This was home to a laundry business with a capacity of 7200 shirts a day and 200 employees

Swiss Steam Laundry Building, Baltimore Maryland

Date added: November 29, 2023 Categories:

As Baltimore City grew into a major metropolitan area in the late nineteenth century, the structure of its downtown area changed from a homogenous nature to a central business district with distinctive centers of finance, government, retailing, and industry. Industries that were closely related to shipping and major financial institutions were generally located near the waterfront on the eastern portion of the downtown area. A small government center grew up in the vicinity of the Battle Monument and City Hall. The major retailing and department stores located near Lexington Market the major marketplace for the city. Other industries, most notably the clothing industry located just west of the harbor, but near the major railroad terminal in the city. The greatest concentration of the period (1870-1910) warehouses, vertical manufacturies, and commercial buildings in the entire state are still extant within this general area known as the loft district.

According to the Baltimore Sun of July 12^th, 1895, the Swiss Steam Laundry Building was built for furniture manufacturer, Charles T. Bagby (1860-1943) as a speculative real estate venture and then leased in 1896 to the Swiss Steam Laundry Company. Although contemporary accounts do not list an architect, the building permit, issued on July 11^th, 1895, was noted in the Baltimore Sun, the Baltimore American, the Daily Record and the Manufacturers Record.

By January 3^rd, 1896, the entire building had been leased to John W. Lowe, who established the Steam Laundry.

According to Sanborn Atlases, each floor was used for a different function of the laundry: washing in the basement; sorting on the first floor; dyeing on the second; ironing on the third; drying on the fourth; packing on the fifth; and sorting on the sixth.

In 1898, the Company incorporated and changed its name to the Swiss Manufacturing Company. The laundry ranked among the largest in the country, with a capacity of 7200 shirts a day and 200 employees. In 1900, the laundry changed its name again, to the Elite Laundry, which conducted a cleaning and dyeing operation at the same time that a laundry supplies business was carried on here as the Swiss Manufacturing Company. Branches of the Elite Laundry opened in Washington and Philadelphia, and in 1912, it merged with several other Baltimore laundries to form United Laundries, Inc., and established new branches in Atlantic City, New Jersey. More modern facilities were needed: and by 1915 the laundry moved from this location.

Stuart, Keith and Company, maker of overalls, drawers, and shirts moved into the building. This is one of several important garment firms that made Baltimore a leader in this industry. George D. Keith (1863-1932), the president of this firm was a member of Baltimore's Board of Commissioners for Opening Streets.

Stuart Keith and Company operated in this building for about 15 years. Other garment firms subsequently located here, including KMW Suit and Cloak Company and Maryland Cloak Company, manufacturers of lady's suits and cloaks. From the 1930s to the 1950s the Union Wallpaper Company operated from this building. It was most recently used by Kravitz and Rothbard Novelties before becoming vacant.

Building Description

The six-story 1895 Swiss Steam Laundry Building fronts easterly on North Greene Street, with a facade dominated by two five-story arched bays each consisting of tripartite fenestration on the first four floors. The first story features brick rustication at the corners and a cast iron storefront with an ornamental scroll and egg-and-dart molding at the cornice. The facade, framed by large brick pilasters with rough stone capitals supporting a metal cornice, which runs between the fourth and fifth floors, is accentuated by one-over-one windows with stone sills and lintels, and brick panels between floor levels two, three and four. The features of the front facade continue on the most easterly portion of the Fayette Street (south) facade in a single-arched bay. To the west of this highly articulated corner are four bays of one-over-one windows grouped in twos. The windows are segmentally arched with stone sills and splayed brick lintels. The windows on the fifth floor are arched, as are the smaller sixth-floor windows, which are grouped in threes, except over the corner arch where there is a group of four. The interior of the building features iron columns on all levels and wood flooring. The first two floors are 20 feet high. The third and fourth floors are 16 feet high, while the uppermost floors are 10 feet high.

The six-story Swiss Steam Laundry Building, located in downtown Baltimore at 100-102 North Greene Street, was built in 1895. It has not been significantly altered, and remains a fine example of its type: the Romanesque-style brick manufacturing loft building, once the pride of Baltimore's commercial architecture. Located at the northwest corner of Fayette and Greene Streets, the Swiss Building, the architect of which is unknown, rivals many of the loft district buildings to the south in terms of architectural design and detailing.

The building fronts easterly on North Greene Street, with a facade dominated by two five-story arched bays each consisting of tripartite fenestration on the first four floors. The first story features brick rustication at the corners and a cast iron storefront with an ornamental scroll and egg-and-dart molding at the cornice. The facade, framed by large brick pilasters with rough stone capitals supporting a metal cornice, which runs between the fourth and fifth floors, is accentuated by one-over-one windows with stone sills and lintels, and brick panels between floor levels two, three, and four.

The large arched openings on the fifth floor feature four windows and a brick archway consisting of four courses of header brick and billet moulding projecting from the building walls. A projecting brick band course divides the fifth and sixth floors. Small windows with double-header brick arches punctuate the building walls on the sixth floor. A modillioned metal cornice caps the facade.

The features of the front facade continue on the most easterly portion of the Fayette Street (south) facade in a single-arched bay. To the west of this highly articulated corner are four bays of one-over-one windows grouped in twos. The windows are segmentally arched with stone sills and splayed brick lintels. The windows on the fifth floor are arched, as are the smaller sixth-floor windows, which are grouped in threes, except over the corner arch where there is a group of four.

The rear (western) elevation features a fire escape and many four-over-four and six-over-six windows. Here, the building wall is laid in common bond brick as opposed to the stretcher bond bricks with tight mortar joints on the main facades. The northern side wall is blank. A wall sign from the 1950s for "Kravitz and Rothbard, Novelties" partially covers an earlier sign for the "Elite Laundry Company."

The interior of the building features iron columns on all levels and wood flooring. The first two floors are 20 feet high. The third and fourth floors are 16 feet high, while the uppermost floors are 10 feet high.

The setting of the Swiss Building is very interesting. Smaller, mid-19^th century buildings stand to the north, and to the east, across Greene Street, is the large three-story brick Poe School. Diagonally opposite is the Gothic-style Westminster Church with its historic burying ground, which is the final resting place of many of Baltimore's most notable early citizens, among them Edgar Allan Poe. University of Maryland hospital buildings stand to the south and west.