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. As the first large furniture dealer to set up in the city, Zinszer's was considered a pioneer Birmingham business.
By 1894 Zinszer's Mammoth Furniture House maintained its "Time House" for credit purchases in the Zinszer Building, as well as a smaller "Cash House" two blocks away at 1917 2nd Avenue North. Zinszer died later that year 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 to a 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
- "An Industrial Review of the General Business Interests of Birmingham and the cities and towns comprising the great state of Alabama" (1904) Birmingham: Post B, Alabama Division, Travelers Protective Association
- White, Marjorie Longenecker (1977) Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.