Time Hill, the former offices of the Gruen Watch Company, is a historic building in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

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. When completed in 1916, Time Hill was divided primarily into large rooms in which watchmakers sat at manufacturing desks under high ceilings with visible beams. The grand lobby, two stories tall, featured a

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

staircase and a fireplace covered with Rookwood tile. The building sits elevated from McMillan Street, with a steep

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roof parallel to the street and brick walls covered with

half-timbering Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...

. The roof is ceramic tile and the structure is surrounded by an asphalt parking lot. A modern two-story addition adjoins the southeast portion of the original structure. Because of the grade differences, most of the addition is concealed. During the 1990s, Time Hill was occupied by an insurance firm, which subjected the building to an abortive attempt to create a modern office complex in the interior; nearly all of the interior was removed and replaced with new styling. After the venture failed, the building was sold at

sheriff's sale A government auction or a public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a governmen ...

Union Institute & University Union Institute & University (UI&U) was a private online university that was headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It also operated satellite campuses in Florida and California. In early 2023, it began to experience severe financial challenge ...

, which already owned the similarly styled Procter and Collier-Beau Brummell Building across the street; a primarily

online university A virtual university (or online university) provides higher education programs through electronic media, typically the Internet. Some are bricks-and-mortar institutions that provide online learning as part of their extended university courses while ...

, Union was outgrowing its space in the Brummell Building and bought Time Hill with intentions of converting it into the university's headquarters. In 2008, the university sold the building to Lighthouse Youth Services. In 1996, Time Hill was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, qualifying both because of its place in local history and because of its historically significant architecture. The adjacent Brummell Building was given the same honor twelve years earlier.

References

External links

Owner's website
{{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures completed in 1916 Manufacturing plants in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Cincinnati Office buildings in Cincinnati Tudor Revival architecture in Ohio Union Institute & University Watch manufacturing companies of the United States

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Further reading

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