Underwriters Salvage Corps (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Underwriters Salvage Corps
Front of the Salvage Corps
Location: 110-112 E. 8th St., Cincinnati, Ohio
Area: less than one acre
Built: 1897
Architect: William Schuberth
Architectural style: Queen Anne
Governing body: Private
NRHP Reference#: 82003589[1]
Added to NRHP: July 15, 1982

The Underwriters Salvage Corps is a historic building in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Located on Eighth Street in the city's downtown, it has historically been the home of a firm that worked together with both the Cincinnati Fire Department and local fire insurance companies.[2]

Local insurance companies formed the Underwriters Salvage Corps in 1886 at the end of a four-year-long process of negotiations. As a salvage corps, their goal was largely to assist firefighters in danger zones: employees rushed to burning buildings to try to save both lives and property, and they were accorded the same status as official firefighters while at fire zones.[2]

The present building was erected in 1897 under the direction of local contractor William Schuberth; its purpose was the storage of equipment and the housing of the Salvage Corps' employees who were on duty at any given point.[2] A brick building with a stone foundation,[3] it is a Queen Anne structure three-and-a-half stories tall.[2]

In 1982, the Underwriters Salvage Corps was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1] Key to this designation was its place in local history,[3] for it was the only Cincinnati-area corporation that worked closely with both insurance companies and the city's fire department.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
  2. ^ a b c d e Owen, Lorrie K., ed. Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places. Vol. 1. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 681-682.
  3. ^ a b Underwriters Salvage Corps, Ohio Historical Society, 2007. Accessed 2010-11-02.