The Kirsch Company (Now 45th Street Artists’ Cooperative)

This building at 1420 45th street was erected for The Kirsch Company in 1926.

Kirsch, founded by C.W. Kirsch in 1907, manufactured drapery hardware and was headquartered in Sturgis, Michigan. At the time they were the world’s largest manufacturer of flat curtain rods.

In 1934, the 126,000 square foot plant was sold to the Apex-Rotarex Mfg. Co.. Apex-Rotarex manufactured vacuum cleaners, washers, Ironers and refrigerators. Apex occupied this building until 1938 when they consolidated operations at their Horton & Powell location.

The space was eventually absorbed by the sprawling Shell Oil Company who used it for research and development until they moved their operations to Houston in 1972.

Two women artists took over the space in 1973 and began partitioning and subletting it as studio and live/work space to other artists. After several years, tenant artists wanted more of a say in how the space was managed while the two managing artists were eager to get back to focusing on their crafts. The tenant artists formed a housing cooperative and took over the master leases in 1980.

In 1986, many of these same tenant artists formed a nonprofit and were able to purchase the building. In 1988, this nonprofit acquired the adjacent properties at 4250 Horton and 4333 Holden Street.

In 1992 they sold a portion of their Horton/Holden property to a local architect and a developer for what became the Horton Street Lofts at 4300 Horton Street.

The 45th Street Artists’ Cooperatives now comprises around 60 live/work spaces across the three buildings as a nonprofit limited-equity cooperative. They are considered one of Emeryville’s first affordable housing projects and a model for artist-owned housing across the U.S. They celebrated their 50th year of existence in 2023.

An ornate medallion with an embossed “K” can still be seen above the front entrance.