{"nrhp_refnum":"91000308","name":"Twining Laboratories","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2527 Fresno St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fresno","county":"Fresno County","state":"CA","lat":36.75807247400007,"lon":-119.78760117699994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-03-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Science","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick commercial laboratory and office building at 2527 Fresno Street, downtown Fresno, California, built in 1930 to designs by architect Charles E. Butner and enlarged between 1935 and 1943.","why_significant":"The building is significant under Criterion B for its association with Frederick E. Twining, a pioneer San Joaquin Valley chemist known for vaccine preparation and food and drug testing. It is significant under Criterion C as a good small commercial Mediterranean Revival building and as a work of regional architect Charles E. Butner. It is also argued to be a rare surviving example of early Depression-era downtown Fresno architecture.","narrative":"Twining Laboratories is a two-story brick building on the northwest corner of Fresno and P Streets in downtown Fresno. Completed in 1930 for a chemical testing business, it was designed by architect Charles E. Butner and built by Fisher & McNulty. Its stuccoed front facade follows a small Mediterranean palazzo model, with a mission tile parapet, curved end gables and glazed ceramic tile grillwork. Additions in 1935, 1940, 1942 and 1943 extended the front and created an L-shaped plan. The building is valued for its link to Frederick E. Twining, a pioneer chemist who worked on vaccines for cattle and on food and drug testing, and whose firm advertised that it would test anything. It also stands as a rare surviving example of a well-designed downtown Fresno building from the early Depression years, when much comparable work was lost to urban renewal. Its massing, materials and details remain largely intact, and the laboratory use has continued for about six decades.","period_of_significance":"1930-1940","architect_builder":"Butner, Charles E.; Fisher and McNulty General Contractors","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival (Mediterranean Revival)","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"In continual use for almost 60 years as an engineering office and chemistry laboratory; in very good repair, with a cosmetic rehabilitation in progress.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.982222-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/91000308.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000308/fd9e0ec22e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000308/fd9e0ec22e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Bobak Ha'Eri","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2009-0725-CA-TwiningLaboratories.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bobak Ha'Eri</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2009-0725-CA-TwiningLaboratories.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858705","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twining_Laboratories","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q85811249"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/fresno-county/twining-laboratories-91000308/"}