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.Birmingham|National Register of Historic Places]].
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