OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Google Streetview (new tab)

Overview

The wealthy son of the founder of the Canton, OH-based Timken ball bearing and steel companies, Henry Heinzelman Timken, Sr., commissioned the notable San Diego architect Irving J. Gill to design this West Coast residence for his family.

Building History

Henry Heinzelman Timken, Sr., (1868-1940), like his father Henry Timken (1831-1909), had substantial business interests in two places, both in the Midwest and San Diego, CA. H.H. Timken, Sr., married Edith Marter Kitzmiller (1878-1948) on 08/01/1904 in Wilkins, PA, and they had three sons, Henry H. Timken, Jr., (1906-1968), William Robert Timken (1910-1995) and John Marter Timken (1913-1971). John Marter Timken became a naval architect and partner in the firm of Dunham and Timken of West Mystic, CT.

The eldest Henry Timken was an inventor and energetic businessman, who got his start building carriages in Saint Louis, MO. During his career, he invented various mechanisms that improved the suspension of carriages and reduced friction on parts of their axles. In 1899, he founded the Timken Roller Bearing Axle Company, a highly successful manufacturer of new carriage (and later automobile) axles utilizing his new tapered ball bearing design. His son, Henry Heinzelman Timken guided this ball bearing company first in Saint Louis (between 1899 and 1901) and then in Canton, OH, closer to the main steel manufacturing companies in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, PA, and users of steel for various machines, particularly in Detroit, MI, Cleveland and Chicago, IL. Henry Timken the elder retired to San Diego, CA, in 1899, having built a large Queen Anne style house there in 1887. He began to invest in real estate in San Diego, and practice that was continued by H.H, Sr., who also branched out into dealing in securities in San Diego, becoming an executive with the San Diego Securities Company. H.H. Sr., like his father, built this residence in San Diego, CA, but also maintained his main residence in the Midwest, in his case at 1006 North Market Street in Canton, OH, in 1910. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: Canton Ward 2, Stark, Ohio; Roll: T624_1230; Page: 1a; Enumeration District: 0164; FHL microfilm: 1375243, accessed 10/01/2025.) By 1920, H.H. Timken, Sr., his wife Edith and their three sons resided on Harrison Avenue NW in Canton. Very wealthy, the household included seven household servants and a tutor. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Canton Ward 7, Stark, Ohio; Roll: T625_1435; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 67, accessed 10/01/2025.)

PCAD id: 5464