Cincinnati & Suburban Bell Telephone Company Building - Cincinnati, Ohio
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 39° 06.182 W 084° 31.035
16S E 714687 N 4331145
Telephone company operating building in Cincinnati.
Waymark Code: WM41CH
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 06/23/2008
Views: 58
Henry Hake, architect of many downtown Cincinnati buildings, designed the
trim, modern CINCINNATI & SUBURBAN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY BUILDING, SW, corner
of Seventh and Elm Sts. The inset windows emphasize the flowing vertical
lines of this 12-story stone structure, whose flat roof will permit the addition
of another 12 stories when needed.
A decorative border above the second story is lined with niches in which
cut-stone French telephones alternate with headphones. Communication is
further symbolized by several reliefs showing the ancient runner, Alexander
Bells's first telephone effort, flag signaling from a ship, and conventional
representations of a woman with a hare, swan, and hawk. In the ornate
marble lobby are gold-and-silver metal reliefs of figures symbolizing man's art,
industry, and conquest of space. At one time the Queen City Club was on
this corner.
The Bell Telephone Company opened its first local exchange in 1878 at
Fourth and Walnut Streets, with 18 curious subscribers. Twelve months
later it had 1,000 subscribers. Today the company has more than 200,000
telephones in operation in Cincinnati, 92 percent of which are dial-operated.
Its employees number 2,250. The dial exchange and operating offices are in
this building.- Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City and Its Neighbors, Tour 5, pgs.
185-186
The building remains much as described, the company is now called Cincinnati
Bell. The company was one of two Bell Companies not considered a regional
carrier during the Bell telephone and ATT shake up a few years back and it
continued to operate independently. Needless to say the company now has
100 percent dial-operated service and was was the first of the Bell Companies to
be 100 percent dial-operated in 1952. The building was not expanded
upward as the Guide indicated was possible however a large addition was added to
the building to the west in 1976. The company has many more phones in its
system than when the Guide was published however the number of employees has
only increased to about 3,000.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.