Mar 17, 2017

Photos and text by Barbara Haddock Taylor

: Betsy Stone, leasing administrator at the Bromo Seltzer building, stands in the clock tower. The building was built by Isaac Edward Emerson and has been a Baltimore landmark since 1911. The clock is currently being refurbished in Maine. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: Bromo Seltzer bottles are part of the museum’s collection at the Bromo Seltzer Tower, a Baltimore landmark since 1911. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: The Bromo Seltzer clock, a Baltimore landmark, is in the process of being refurbished. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: The Bromo Seltzer Tower dominates the Baltimore skyline at dusk in the early 1930s.

: The Emerson Tower building was topped with a 51-foot high, blue Bromo Seltzer bottle that revolved. It was removed in 1936 due to structural concerns.

: Betsy Stone walks on the 19th floor, two floors above the clock room at the Bromo Seltzer Tower. This level was once used for radio broadcasting, due to the height of the building. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: Betsy Stone, leasing administrator at the Bromo Seltzer building, climbs a set of stairs to one of upper levels of the clock tower. The tower was built by Isaac Edward Emerson and has been a Baltimore landmark since 1911. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: Support cables are seen on the upper deck of the Bromo Seltzer building. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: Camden Yards is seen looking south from an upper floor of the Bromo Seltzer building. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: Camden Yards is seen from the upper floors of the Bromo Seltzer Tower. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: Support beams are visible on the outside of the Bromo Seltzer Tower, a Baltimore landmark since 1911. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower is seen on Lombard Street in Downtown Baltimore. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: Tommy Roberts paints a portrait in the studio he shares with another artist at the Bromo Seltzer building. There are 14 floors of artists’ studios. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: An old-fashioned fan sits in a window in the museum at the Bromo Seltzer building, a Baltimore landmark since 1911. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: Artist Martha Dougherty installed this watercolor mobile installation in her studio at the Bromo Seltzer Tower, a Baltimore landmark since 1911. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: A marble slab notates the entrance to the Bromo Seltzer building at the corner of Lombard and Eutaw Streets. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: This reference dial was on the original clock mechanism. Its face showed what time the arms outside on the tower were reading on the Bromo Seltzer Tower. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, a Baltimore landmark, is located at 21 S. Eutaw Street downtown. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: The Bromo Seltzer clock is in the process of being refurbished. The hands will be returned this spring. ( (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: The clock hands, seen in detail, are being stored in the clock tower at the Bromo Seltzer building until the clock works are restored. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower has been one of Baltimore’s iconic landmarks since its construction in 1911. Originally called Emerson Tower, it was built by Isaac Edward Emerson, the chemist and business tycoon who invented Bromo Seltzer.

The building’s architect, Joseph Sperry, modeled it on the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence, Italy.

A giant Bromo Seltzer bottle, nearly 70 feet tall, 20 feet in diameter and weighing 17 tons, once graced the top of the tower. The steel, wood and copper bottle rotated there until 1936, when it had to be taken down because its weight was placing too much stress on the building itself.

Today the building is home and studio for a number of writers, jewelers, artists and photographers who have dramatic views of the city from every angle.

Seth Thomas designed the beautiful clock, which has been in the process of refurbishment since 2015. The Balzer Family Clockworks of Freeport, Maine, has rebuilt, repainted and made new hands for the clock which will be returned to its home atop the tower in late April.

Inside Baltimore’s iconic Bromo Seltzer Tower

Leave a Reply Cancel