Arthur Clinton Tubbs purchased the Royal Laundry in 1916, merging it with Yosemite Laundry three years later to create one of Pasadena's major commercial cleaning operations. Though Tubbs died in 1923 before realizing his expansion plans, his son Harry Arthur Tubbs commissioned Gordon Kaufmann to design a modern industrial campus that would open on September 27, 1927. The 72,500-square-foot complex eventually grew to include three structures: the original Spanish Colonial Revival main plant, a 1930 Streamline Moderne south annex, and a 1939 drive-in retail building designed for automobile-era in-car laundry pickup.
The main plant presents a tripartite facade with modest ornamentation befitting its light industrial purpose, its front entrance trimmed in colorful Spanish tile. Inside, dramatic sawtooth skylights crown exposed wood truss roof systems that flood the former work floors with north-facing natural light. The south annex adopted a sleek Streamline Moderne aesthetic in wood-frame construction, while the retail building introduced street-facing convenience with its drive-through service bays. A sheet-metal rooftop sign reading "Drive-In & Save," added in 1955, broadcast the company's modern efficiency to Raymond Avenue traffic for decades.
