R. K. LeBlond Machine Tool Company, Ornamental Landscape Pavilion, 2980 Madison Road, Norwood

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER OH-71-E. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

This folly in the middle of the pond is a remnant of the original landscaped garden area created around the excavation created to obtain fill for construction of the factory. It is significant as an element in the company's plan to create a park on the public side of the factory and as an example of an expressionistic vocabulary used elsewhere for the owners at their private residence.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER OH-71-E. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

This document was undertaken from October through December, in accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement dated between the City of Norwood, OH, the Ohio SHPO and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation as a mitigative measure in connection with partial demolition of the plant. Richard Rauh, AIA Architect, principal Richard Rauh & Associates/Architects Piedmont Road, NE Atlanta, GA R. K. Le Blond Machine Tool Company: Ornamental Landscape Pavilion HAER No. OH-71-E (Page 2) Perched on a small island in the middle of the pond on the east side of the production building is a small round concrete garden pavilion or gazebo about twelve feet in diameter.

Built in as a part of the original construction, this pagoda-like pavilion was the focus of a landscaped botanical rock garden area created around the pond which also contained a fanciful bridge to the island. The character of the concrete structures resembles "sandcastle'' constructions of wet beach sand, a motif the architect duplicated at the estate home he designed for R. K. Le Blond about the same time. Family members recall that the estate had play tunnels or "caves" on the grounds that were similar in character and that the dance pavilion and breakfast room at the estate were also detailed in this fashion.

The garden with its structures, albeit manifestations of the personal preferences of the owner and his wife, Loretta Heekin Le Blond - have also been viewed as influenced by the "factory beautiful" movement which began in about and influenced other industrialists around the country to landscape and otherwise beautify their prosaic facilities. Contemporary with Ebenezer Howard's garden city movement and with Stickley's popular arts and crafts movement, the rustic character of the gardens as originally executed speaks to sensibilities evident elsewhere in the nation as industrialists asserted themselves confidently into the landscape. Other evidence of this movement in Cincinnati can be seen at the U. S.

Playing Card factory in Norwood and at Cincinnati Milacron (formerly Cincinnati Milling Machine) in Oakley. The park was well located for public use by the residents of Norwood and the adjacent Hyde Park neighborhood of Cincinnati. Prior to World War II the park was used as a public garden by the neighborhood and as an ice rink in winter. The advent of war however, caused barbed wire security fencing to go up as the factory became a defense plant and public visitation of the park ceased. In the war years expansion of the plant closer to the pond, neglect of the landscaping, and the installation of pumps to draw water for heat treatment accelerated the decline of the pond amenity. It was suggested by Le Blond family members that about this time vandals poisoned the fish in the pond.

The decline of the landscaped pond is also tied by some to the retirement of the chief gardener, Joseph Libby, an expert horticulturalist of holly plants, in the early 1 s. After the war, the need for increased employee parking encroached further on the cultivated area around the pond. This area is now almost all hard-surfaced. R. K. Le Blond Machine Tool Company: Ornamental Landscape Pavilion HAER No. OH-71-E (Page 3) Bibliography/Data Sources Le Blond, Charles, Assistant Treasurer of Le Blond Makino Machine Tool Company. Interviews with author at offices of Le Blond Makino, Mason, Ohio, October - December Le Blond Makino Machine Tool Company. Corporate archives, located at Innovation Way, Mason, Ohio . RAILROAD SPUR :x: 0 ::0 :i:,, 11 tXl ::s ::0 ID a .

z Cl) 0 ::s t1 rt (I) ID .\, 0 I-' tJj :x: I-' I I t1 0 __ _ ' ....i ID ::S ::s 0., - -. r-- , - : . : o-. I 0., tXl Cl) 3: j -.\ : \,.SERVI,' n Ill (_ Ill n ~'ti EDWA/f.Oi -J lll Cl) (Q ::s (I) Ill I-' 0 0 SKETCH PLAN NO. LB- / JITe OVE~V/ .W OF tOHPLeX ::s 0 0 a R K LeBlond Machine Tool Company, Norwood, Ohio 'ti Ill ::, HAER No. OH - 7/-E. [I] 0 Recorded by: Richard Rauh & Associates/Architects Atlanta, GA 0 20 50 100 ADDENDUM TO: HAER OH-71-E R. K. LEBLOND MACHINE TOOL COMPANY, ORNAMENTAL HAER OH-71-E

Landscape Pavilion

Madison Road Norwood Hamilton County Ohio FIELD RECORDS HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior C Street NW Washington, DC