{"id":11746,"date":"2011-12-13T14:07:28","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T18:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=11746"},"modified":"2011-12-13T14:07:28","modified_gmt":"2011-12-13T18:07:28","slug":"the-estimable-mr-hoffner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2011\/12\/the-estimable-mr-hoffner\/","title":{"rendered":"The Estimable Mr. Hoffner"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kevin Grace<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Mick<\/a>\"Students<\/a>The University of Cincinnati community is well-schooled in the story of its lions, Mick and Mack, perhaps ad nauseam. <\/em>Here in the Archives & Rare Books Library, the subject is a frequent one: we relate to the inquirer how they stand as sentinels in front of McMicken Hall, once facing each other but now facing away (Mick is on the left, Mack on the right), how occasionally lipstick marks will be found on them, and that they supposedly roar whenever a virgin walks by.\u00a0 The fact that they have never roared should not trouble the demure \u2013 non-roaring lions are a hoary tale on many campuses.\u00a0 And, that Mick and Mack took up their posts in 1904 when UC was a municipal university and city officials needed to find an appropriate home for them.\u00a0 And, that the lions are copies of larger versions in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, Italy (not Kentucky).\u00a0 And, that even one of those \u201coriginals\u201d was a copy of ancient Roman statue.<\/p>\n

But what of the lions\u2019 owner and the university\u2019s benefactor, Jacob Hoffner?\u00a0 Who the heck was he and what was he doing with marble lions?\u00a0 We\u2019ve always known a bit about him, that he was a Cincinnati real estate man and business speculator who enjoyed traveling in Europe.\u00a0 He maintained a nice little estate in Northside and decorated his gardens with a variety of statuary, some of which he had copied from what he saw abroad.\u00a0 Hence, the lions.\u00a0 Hoffner died in 1894 at the age of 96, leaving everything for the use of his wife, Maria.\u00a0 On her death in 1904, following a part of Jacob\u2019s will, his statuary was donated to the city.\u00a0 And that was that.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

Jacob Hoffner<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

Hoffner Residence<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Plaza<\/a>But it\u2019s always nice to put a face with a statue.\u00a0 Here, then is one of Mr. Jacob Hoffner.\u00a0 The photograph of his Northside home, which is now the site of Hoffner Park, shows a few statues such as the eagles that were placed in Eden Park.\u00a0 For more story context, we also present a photo of the plaza in Florence, Italy (not Kentucky) which has the more worldly Mick and Mack.\u00a0 Interestingly enough, copies of the statues have also been spotted in Germany and in Florida.\u00a0 There is also the story related several years ago that in a certain adult film from the 1980s, the opening scenes show the \u201cactors\u201d entering a California mansion that is fronted by our beloved lions.\u00a0 Don\u2019t ask \u2013 we have no way of verifying this.<\/p>\n

To add to our gallery, and to the continuing story of Mick and Mack, we welcome any photos of UC students, faculty, staff, and alums who happen to go to Florence, Italy (not Kentucky).<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/a>\"Florence<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kevin Grace The University of Cincinnati community is well-schooled in the story of its lions, Mick and Mack, perhaps ad nauseam. Here in the Archives & Rare Books Library, the subject is a frequent one: we relate to the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[53,52,66],"class_list":["post-11746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arb","category-uclibraries","tag-cincinnati-history","tag-uc-history","tag-university-archives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}