Nomination for East Fourth Street Historic District

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior JAN 12 1988 and areas of significance, enter only the categories and subcategories listed in the instructions. For additional space use continuation sheets 1. Name of Property other names/site number Location street & number not for publication city, town zip code Classification Ownership of Property X private _buildings Structure _objects Name of related multiple property listing: 4. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the NationalHistoric Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. State or Federal agency and bureau Signature of commenting or other official 5.

National Park Service Certification 1, hereby, certify that this property is: /entered in the National Register. | See continuation sheet. determined eligible for the National Register. See continuation sheet. determined not eligible for the other, (explain:) Signature of the Keeper Date of Action 061 Noncontributing Cincinnati site public-local public-Federal RECEIVED district Date REGISTER public-State NATIONAL state vicinity Total Registration Form Ohio (Rev. 8-86) removed from the National Register. National Register. Number of contributing resources previously National Park Service National Register of Historic Places historic name Category of Property Signature of certifying official Number of Resources within Property This form is for use in nominating orrequesting determinations of eligibility for individual properties or districts.See instructions in Guidelines (Form 10-900a).

Type all entries. NPS Form 10-900 listed in the National Register the requested information. If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, styles, materials, 127 and 135-37 E. Fourth Street zip code 45202 county Hamilton for Completing National Register Forms (National Register Bulletin 16).Complete each item by marking"xin the appropriate box or by entering . Function or Use Current Functions (enter categories from instructions) COMMERCE/TRADE- business 7.

Description walls - with Supra Slate Place, a mid-block alley between Walnut and Main Streets, and is bounded on Berning Place, while the Formica Building and the Federal Reserve Bank buildings, the John Holland Building (#127) and the Scot Business Machines the B/G Restaurant Building (#135-37), is almost double that width, measuring Business Machine Company Building, which was more drastically altered, is being given a compatible storefront treatment. Added when the building was updated about the turn of the century, the facade roof brick Italianate other metal Architectural Classification Second Renaissance Revival Second Empire See continuation sheet brick bearing wall construction. been restored. Fourth Street in the midst of downtown Cincinnati's business/financial/retail apparent in the appearance of this building. Describe present and historic physical appearance.

Building are directly across Fourth Street.

features a straight sided Mansard roofed fifth story.The roof is surfaced Materials (enter categories from instructions) continuous five story commercial buildings, located on the south side of East Each building is being rehabilitated using the Secretary of the Interior's Historic Functions (enter categories from instructions) All three buildings are rectangular in plan with narrow fronts, and are of (enter categories from instructions) Scot Business Machines Company Building,123 Bast Fourth Street the east and south by the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company Building and its curved pedimented roof dormer with a bank of triple wood frame 1/1 double hung Situated on a plot measuring approximately78'x 50',two of the three and.the John Holland Pen Company Building are being restored, while.the Scot/ Company Building measuring 20'x50'while the third foundation brick with Supra Slate to replace the deteriorated original slate, and contains a district.The three building historic district extends east from Berning windows.The original projecting pressed metal bracketed roof cornice has annex.The First National Bank Clopay Building annex is located across The 123-137 East Fourth Street historic district is comprised of three The influence of the Commercial Style as well as the Second Empire Style is NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No.

1024-0018 123-137 East Fourth Street Historic District, Hamilton County, Cincinnati, Ohio Banks of triple 1/1 wood frame double hung windows on the second, third, and century vintage, is historically compatible with the building. A wood cornice The interior plan, floors, and walls remain intact, although modernized, with The hard surfaced, orange/buff colored thin Roman brick of the facade is laid corners, and a simple rectangular brick relief detail between the stories. Interior plan still apparent, although modernized, with door and window The B/G Restaurant Building, 135-37 East Fourth Street This 6 bay wide commercial building has a common bond facade, and is classically detailed, pedimented dormers, each with 2/2 double hung wood frame joints. Continuation Sheet Supra Slate.

National ParkService decorative grillwork which fills the panel below the shop windows.The fluted square cast iron column supports the corner where the recessed entrance distinguished by a straight sided Second Empire style Mansard roofed fifth The storefront retains much of it's original fabric, including the cast iron continuous recessed I-beam lintels, marked with decorative rosettes between minimal early woodwork remaining.mostly door and window surrounds. surrounds remaining on the upper floors. windows banding the upper floors.

into wood frames between other original cast iron columns, with a simple fourth floors are separated by fluted wood pilasters, with stone sills and is located.A large front shop window and two smaller side windows are set and multi-light transom wraps around both the front and side.An original United States Department of the Interior original door and it's unusual Art Nouveau style hardware also remain. National Register of Historic Places This four bay wide, five story building shows the influence of the Second Renaissance Revival style of the early 20th century in the projecting The newly constructed storefront, which replaces one which was of mid-20th replacement iron grille filling the panel below. bracketed pressed metal roof cornice and the 1/1 double hung wood frame of the facade.

Section number _ 1 - Page 2 columns, the transomed shop windows, the recessed centered entrance and the with narrow joints of colored mortar.There is brick quoin detailing at the John Holland Pen Company Building,127 East Fourth Street NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 123-137 East Fourth Street Historic District, Hamilton County, Cincinnati, Ohio Section number _ The second, third, and fourth floor windows have 1/1 double hung wood frame The building's storefront, which previously had been extensively altered, has and historic photographs.

Page Continuation Sheet been restored with one that is historically compatible with the building.It reconstructed in wood, with the aid of it's remaining evidence on the building the facade, reconstructed wood cornice extends the entire length of the National Park Service National Register of Historic Places storefronts on this building and the John Holland Building. United States Department of the Interior has an off-centered recessed entrance anda second doorway at the east end of sash, with limestone projecting bracketed windows heads and lugsills. The original pressed metal bracketed roof cornice was missing. and has been 8. Statement of Significance

Statement of significance

Areas of Significance (enter categories from instructions) Significant Person State significance of property, and justify criteria, criteria considerations, and areas and periods of significance noted above. Street, the city's prime commercial thoroughfare, and are the only examples a cohesiveness, now notably distinct from their surroundings, by means of their similarity of scale, proportion and massing, as well as their common century, Fourth Street was already established as Cincinnati's foremost story buildings, most often with retail space at street level, and office, center. During this period, the construction of nine major large scale bank/ X See continuation sheet 1900 1860 1876 Architecture facades.

Unknown Architect/Builder Cultural Affiliation significant to the history of Cincinnati's central business district because Significant Dates These businesses were housed predominantly in narrow fronted four and five and retail establishments interspersed with several churches and hotels.

materials, type and method of construction, and their unified first floor These three structures are among the few remaining examples of small scale The three buildings that comprise the 123-137 East Fourth Street cluster are Period of Significance Applicable National Register Criteria commercial buildings of that era located on the central part of East Fourth together they represent one of the last vestiges of an era of development in When these buildings were constructed during the third quarter of-the 19th Some larger scale building began to take place on Fourth Street late in the detailing asa result of early renovations,the three buildings still exhibit Building it wasn't until after 1900 that extensive changes began and H.H.Richardson's massive Romanesque Revival Chamber of Commerce Criteria Considerations (Exceptions) the commercial life of the city during the late 19th and early 20th century.

which still retain their essential historic identity, unobscured by recent shopping area, with both sides of the street lined with a variety of wholesale Certifying official has considered the significance of this property in relation to other properties: statewide intrusive alterations.Although each is distinctly individual in style and activity transformed this part of East Fourth Street into the city's financial light manufacturing and storage space located in the upper stories. nationally 19th century with the construction of the six story Mitchell Furniture Company Illustrated Cincinnati, D.J. Kenney; Cincinnati: Robert Clark and Co., 1875. Transformation of Fourth Street into Cincinnati's Financial District, a working paper, Compton Allyn, 1985.

[X preliminary determination of individual listing (36CFR 67) Primary location of additional data: x State historic preservation office previously determined eligible by the National Register designated a National Historic Landmark Survey # recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # 10.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

Geographical Data south 50'; thence west 78.2'; thence north along the east right of way of Berning Place 50' Boundaries include the historic property associated with the buildings. 11. Form Prepared By name/title - organization - street & number 3453 Whitfield Avenue .telephone _zip code _ . state 45220 date Northing University Zone Easting Other Local government 8/20/87 Boundary Justification Ohio Specify repository: Federal agency Acreage of property Juanita Stork, Historic Preservation Consultant UTM References 9. Major Bibliographical References less than one. Williams' Cincinnati Directories; various years. recorded by Historic American Buildings See continuation sheet previously listed in the National Register Other State agency to the point of beginning. has been requested Illustrated Guide to Clarke and Co,1893.

and Berning Place; thence east along the south right of way of East Fourth St.78.2'; thence Previous documentation on file (NPS): [43|30|610 A [1,6] city or town - Cincinnati NPS Form 10-000-e OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Park Service 123-137 East Fourth Street Historic District, Hamilton County, Cincinnati, Ohio story Italianate commercial structures, all three buildings received additions completely remodeled in the Second Empire Style in 1876, following an In addition to it's Mansard attic, the facade of the Scot Business Machines is significant for having been for 120 years, from c. 1860 until 1981, the location of the John Holland Gold Pen Company, a pioneer developer and apprenticed to George Sheppard, a developer of a durable gold pen point. company and established the John Holland Gold Pen Company, moving it to 127 from 1876 until 1928.

The business was owned by the Pounsford family, who Drake, prominent early Cincinnatian and founder of the city's first medical Page college. of replacement windows. with numerous banking and insurance institutions relocating their headquarters Continuation Sheet manufacturer of fine quality fountain pens which were sold throughout the After spending several years learning the business, Holland bought the undergone since their construction c. 1860 are themselves indicative of some The alterations which all three of the buildings in this cluster have pens which was produced in the United States. Another notable occupant of these buildings was the Pounsford Stationery of Second Empire Mansard attic stories late in the 19th century.

Holland pens are recognized by fountain pen collectors as one of the finest office buildings drastically changed the scale and character of the street, were involved in various aspects of the paper business in the area for many National Register of Historic Places facilities for John Holland's then expanded operations.

The buildings at each end of the cluster have had a variety of small business of the changes in commercial building styles which prevailed in the city during that period of time.Originally constructed as simple detailed four United States Department of the Interior innovations in fountain pen design for which he held patents, and even today Building was also updated at about the same time with a facade which featured extensive fire, and was remodeled and updated again around the turn of the occupants over the years, while the center building, 127 East Fourth Street, child in 1845 with his Irish immigrant parents.At the age of 15 he became Company, which occupied 135-137 East Fourth Street for more than 50 years, occupy space at 123 East Fourth Street.Holland developeda number of century when the present Renaissance Revival facade was added tomoderize the The center building.

the John Holland Building at 127 East Fourth Street, was (8-86) Section number - world. The company's founder, John Holland, came to Cincinnati as a young employed as many as 90 workers, producing pens, pencil cases, metal tooth business by his son, Harry. elements of the popular Commercial Style, especially in the horizontal bands from Third Street to Fourth Street. The elder Pounsford was a nephew of Dr. Daniel picks and other related items.By the 1890s the company had expanded to also NPS Form 10-900-e OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 123-137 East Fourth Street Historic District, Hamilton County, Cincinnati, Ohio functions over time. As already noted, between 1900 and 1913, East Fourth and contains buildings of similar density, massing, materials, and 19th Continuation Sheet National Register of Historic Places meridian Vine Street separating East Fourth Street from West Fourth Street.

Street witnessed a flurry of building activity which changed East Fourth from Fourth Street is a major street in Cincinnati's CBD with the North/South historic functions and development trends. Historically the two portions of Fourth Street have exhibited different the CBD along West Fourth Street developed as the garment district in the Fourth Street.

this cluster of three buildings now stands surrounded by the newer buildings, century styles including Victorian Italianate, Second Renaissance Revival, and as almost the only remnant of the earlier era remaining in this part of East its 19th century character as a wholesale and retail shopping area into Cincinnati's new financial district.The stretch of Fourth Street between National Park Service United States Department of the Interior (NR:8/13/87) and Amendment (NR:11/8/79) reflects this historical development Section number - Page _ Cincinnati's premier shopping district.

Historically, the area southwest of (8-86) 1870s through the 1930s.The West Fourth Street Historic District Commercial to the East Fourth Street buildings but reflecting different COMPANY Contributing buildings: Photograph views: Historic District Man Cincinnati, ilamilton County, Ohio 123-l37 East Fourth Street Historic District EAST ATH STREET PERJING PACE CAtE BUILPING WASO Form - 177 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ('R" June 1984) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET 128 187 East Fourth Street Historic District Fed. Reg. Date: nomination by person or local government -appeal J sample Reviewer's comments: Reviewer - _ see continuation sheet Nomination returned for: - _ technical corrections cited below _substantive reasons discussed below 1. Name 2. Location 3. Classification 4. Owner of Property 5.

Location of Legal Description 7. Description -excellent J unaltered -original site - moved Category ruins Ownership completeness deteriorated yes REJECT resubmission request Status alterations/integrity Discipline Accessible Action: clarity unexposed good RETURN NR decision ACCEPT Federal Agency: Condition 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Working No. Substantive Review: Public Acquisition fair boundary selection summary paragraph Describe the present and original (if known)physical appearance Hamilton County owner objection Present Use Check one Has this property been determined eligible? Date Due: ]dates 2-7-89 Recom./Criterja PDIL 8. Significance Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) J summary paragraph relating significance to the resource relationship of integrity to significance Other 9. Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data 11.

Form Prepared By The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: .local Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to _ Phone: _ GPO 918-450 Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet Date Builder/Architect Signed context title UTM References state national applicable criteria Maps Quadrangle name Photographs State Historic Preservation Officer signature 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification justification of exception Specific dates Verbal boundary description and justification justification of areas checked Acreage of nominated property clarity Areas of Significance-Check and justify below Period 123, 127, 135-37 East 4th St. Photo # 1 123-137 E. 4th St. Historic District relation to adjacent buildings Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio 123-137 E. 4th St. Historic District 123,127, 135-37 East 4th st. Photo shows: 4th St.

elevation & partial Berning Place elevation Photographer: Juanita Stork Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio Photo # 2 Date of photo: 11/10/86 123-137 E. 4th St. Historic District 123, 127, 135-37 East 4th St. 135- 37 E, 4th st. Photo # 3 vation Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio Date of photo: 11/10/86 TO STADIUM Hanson Millay Inc. BUILDING CONTRACTORS CHEVROLET 331-8302 123, 127, 135-37 East 4th St. Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio 135-37 E. 4tb st Photo # 4 elevation 123-137 E. 4th St. Historic District Date of photo: 11/10/86 123, 127, 135-37 East 4th St. Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio Photo # 5 11/10/86 Direction: 123-137 E. 4th St. Historic District and manufacturer's mark 135-37E.4th st Photographer: Juanita Stork Facing south east Date of photo: 123-137 E. 4th St. Historic District 123, 127, 135-37 East 4th St. Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio Photo # 6 123-137 E. 4th St.

Historic District 123, 127, 135-37 East 4th St. Photo # 7 Street Mansard roof and dormer of 123 E. 4th Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio Direction: Facing south east Date of photo: 11/10/86 123-137 E. 4th St. Historic District 123, 127, 135-37 East 4th St. of 123 East 4th St. Photographer: Juanita Stork Photo # 8 Cincinnati, Hamilton Co. ohio 123, 127, 135-137 East 4th St. Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio mansard roof of 135-137 E. 4th St. Date of photo: 11/10/86 Direction: Facing south east Photographer: Juanita Stork 123-137 E. 4th St. Historic District cornice, restored wood dormers & Photo: # 9 Photo: # 10 Direction:Facing south east Photographer: Juanita Stork Photo shows:Art Nouveau Entrance 123-137 E. 4th St. Historic District Lockset of 127 East 4th St. 123,127,135-137 East 4th St. Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio Date of photo: 11/10/86 123-137 E. 4th St.

Historic District Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio Photo: #11 123,127,135-137 East 4th St. entrance of 127 East 4th St. Photographer: Juanita Stork Direction: Facing north west _ 123-137 E. 4th St. Historic District 123, 127, 135-37 East 4th St. Photo #12 floor windows of 127 East 4th St. Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio Photographer: Juanita Stork Date of photo: 11/10/86 UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY COVINGTON QUADRANGLE COVINGTON, KY.OHIO KENTUCKY-OHIO DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 7.5 MINUTE SERIES (TOPOGRAPHIC) STATE OF KENTUCKY State Route 1985 Velma Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43211 SINCE 1885 January 5, 1988 Ms. Carol Shull, Chief P.O. Box 37127 123 - 137 E. Fourth St. Historic District W.

Ray Luce WRL: ae JAN 12 1988 Enclosures County Hamilton Greene SOCIETY 614/297-2470 Delaware HISTORICAL Sincerely, Felkner-Anderson House New Submissions notification procedures have been followed for these new submissions. Department of the Interior Enclosed are 3 new National Register nominations.All of the appropriate National Register of Historic Places State Historic Preservation Office Ohio Historic Preservation Office Dear Carol: George W. Harper Memorial Entrance The Harper Mausoleum and National Park Service Please contact me if you have any questions. Washington, D.C. 20013-7127