Consider the storybook turret above you: built in 1883 as a water-works valve house, it was listed in the National Register in 1980. It rises here at Gilbert Avenue and Elsinore Place, built in 1883 for the Cincinnati Water Works. The story carved into this place is practical and theatrical: the Water Works wanted to extend its efficient water supply main tunnel 185 feet to the line at Gilbert Avenue, the main that started at the reservoir in Eden Park.
To control the flow of water at the base of this steep hill they needed a valve house, and because the city wanted to enhance the landscape and create a new entrance to the park, the valve house received a special, storybook design. It’s said to be inspired by Elsinore Castle, Kronborg, the setting of Hamlet — a nod to a season when Cincinnati hosted a Shakespearean Dramatic Festival at Music Hall. The festival’s highlight was Hamlet on a Friday evening, May 4, with James Edward Murdoch, then 72, playing the role and remaining very popular in the city.
This castle-like archway inspired by Elsinore Castle still guards the steep slope of Eden Park beneath your feet.