The Emerson Tower (often called the Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower or the Bromo Tower) is a 15-story,

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

erected in 1907–1911 at 21 South Eutaw Street, at the northeast corner of Eutaw and West Lombard Streets in downtown

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. It was the tallest building in the city from 1911 to 1923, until supplanted by the Citizens National Bank building (later First National Bank of Maryland, then occupied by MECU - Municipal Employees Credit Union) at the southeast corner of Light and Redwood (German) Streets. It was designed by local architect

Joseph Evans Sperry Joseph Evans Sperry (1854–1930) was an American architect, noted for designing buildings in Baltimore. He was born in Georgetown, South Carolina and later relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where he partnered with James Bosley Noel Wyatt to for ...

(1854-1930) for Isaac Edward Emerson (1859-1931), who invented the

Bromo-Seltzer Bromo-Seltzer was a brand of antacid formulated to relieve pain occurring together with heartburn, upset stomach, or acid indigestion. It originally contained sodium bromide and acetanilide, both toxic substances which were eventually removed ...

headache remedy. For years, the landmark tower was surrounded by and part of the Emerson Drug Company with its office headquarters and manufacturing plant for the carbonated headache pain relief tablets or powder

. Later, the Emerson building around it was razed and replaced by the

Baltimore City Fire Department The Baltimore City Fire Department (BCFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1797 and established in 1859, the Baltimore City Fire Department covers an area of o ...

's John Steadman Fire Station, which serves the west side of downtown Baltimore. The Steadman Station combined several earlier engine and truck companies in firehouses on the west side. Built in the

Brutalist architecture Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...

style of poured concrete, the station has lines echoing the surviving tower to its south and west.

History

It was the tallest building in Baltimore from 1911 until 1923.Washington, Marcus. "Iconic Bromo Seltzer Is Telling Time Once Again For Baltimore." CBS Baltimore. N.p., 24 Apr. 17. Web. 23 June 2017.
/ref> The design of the tower along with the original factory building at its base was inspired by the

Palazzo Vecchio The Palazzo Vecchio ( "Old Palace") is the City hall, town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David (Michelangelo), David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent ...

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, which was seen by Emerson during a tour of Europe in 1900. Systems engineering for the building's original design was completed by

Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. Presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fra ...

. The factory was demolished in 1969 and replaced with a firehouse. The building features four

clock face A clock face is the part of an analog clock (or watch) that displays time through the use of a flat dial with reference marks, and revolving pointers turning on concentric shafts at the center, called hands. In its most basic, globally recogni ...

s adorning the tower's 15th

floor A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load ...

on the North, South, East and West sides. Installed by the

Seth Thomas Clock Company The Seth Thomas Clock Company was founded by Seth Thomas and began producing clocks in 1813. It was incorporated as the "Seth Thomas Clock Company" in 1853. The company manufactured clock movements for the Self Winding Clock Company from 1886 th ...

at an original cost of US$3,965, they are made of translucent white glass and feature the letters B-R-O-M-O S-E-L-T-Z-E-R, with the

Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

being less prominent. The dials, which are illuminated at

night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset to sunrise during each 24-hour day, when the Sun is below the horizon. The exact time when night begins and ends depends o ...

with LED lights are 24 feet (7.3 meters) in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid for ...

, and the minute and hour hands about 12 and 10 feet (3.7 and 3.0 meters) in length respectively. Upon its completion, the Bromo Seltzer Tower had the world's largest four-dial gravity-driven clock. The clock was converted to electric power in 1975 and restored to the original weight drive in 2017. On each clock face, BROMO runs clockwise from 10:00 to 2:00, while SELTZER runs counterclockwise from 9:00 to 3:00. The tower originally had a Bromo-Seltzer bottle, glowing blue and rotating. Weighing 20

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s (18.1

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s), it was lined with 314 illuminated w/ lights and topped with a crown on a clear night it could be seen from 20 miles away. The bottle was removed in 1936 because of structural concerns. The tower was virtually abandoned in 2002, but in early 2007 the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts and philanthropists Eddie and Sylvia Brown worked to transform the structure into artist studios. The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower is now home to a variety of creative artists, writers, videographers, photographers, poets, and more. Throughout the day, artists welcome guests into their studios to view and purchase original art. The Baltimore Fire Department's John F. Steadman Fire Station, which opened in 1973 and is situated at the tower's base, houses BCFD Hazmat 1, Airflex 1, Medic1, Medic 23, MAC23, Engine 23, Rescue 1, and formerly Truck 2. The Bromo Seltzer History Museum opened in 2015 featuring a collection of Bromo Seltzer bottles and Emerson Drug Company marketing ephemera. The Maryland Glass Room was added in 2017 to showcase the collection of cobalt blue glass bottles made by The Maryland Glass Corporation owned by Isaac Emerson. The Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973. It is included within the

Baltimore National Heritage Area Baltimore National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area encompassing portions of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The designated area includes the central portion of the city, waterfront, inner neighborhoods and portions of the ...

References

External links

* * at the Maryland Historical Trust {{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Commercial buildings completed in 1911 Culture of Baltimore Skyscrapers in Baltimore Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore Clock towers in Maryland Downtown Baltimore Tourist attractions in Baltimore Joseph Evans Sperry buildings Baltimore National Heritage Area 1911 establishments in Maryland Skyscrapers in Maryland Baltimore City Landmarks

History

See also

References

External links