Promont is a Victorian mansion that was built in 1865. As the former home of John M. Pattison, Ohio’s 43rd Governor, this home has a vibrant history behind it.
Now a museum and a hub for GMAHS, Promont is filled to the brim with period furnishings and ever-changing exhibits. It also houses a reference library and a gift shop. The structure of the home has never been altered, remaining as true to its original build as possible. It has three levels and a tower that was recently renovated, so you can now climb up it for a bird’s-eye view of the surrounding area.
Iconic Architecture
Work on the Promont began in 1865 and continued until its completion in 1867. The bricks were all made and fired on the grounds. Promont was designed in the Italianate Style, which means that the house has a center hall with two connecting rooms on each side. Each of the four floors boast the same layout. Other features that make it Italianate include the shape and size of its windows, its wide eaves, and the use of quoins throughout, which are decorations on the corners of the house.
The grounds of the house originally stretched over 56 acres, reaching as far as the well-known Five Points intersection near the location of the current police station. It offered its residents over 3,360 square feet of living space.
Who has lived at Promont?
Promont has been around for more than 150 years, so it should come as no surprise that it’s had multiple owners. This timeline showcases the various families that have called this historic house home.
What’s in a Name?
Before it was known as Promont, the house was called Beechwood, thanks to the abundance of beech trees on the property. William George Williams, John Pattison’s father-in-law, later re-named it Promont, which is Latin for a prominent mass of land overlooking or projecting into a low land. Williams was a professor of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and English grammar at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Historic Features
The house had state-of-the-art features for its time, including:
- Inside shutters
- Call bells in every room
- Argon gas light fixtures
- A gravity-flow running water system
- A force pump in the kitchen to send water from the outside cistern up to the tanks on the third floor
- A stationary washstand in every room
- A closet in the kitchen with a slide to the dining room service area
Currently, the museum has been restored to how it looked from 1879 to 1906 when Governor Pattison and his family lived there.
If you’re interested in taking a docent-led tour of the museum, private tours are available throughout the week. To set one up, contact us at (513) 248-0324 from Monday to Thursday between 10am to 4pm. The museum is also open to the public on the first and third Sundays of the month from 1pm to 4pm.