Otto Eugene Adams (Sr.), the architect, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on November 1, 1889, to a family with Baltimore and German ancestry.

The Kelso Home for Girls, formerly the Kelso Home and Orphan Asylum in Baltimore, Maryland, was a 19th-century orphanage and school building for girls on East Baltimore Street in the Jonestown/Old Town neighborhood, east of the Jones Falls. It was founded by businessman and philanthropist Thomas Kelso, (1784–1878), a former member of the old Methodist Episcopal Church, and inaugurated in January 1874. Formerly the Towson Family YMCA, it is now the Y of Central Maryland Towson Family Center.