Lancaster Watch Company
| Hamilton Watch Complex | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Art Deco, International style, Second Empire |
| Address | 901 Columbia Avenue Lancaster, Pennsylvania United States |
| Coordinates | 40°2′21″N 76°19′29″W / 40.03917°N 76.32472°WCoordinates: 40°2′21″N 76°19′29″W / 40.03917°N 76.32472°W |
| Construction started | September 1874 |
| Completed | 1963 |
| Renovated | 1983–2003 |
| Height | 90 feet (27 m) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect |
Clarence Luther Stiles |
|
Lancaster Watch Company
|
|
| Part of | Lancaster City Historic District (#0100956) |
| NRHP Reference # | 82003793 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | August 14, 1982 |
| Designated CP | September 7, 2001 |
Clarence Luther Stiles
The Hamilton Watch Complex is a former industrial complex in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was owned by the Hamilton Watch Company 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 in 1982. The main building was converted into a luxury apartment and condominium complex.
The complex is located on the western edge of the city of Lancaster on Pennsylvania Route 462 (Columbia Avenue). Twin 90-foot (27 m) clock towers are the most dominant feature of the building. Each tower is topped with a mansard roof trimmed with copper and a clock with four faces. 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 office building stands south of the main building, located between the two clock towers. The westernmost wing of the complex was designed in a "restrained" International style.
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. The building, designed by Chicago-architect Clarence Luther Stiles in the Second Empire style, was three stories high and consisted of only the eastern tower, flanked on either side with a wing. 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. Keystone Standard Watch went bankrupt, as well, in 1890 and its assets sold in 1892 in a public auction to group of investors from Lancaster, who had also bought another bankrupt watch company in Aurora, Illinois. They founded the Hamilton Watch Company on December 14, 1892.
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