The Fourth and Vine Tower is a 31-story, neoclassical skyscraper in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. The tallest building in Cincinnati from 1913 until the opening of the Carew Tower in 1930, it was also the fifth-tallest building in the world upon its completion.
The site of the tower was previously occupied by the headquarters of Cincinnati's Chamber of Commerce, which was devastated by a fire in January 1911. Later that year, the Chamber accepted an offer by the Union Central Life Insurance Company to construct a new building on the site. Union Central hired New York City-based Cass Gilbert as the project's principal architect, with local firm Garber & Woodward as an associate. The tower shared many contractors with Gilbert's Woolworth Building in New York, including the Thompson–Starrett Company, which became the primary contractor. Construction began in 1912 and concluded the following year at a cost of over $3 million ($ in ). The tower opened as the Union Central Building, with Union Central as its owner and primary occupant.
The Central Trust Company, a banking institution, leased space in the tower in 1918. An annex for the tower opened in 1928 to accommodate Union Central's expanded workforce. The building became the Central Trust Bank Tower after Union Central left in 1964. Central Trust left the tower in 1979, but the building retained its name and signage. The signage was changed to that of Central Trust's parent company, PNC Bank, in 1993, and the building was labeled "PNC Tower" by some in the media. Beginning with Union Central's sale of the building in 1958, the tower changed owners multiple times before it was acquired by Central Trust Tower Associates in 1995, which subsequently renamed the building the Fourth and Vine Tower.
In 2014, the annex was purchased by Village Green, which announced plans to convert it into a mixed-use building with residential apartments, amenities, retail, and office space. Developer City Club Apartments LLC took over the project in 2016, and the converted annex opened as City Club Apartments in 2018. City Club acquired the mostly vacant Fourth and Vine Tower in 2019 and announced that it would also be converted into a mixed-use building, but the project was sold to an entrepreneur in 2024 amidst financial difficulties. The converted tower opened as Sky Central in 2025, and the City Club Apartments building entered foreclosure and was renamed the Parisian on Vine that year.
History Planning and construction
The site of the Fourth and Vine Tower was previously occupied by the Chamber of Commerce building, which was devastated by a fire on January 10, 1911. In April, the Union Central Life Insurance Company submitted a proposal for the site's future to the Chamber. Union Central would assume control of the site, construct a new building with one or two floors reserved for the Chamber, and pay the Chamber $5000 ($ in ) a year. On June 29, Union Central acquired a 25-year lease to the Chamber property with the privilege of purchasing it for $550,000 ($ in ). Union Central announced a plan to construct a new skyscraper on the site, which would be "a big one" and "an ornament to the city". By July 15, Union Central had agreed to reserve the second and third floors of the new building for the Chamber.
Union Central considered hiring architect Daniel Burnham to design the building, but decided against it due to the fact that Burnham had already designed many buildings in the city. Boston architect Clarence H. Blackall was also considered. Union Central became impressed with New York City-based architect Cass Gilbert after learning of his West Street Building. On July 29, Union Central president Jesse R. Clark announced that Gilbert had been hired to design the building and Frederick S. Holmes designed the bank vault. Cincinnati firm Garber & Woodward was hired as an associate architect. Seeking to work closely with Garber & Woodward, Gilbert evenly split his 6% architect's fee with the firm and requested that it contribute an equal amount of work to the project. By late July, the building was expected to cost $1 million ($ in ) and reach 18 or 20 stories in height. On September 23, Clark announced that work on the 27-story tower would begin in 75 days, by which time the remnants of the Chamber of Commerce building were expected to be demolished. On October 9, The Cincinnati Post reported that the project would be issued a construction permit "in a few days".
Gilbert and Clark had a poor relationship, with Clark acting as a "demanding client". Scheduling issues meant that Gilbert had to negotiate with Clark alone, and Gilbert told Garber & Woodward that the negotiating process was "one of the hardest things he had ever done". Gilbert sought to persuade Clark to adopt a fixed-price contract for construction that would deliver the building by a set time, which Gilbert had arranged for his Woolworth Building in New York. Clark initially opposed this proposal, and the prolonged nature of the ensuing negotiations led to "restless[ness]" among the companies seeking the construction contract. These companies included the Thompson–Starrett Company, the George A. Fuller Company, Jason Stewart and Company, and the Hedden Construction Company. Jason Stewart was removed from contention after a company representative, frustrated by the delay in selecting a contract type, stated that he wanted "to put a rope around Clark's neck". On January 13, 1912, Clark announced that Thompson–Starrett had been awarded the construction contract. The estimated cost of the building was $2 million ($ in ) at the time. Thompson–Starrett had worked with Gilbert on the Woolworth Building, and Gilbert selected several other Woolworth collaborators as contractors, including engineer Gunvald Aus, the American Bridge Company for steel, and the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company. Union Central sought to build the tower quickly, especially after learning of a potential bill in the Ohio state legislature that would restrict the height of buildings to 12 stories. Clark specifically stated that the tower should be complete within a year, but Gilbert did not believe that this goal was attainable.
Groundbreaking occurred on February 22. On February 27, Clark stated that an additional five floors would be added to the existing plans, bringing the tower to 31 stories. The first steel column was set on May 16. 275 men, representing the bulk of the tower's workforce, went on strike on August 26 after marble from a nonunion quarry in Proctor, Vermont arrived at the site. Stating that the Thompson–Starrett Co. would pay 15 union stonecutters to handle the marble, a union official called off the strike on September 11, though a Thompson–Starrett official denied that his company had agreed to the concession. Work on several large projects in Cincinnati, including the Union Central tower, was interrupted by the beginning of another strike on September 13. The strike, which was triggered by a dispute between the International Association of Steamfitters and the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters, involved about 2000 workers across all involved projects, though some professions were exempt from the strike. The strike ended on September 28 after the Thompson–Starrett Co. agreed to only employ United Association steamfitters.
At the building's cornerstone-setting ceremony on October 23, Clark stated that the construction of the tower was a step towards a more "progressive Cincinnati". The day prior, Clark had been inducted into the Stone Cutters' Union so that he could "lay the stone as a union man". October 23 also saw the project's first work-related fatality. The tower topped out on December 13. By January 22, 1913, four workers had died over the course of construction. May 1 saw only "minor" May Day actions by labor, with 70-80 ironworkers going on strike after being refused a raise. The Post reported that a resolution to the strike was "expected" the following day. The tower was slated to open to the public on June 1, with construction lasting less than 14 months. The final cost of the skyscraper was over $3 million ($ in ).
When construction of the building was completed in 1913, the Union Central Tower was the fifth-tallest building in the world and the 2nd tallest building (tallest office building) outside of New York City. It remained the tallest building in Cincinnati until 1930, when construction on the Carew Tower was completed.
Commercial use
The Union Central Building's official opening date was set for June 1, 1913, though some tenants were already present in the tower by late May. The building was 64% leased by May 25. Architectural firm Garber & Woodward, which had been an associate architect for the tower, moved into the building on May 31. Tower owner and principal occupant Union Central planned to move into the building in "the latter part of June". A new substation of the United States Weather Bureau, which was announced in December 1911, was set to open in the tower shortly after June 21. The dedication ceremony for the Chamber of Commerce's quarters in the building was held on June 26, with Cincinnati Mayor Henry Thomas Hunt and former U.S. President William Howard Taft as speakers. The Cincinnati City Council declared June 25 and 26 to be "quasi-legal" holidays in honor of the Chamber's move. A banquet in the 17th-floor library was held on November 7 to dedicate the skyscraper itself, with Clark, Hunt, and Ohio Governor James M. Cox among the speakers. The management of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway signed a ten-year lease in late November and began moving to the seventh floor in December, as negotiations had complicated its plan to move to the tower by June 1.
In June 1918, the Central Trust Company announced that it would be leasing much of the Union Central Building's ground floor. The bank's lease was slated to last for 20 years with the privilege of an additional 20 years. The Chamber of Commerce's lease was set to expire on July 1, 1923, but Union Central sought to divide the Chamber's quarters into offices before that date. Union Central offered the Chamber a $12,000 ($ in ) bonus if it left the tower before November 1, 1922, which the Chamber accepted. By November 1923, Central Trust occupied much of the second floor space that had been vacated by the Chamber.
By 1926, Union Central had 719 employees at the tower, nearly double its 1913 count of 363. Seeking to expand its office space, Union Central purchased the adjacent Burnet House hotel in January of that year in order to construct an annex for the tower. Garber & Woodward was hired to design the annex. On April 27, Union Central announced that its Building Committee had approved the project. Demolition of the Burnet House began on July 16 and was largely complete by mid-October. The contract for the annex's construction was awarded in December. Work on the $4 million project was scheduled to begin on December 6 and conclude by October 15, 1927. Only 7 floors were planned for the initial phase of construction, with the building slated to eventually rise to 26 floors as Union Central expanded its business. The annex was dedicated on January 17, 1928, by which time eight and a half stories were complete. The annex only grew to a height of 10 stories, as plans to expand the building to 26 stories were abandoned after the 1929 stock market crash and subsequent Great Depression.
In 1929, a 24-inch Carlisle & Finch aviation beacon was installed on top of the building as a visual navigation aid for Lunken Airport. The five million candlepower beam was visible from 50 miles (80 km) away on a clear night.