Alaska Steam Laundry/ Emporium

Additional Information

The two-story building is of wood frame construction in the front and reinforced concrete in the back. It is 60' long. The front of the building measures 39' with a 3' overhang of the tower at the second story. It measures 32' high along the roof line with the tower roof rising 8' above this. The building has a wood piling foundation, wood siding , and a flat roof with decorative shingle fascia and turret roof. The first floor has transom windows and the second floor double hung windows. There is a turret on the southwest corner, and decorative cornices under the roofline and turret. A dentiled stringcourse is above the wood frame storefront. The first floor facade has been remodeled with storefront windows. A sidewalk canopy has been added.

The Alaska Steam Laundry provided an essential service to a large number of miners. The building is on the site of Juneau's first prominent business district. The laundry probably replaced an earlier gold-camp structure of the 19th century. In 1928, the laundry moved to a new, concrete structure in the rear of the old one. It has housed various businesses through the years including a medical clinic in the 1930s. By 1986, the 1901 and 1928 buildings had been remodeled into The Emporium, a downtown mall serving a number of businesses.

commercial

Inventory of Historic Sites and Structures, City and Borough of Juneau Alaska, March, 1986; CBJ Community Development files; National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination application, March 10, 1977; National Register Nomination, June 17, 1994