What could bring filmmaker John Waters, former First Lady of Maryland Katie O’Malley, BOPA chair Andrew Chaveas and 300 more fun-seeking creatives together in Mount Vernon on a dreary Thursday night?The grand opening of Baltimore’s newest events venue, called Swann House, where Mount Vernon Stable & Saloon used to be.Ash, a design and development firm that owns Hotel Ulysses at 2 E. Read Street, purchased the adjacent four-story building at 909 N. Charles Street and renovated it as a supplemental clubhouse and party space for weddings, anniversaries, graduations and other occasions.The operators of the 116-room hotel, which opened in September of 2022, said they received numerous requests for a place that could accommodate larger groups, and that drove their decision. The result, designed by Ash creative director Xavier Donnelly, is a 1,100-square-foot space that can be a bar, ballroom or banquet hall for up to 85 guests standing or 45 seated.Swann House at 909 N. Charles Street (center), with Hotel Ulysses in the background. Photo by Ed Gunts.Hotel Ulysses rises on land that was once the home of former Baltimore Mayor Ferdinand Claiborne Latrobe, and it takes its name from the James Joyce novel. Swann House is named after Latrobe’s wife, Louisa Sherlock Swann, and their son, Swann. Its interior retains many of the features from the building’s days as a residence and then restaurant, including wood paneling, marble fireplace mantels and high ceilings.On Thursday night, people strolled up and down the street after dark. Lights were on across the way at Spirits of Mount Vernon and Marie Louise Bistro, and parking spaces were in short supply.The parking lot between Hotel Ulysees and Swann House was transformed into an outdoor gathering spot, where guests sipped wine and slurped oysters. Opera tenor Emile Joseph Weeks performed inside the hotel, whose café and cocktail lounge were packed. In the lounge, a wordsmith composed poetry on the spot for anyone who asked.Swann House was filled, too, with people who had come to check out the main floor, where an Egyptian sarcophagus used to hang from the ceiling upside down, and the basement-level bar below. Ash served wine, canapes and “Swann shots” while a DJ played dance music. There’s an art gallery on an upper floor.Some of the guests were residents of the neighborhood and other members of the Mount Vernon Belvedere Association. But word about the opening got out far beyond that, drawing people from all over the city.Around 8 p.m. the hoteliers cut a birthday cake for Ulysses and lit sparklers outdoors to mark the opening of Swann House, and the party continued. For one night, Mount Vernon felt like Mount Vernon again.