Swann & Co. Building
The Swann & Co. Building is a two-story limestone-clad office and laboratory building at 205 32nd Street South in Lakeview. It was commissioned in 1936 by chemical engineer Theodore Swann as the home of his newly-formed Swann & Co. research company, which studied various means of organically synthesizing terpene derivitaves, phenols and pharmaceutical compounds.
The building was designed in a a stripped Classical style, similar to the recently-opened Jefferson County Courthouse. Some of the company's operations extended into the adjacent one-story industrial building at 3205-3211 2nd Avenue South.
Swann closed the firm amidst personal financial difficulties in 1945. The business and its offices were acquired by the Vulcan Chemical Company. Two years later, in 1947, Alabama Fuel & Iron purchased the building for its headquarters office.
The building is presently owned by Birmingham AIDS Outreach for their offices. It was recognized in 2016 as a contributing structure to the North Lakeview Industrial District on the National Register of Historic Places.
References
- Griffith, Edward J. & Carolyn Green Satterfield (1999) The Triumphs and Troubles of Theodore Swann. Montgomery: Black Belt Press ISBN 1880216574
- Nelson, Linda (December 8, 2015) "North Lakeview Industrial District" National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form