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What follows is based, in part, upon the research of by Dr. Charles J. Scheve, Historian with the Baltimore County Historical Society. The Loch Raven area owes its name to the imaginings of Robert Gilmor III (1808-1874), the builder of Glen Ellen. After his graduation from Harvard University in 1828, Robert Gilmor visited England where he saw Strawberry Hill, the impressive residence of Sir Horace Walpole that had been built in the Gothic Revival style then in vogue. He also met Sir Walter Scott and was invited by him to visit his home in Scotland - Abbotsford - another Gothic Revival residence, built as a castle on a hillside above the river Tyne. Both of these residences so impressed Gilmor that he determined to build his own home in America along the same lines. In 1832 Gilmor purchased a large tract of land (about 900 acres) from Priscilla Ridgely White, the daughter of Captain Charles Ridgely. The land lay along the southwestern shore of Gunpowder Falls just north of the Ridgely's Hampton and Northampton estates. Here Gilmor decided to build his home -- a castle resembling Sir Walter Scott's Abbotsford. According to the plat that he had drawn up (a copy of which is in the Baltimore County Courthouse), he divided his estate into two sections, giving each a name. The hilly and wooded section to the east he named Ravensrock. This probably served as a hunting preserve with trails for riding. The fields to the west were to be farmed. He named them New Market. Gilmor decided to build his mansion on the western margin of Ravensrock, and named the place Glen Ellen after his wife, and the beautiful little glen that graced the hillside there. Glen Ellen was Baltimore County's preeminent Gothic fantasy, a wild design by Alexander Jackson Davis for his wealthy 22-year old patron. There Robert and Ellen Gilmor raised 11 children: 9 boys and 2 girls. Several of the boys attained public renown. William became a railroad president. The most famous was the glamorous Harry, the famous Confederate cavalry colonel who in 1864 led his battalion through Towson and Baynesville and across Baltimore County to burn down the railroad bridge over the Gunpowder River at Magnolia. To supply Baltimore City with water, a dam was erected in the 1880s across the Gunpowder, following the suggestion of Robert's son William. William also suggested the name for the resulting lake, Loch Raven, basing the choice upon the name his father had given the property being flooded, and the Scottish word for "lake". Glen Ellen itself was bought by the city because of the 1921 expansion of the Loch Raven reservoir. As the structure sat unoccupied, it was vandalized. It had to be razed for safety reasons in the late 1920's. (Recycled portions of it were incorporated into the Cloisters on Falls Road.)
A 1914 photo of Glen Ellen, showing the south side porch and the east side (carriage path side) facade. William F. Brack (1893 - 1900), son of then-owner Henry L. Brack, leans against the east side with his motorbike, garbed in leggings, cap, etc. His sister and four of her cousins sit on the south side porch steps. Wicker backed rockers and other furniture shown.
Glen Ellen in June 1921. This view from river (or west view) shows the library bay, both northwest and southwest towers, and the lantern over the rotunda.
Glen Ellen as a ruin, photographed circa 1928 - 1930 by Catherine Moran. This is a view of the northeast end.
View of Glen Ellen in ruins taken circa 1932 - 1935. Loch Raven reservoir is in the middle distance.
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Loch Raven
Dam. The date is probably 1923. This is the upper dam, which has been recently completed,
though no water is shown flowing over the spillway. Edmund T. Kenney as an 11 or
12-year-old stands in the middle left distance looking over the parapet at the lake below.
Evidence of construction has been removed although the bank on the far side of the dam
still looks very raw.