Doran-Speidel Building

Built In

1912

History

James C. Doran com¬missioned the building in 1912 to house rental units for jewelry manufacturing next to his headquarters at 150 Chestnut Street. It was designed by Monks & Johnson, a fledgling Boston engineering firm, who adopted the structure and aesthetics introduced four years earlier at the AT Wall Building. The earliest tenant was the German immigrant Albert Speidel’s Watch Chain Company. This company was started in Germany in 1867. After WWII Speidel shifted production from chains to extendable bracelet watchbands designed by Albert’s brother Edwin. The so-called “Twist-O-Flex” design of the band was one of the first brands to be advertised on television in 1949. Today, it is the home of Brown's Molecular Medicine Building.