Baltimore's Emerson Bromo Seltzer Tower

The Emerson Bromo Seltzer Tower is a landmark that helps define Baltimore's skyline. At the time of its construction in 1911 at Eutaw and Lombard streets it was the tallest building downtown. The clock tower's designer, Joseph Evans Sperry, modeled it after the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was later built by Captain Isaac Emerson, inventor of the Bromo Seltzer headache remedy. In addition to its size, the structure has several other distinctive features. A 51-foot rotating illuminated blue replica of a Bromo-Seltzer bottle once topped the structure; the ornament was removed in 1936. The tower's clocks, which appear on all four sides, are still operational.