George Hunt Pendleton House Explained

George Hunt Pendleton House
Nrhp Type:nhl
Location:559 Liberty Hill,
Cincinnati, Ohio
Coordinates:39.1119°N -84.5044°W
Area:less than one acre
Architecture:Second Empire
Added:October 15, 1966
Designated Nrhp Type:January 29, 1964
Refnum:66000611
Nrhp Type2:cp
Designated Nrhp Type2:September 4, 1980
Partof:Prospect Hill Historic District
Partof Refnum:80003078
Designated Other1:CLHL

The George H. Pendleton House is a historic house in the Prospect Hill Historic District of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was built in 1870 in the French Second Empire style.[1] From 1879 until his death in 1889, this was the residence of Senator George Hunt Pendleton (1825–1889). As a U.S. senator (1879–1885), Pendleton spearheaded civil service reform, meeting here in 1882 to draft the Pendleton Act, which created the Civil Service merit system. The building, now in mixed commercial and residential use, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

Description and history

The George H. Pendleton House is located north of downtown Cincinnati in the Prospect Hill neighborhood, on the south side of Liberty Hill at its junction with Higland Avenue. The hilltop mansion, set high on a ridge, is visible from many points in the downtown basin below.[2] The house is a -story brick building, with a mansard roof providing a full third floor in the attic. The roof has a bracketed eave, and is pierced by dormers with flanking bracketed pilasters. The main facade is three bays wide, with a center entrance flanked by pilasters and topped by a corniced entablature. Ground floor windows are topped by projecting cornices, and second-floor windows have bracketed sills. The interior has been extensively altered, and is not historically significant.[3]

The house was built about 1870, and was the home of George Hunt Pendleton from 1879 until his death in 1889. Pendleton was a lawyer and Democratic politician, who first won election to the United States Senate in 1857. He left Congress in 1865, but was returned to the Senate in 1879. At the time, jobs in the federal government were largely distributed through political patronage, often without regard to the competence for the position by the individuals hired. Although Pendleton appears to not have been a strong advocate of civil service reform, a Senate subcommittee met in his Cincinnati home in early 1882 to complete a draft civil service reform bill. This bill, enacted later in 1882 following widespread popular calls for civil service reform, was known as the Pendleton Act, and represents the birth of the modern merit-based civil service that has operated since. Pendleton's involvement in the bill cost him reelection in 1884, due to a lack of support from party operatives who had opposed the reforms.[3]

After Pendleton's death, the house went through a number of owners and uses, including at one time as a nine-unit tenement house.[3] It was eventually given an exterior restoration in the late 20th century. It now houses commercial offices on the ground floor and residences in the upper floors.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Oldies But Goodies . Cincinnati Magazine . September 1979 . 1 February 2014 . 104.
  2. Book: The Sights of Prospect Hill . Cincinnati Magazine . October 1998 . 1 February 2014 . 135.
  3. Web site: [{{NHLS url |id=66000611}} National Historic Landmark nomination for George H. Pendleton House ]. National Park Service . 2018-03-20.