress.
That fortresslike language was part of a program of armory design across the state; this building is a clear, literal example. In 1985 the armory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, recognition of its architectural character and place in local military history. A photographic record from 1980 at the Maryland Historical Trust captures its appearance shortly before that listing.
Today the building serves the city as a recreation center, a civic reuse that keeps the drill hall active in new ways. As you stand here, notice the play between the heavy buttresses and the sky, the rhythmic teeth of the crenelations, and the long span of the drill hall between them. Those crenelated blocks and buttresses form the whole composition before your eyes.