With historic Fort McHenry (former Fort Whetstone dating from the American Revolutionary War) from the War of 1812 (1812-1815), to the southeast at the point itself and additional residential areas surrounding the high school in tightly packed rowhouses and streets known as Locust Point and Riverside to the south and southeast along with the restored Otterbein and Sharp-Leadenhall neighborhoods to the west, also just south of the downtown central business district and famed "Inner Harbor" of the City of Baltimore, in Maryland.
The Southern High building was constructed of red brick with limestone trim in a Jacobean/English Tudor style architecture used for a number of Baltimore City and other American schools of that era.
Located on a 2.45-acre (9,900 m2) site adjacent to the sidewalks with rows of traditional Baltimore rowhouses with famous white marble steps and front facade bases were on the east, west and south sides of the school in the Federal Hill/South Baltimore neighborhood, but fronting towards the southern side of Federal Hill Park which overlooks the downtown skyline of the city's central business district and the former "Basin", now the famed "Inner Harbor".
The Southern High building complex at its most extensive period contained an auditorium, three gymnasiums, a 500-person capacity cafeteria, library, six shops, six home education rooms, one laboratory, and 44 classrooms.
Upon its completion in late 1978, the new modernist simple stark block building of light tan/brown brick was capable of accommodating 2,400 students.
[7] One of its most famous alumni, Hall of Fame baseball player Al Kaline, graduated from Southern High School in 1953 and began playing that summer as an 18-year-old in the Major Leagues for the Detroit Tigers.