Twining Laboratories, Fresno, California
historic place
The Twining Laboratories building, located at 2527 Fresno Street in Fresno, California, was constructed in 1930. Architect Charles E. Butner designed the structure in the Mediterranean Revival style, a notable example for a commercial building in downtown Fresno. This site is significant due to its association with Frederick E. Twining, a prominent pioneer chemist. Twining established his practice in Fresno in 1898. Early in his career, he worked as a bacteriologist, preparing vaccines against cattle diseases, and served as a State Sanitary Inspector and City Bacteriologist for Fresno. His laboratory expanded its services, becoming widely consulted on diverse subjects like food and drug testing, sobriety testing, and the analysis of California brandy. By the mid-1940s, the firm's technical library was one of the largest on the West Coast. At the time of Frederick Twining's death in 1945, his lab was described as the most diversified in the United States for scientific research and testing. Twining Laboratories stands as a historic place reflecting significant contributions to both science and architecture in Fresno.