Peter Zinszer's Mammoth Furniture House
Peter Zinszer's Mammoth Furniture House (sometimes spelled Zinzer) was a furniture dealer located in the Zinszer Building at 2115-2117 2nd Avenue North. It was founded in 1884 by Peter Zinszer, who went on to construct the massive four-story store with a modern cast-iron and glass facade in 1889. The business sold furniture, carpets, stoves, and household items, delivered by mule-drawn carriage to all parts of the city.
Zinszer died in 1894 and his widow, Rosa Zinszer, continued to operate the store until 1904 as one of Birmingham's prominent business women.
That year she sold the business was to Mrs. W. H. Wilder. The store was managed by A. G. Miller with Joseph Zinszer as buyer. It was later taken over by Beard Furniture and is presently used as an office building.
The building, considered to have the finest of the two surviving examples of Victorian cast-iron facades in Birmingham, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 23, 1980.
References
- White, Marjorie Longenecker (1977) Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.