Baltimore architect Laurence Hall Fowler made his name designing houses for well-heeled clients in Homeland, Guilford, Blythewood, Gibson's Island and the Greenspring Valley. He was born in 1876 in Catonsville, Maryland, and attended the Johns Hopkins University. After graduation, he studied architectural history and drafting at Columbia. After a brief apprenticeship in two New York architectural firms, he left for Paris in spring 1904 for further studies at the École des Beaux-Arts and in the atelier of Godefroy and Freynet. He remained abroad for less than a year, returning to Baltimore in the fall.

Fowler's non-residential commissions include the War Memorial and the Calvert School in Baltimore, the Hall of Records in Annapolis, and additions to St. Timothy's School and the Greenwood School. He also advised on civic architectural matters through his appointments to the Municipal Art Commission, the Committee on Buildings and Grounds of the Baltimore Museum of Art, and various committees at Hopkins.