The Hamilton Watch Complex is a former industrial complex in Lancaster,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It was owned by the

Hamilton Watch Company The Hamilton Watch Company is a Swiss manufacturer of wristwatches based in Bienne, Switzerland. Founded in 1892 as an American firm, the Hamilton Watch Company ended American manufacture in 1969. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, t ...

and was used as their headquarters from the company's founding in 1892, until 1980. The complex was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1982. The main building was converted into a luxury

apartment An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

and

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

complex. The Administrative Offices now home to a Montessori School.

Design

The complex is located on the western edge of the city of Lancaster on

Pennsylvania Route 462 Pennsylvania Route 462 (PA 462) is a east–west state route in York and Lancaster counties in central Pennsylvania. The western terminus is west of York, and the eastern terminus is east of Lancaster. At both ends, PA 462 terminates at U. ...

(Columbia Avenue). Twin

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

s are the most dominant feature of the building. Each tower is topped with a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

trimmed with

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

and a clock with four

faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

. The four-story complex was built out of brick and is shaped roughly like an 'E' with the main portion of building situated east–west, paralleling Columbia Avenue, and three wings extend north. An unconnected, four-story,

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

office building stands south of the main building, located between the two clock towers.Snyder, § 7, p. 1. The westernmost wing of the complex was designed in a "restrained" International style.

History

The Adams and Perry Watch Manufacturing Company was formed in September 1874 and started construction on the original building in the complex, which was completed in July 1875.Bowman, p. 44. The building, designed by

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-architect Clarence Luther Stiles in the

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

style, was three stories high and consisted of only the eastern tower, flanked on either side with a wing.Snyder, App. II, p. 1. The company went bankrupt in 1876 and, after several years of attempts to organize a new company, the Keystone Standard Watch Company was started in 1886.Bowman, p. 45. Keystone Standard Watch went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

, as well, in 1890 and its assets sold in 1892 in a

public auction In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

to group of investors from Lancaster, who had also bought another bankrupt watch company in

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. They founded the

on December 14, 1892. In 1902, the western wing was extended and a fourth floor was added to entire building, as well as an extension of the clock tower and modification of its mansard roof, in 1905. The complex was repeatedly expanded in the early 1910s, ending in 1916 with the construction of the second clock tower. An addition was constructed in 1923 on the eastern end of the building. An extension was built, extending north from the western clock tower, in 1925 to 1926 and another, extending west from the same tower, in 1929.Snyder, App. II. p. 2. Various

landscaping Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal o ...

projects were also undertaken during the 1920s. A new factory wing was constructed in 1936 situated behind the original 1874 clock tower. The four-story office building located between the two clock towers was built in 1941, along with another wing extending north from the end of the 1929 addition. The final addition of the complex was completed in 1963, with the construction of another wing adjacent to the 1941 wing.

Renovation

In 1980, the Hamilton Watch Company was renamed Hamilton Technology and was moved out of the complex, into downtown Lancaster.Harris and Mekeel, p. A4. A proposal was put forth in 1981 by a

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

-based

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

to convert the complex into 202 apartments and 61

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

s, but it fell through; its failure being blamed on "high

interest rates An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, th ...

and restrictive

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

regulations". Another developer bought the site in 1983, however that project halted in 1984 by a "

legal dispute A legal case is in a general sense a dispute between opposing parties which may be resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case is typically based on either Civil law (common law), civil or criminal law. In most legal ca ...

", leaving 78 units unfinished and dozens more only partially completed. A

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

school was opened in the 1941 office building in autumn of 1995. The complex was sold to a

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

-based developer in 1998 with plans to convert the existing apartments into luxury apartment and

s at a cost of $8 million. The final phase of the renovations of the main building was completed in July 2000; a total 135 condos were constructed in the building. The 1941 and 1963 wings were sold to the city in 1999; after a $4.5 renovation, the wings were leased to an

insurance company Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

in 2003.Alexander, p. B2. The complex was listed on the

on August 14, 1982 and was designated a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

to the Lancaster City Historic District on September 7, 2001.

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Industrial buildings completed in 1963 Apartment buildings in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Lancaster, Pennsylvania Clock towers in Pennsylvania Residential condominiums in the United States Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania International style architecture in Pennsylvania Manufacturing plants in the United States Second Empire architecture in Pennsylvania Twin towers Historic district contributing properties in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Design

History

Renovation

See also

References

Sources