Guide to OTR Architecture

Over-the-Rhine is believed to be the largest, most in-tact urban historic district in the United States. It covers roughly 362.5 acres and contains around 1,000 historically contributing buildings. It is also said to be the biggest contiguous collection of Italianate architecture, but the neighborhood has a variety of architectural styles that were common in Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century urban America: muted Greek Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne. There are also a few stunning Gothic buildings and many structures mix styles. This is a brief guide to OTR Architecture, examples of the styles found here, their elements, and what makes the neighborhood such a unique and endangered historic place.

Cornices:

A "cornice" is a decorative, protruding feature at the top of a building's facade or above windows and doors. Cornices play a large role in what makes OTR architecture so unique. These are examples of cornices found in OTR:

But most are made of pressed tin. Many that appear to be very sturdy stone pieces are actually very thin, fragile metal. This makes them readily susceptible to water damage or fires. The stone window cornice above shows durability through a house fire. The tin cornice to the right shows how most cornices can be destroyed by fire or neglect.

The cornice work below was removed after years of water damage resulting from owner neglect.

Italianate:

Italianate styling dominated urban housing in the decades between 1860 and 1880, the decades corresponding with a significant period of building growth in Over-the-Rhine. The urban Italianate style is characterized by wide, projecting roof cornices, typically with brackets. The cornices conceal flat or low-pitched roofs. The townhomes are very vertical, narrow, and deep, almost always brick. Most of the character comes from ornamental roof cornices, window and door cornices, and often elaborate entryways.

Rounded window cornices are very typical of Italianate architecture, as are keystones.

However, Italianate window cornices take a variety of shapes including rectangular and partial, segmented arches. These elements are also frequently mixed on the same building.

Italianate roof cornices are typically ornate like the one to the left and tend to have a bracket element. It is purely aesthetic. The "brackets" are most commonly tin and do not actually support the rooflines above them.

Greek Revival:

Greek Revival was a style popular and common during the 1830's to 1860's, the period before Italianate came into vogue. Greek Revival can have very dramatic elements, especially in the porches of residential and public buildings. The large columns, angular pedimented entryways, and low-pitched roof of Memorial Hall are examples of Greek Revival style. However, regardless of how impressive these elements may seem in Memorial Hall, they manifested themselves in dramatically more muted ways in urban townhomes. When you see plain rectangular, stone window framing in OTR, it is representative of the Greek Revival style preceding Italianate. The styles were also mixed and blend together easily in the urban fabric.

The building to the right is an excellent example. The window cornices and small roofline windows are common elements of Greek Revival (compare the windows to Memorial Hall's doorways), but the elaborate nature of the window and cornice work make the style very compatible with the Italianate features of the building next to it. The use of Greek forms and elaborate ornamentation probably places this building in a transitional era. This building is at Findlay Market, as are the ones below.

Greek Revival cornices are more likely to be made of wood than, later, tin, Italianate cornices.

Findlay Market is Ohio's oldest farmers' market. Constructed in 1852, the area around the Market contains a lot of the Greek Revival elements found in this earlier period of OTR's history. However, the market was (and is) a vibrant and changing place. There are also many great examples of Italianate and Queen Anne building styles on and around the market square. More About Findlay Market.

The two properties to the left are representative of a lot about OTR. Both are Greek Revival townhomes with relatively simple design elements. Although labor was a lot cheaper during the 1800's, it wasn't free. The materials and time necessary to make elaborate ornamentation added to building costs. Elaborate cornices were a reflection of wealth and status as well as the period of construction. The two properties to the left were built in an early era of the Italianate period. They also illustrate the mixed-use nature of Nineteenth Century OTR. The yellow building was originally a storefront. Wood-framed glass windows would have been between the dark yellow columns. The red building would have always had a first-floor apartment. As representative as these buildings are of OTR's history, they are unfortunately also

representative of its present. Neglect has left the wood cornice work at risk. More importantly the Freestore intends to raze both buildings to construct a loading dock to make its free clothing warehousing operations more convenient. Exceptions to the city's historic conservation code makes it easier for non-profits to demolish historic properties.

Queen Anne:

The Queen Anne style was most popular from around 1880 through the early 1900's. It is most typically associated with delicate, "gingerbread" details on single-family homes. Cincinnati's Columbia-Tusculum neighborhood contains some excellent examples. Urban Queen Anne properties are relatively rare, but OTR has a respectable collection. Queen Anne manifests itself in urban townhomes through asymmetrical facade elements or delicate detailing such as patterned brickwork. The "keyboard" design above windows can be found throughout OTR.

The building to the left is another example of what is both great and wrong with OTR. It is Queen Anne, mixed-use building. Complex ornamentation shows that it was originally a furniture store. It had a rare, second-story storefront. The third-story French doors may have been additional showroom or living space. The style and these characteristics make this building a particularly rare example of late-Nineteenth Century urban life. However, the City of Cincinnati has ordered the building demolished.

Mixed and Less Common Styles:

Most of OTR is one of the above architectural styles. However, there are a hand-full of Gothic buildings.

Ironically, the Germania building (left) is one of the few buildings in Over-the-Rhine to have German ornamentation.

Music Hall, probably OTR's most recognizable building, is a mixture of styles. Amazingly, it was built in less than one year. Built over a paupers' cemetery, Music Hall is also rumored to be haunted.

"Art Deco" was not a term used when the buildings we refer to with term today were built. Then, the style was simply called "modern." There was barely a buildable inch left in OTR by the time this style became popular, so we have very little of it. In fact, the American Building on Central Parkway -- the edge of OTR -- is the only important example, but the building is such a magnificent example of the style that it bears mention. The American is also OTR's only skyscraper. It was built to be offices for attorneys. Today it is residential condos.

Breweries:

OTR was the center of Cincinnati's brewing industry. It housed dozens of breweries. Most of them have been razed, but some excellent pre-Prohibition buildings remain. The two immediately below are the Christian Moerlein barrel house and bottling plant.

The Kauffman Brewery was one of the largest. Pictured below is one of several brewing-related facilities. To the right is a close-up of the hops carved into the building. Below, Kauffman built an apartment building to house workers. This large building with its ornate facade was ordered for demolishion, but neighborhood activism and the cooperation of most of City Council has saved it. The facade, roof, and cornice work will be restored in the next couple of years.

The photos to the right are from the front of the Mohawk Brewery. The building also served as the Klotter & Sohn Brewery, Sohn Brewery, Clyffside Brewery, and eventually housed part of the Red Top brewery. Although not in this building, the site is the location of the earliest known commercial brewing operation in OTR, started in 1829. The Mohawk Brewery was raided during Prohibition for still making full-alcohol beer. As part of Red Top, it was also the last of the original commercial brewers to brew in OTR, closing during the 1950's. The building has the last remaining brewery smokestack. Building and Inspections wants to tear the stack down and are threatening to raze the building. Interestingly, it is in a very small part of OTR that lies outside of the Historic District.

Roads and Alleys:

OTR is full of cobblestone, granite block, and some brick streets. The alleys are predominately brick or granite block with granite curbs. One alley off of Main Street is made of wood. Unfortunately, most of the streets have been paved over. Little regard has been shown for the underlying historic surfaces during road work and installation and repair of sewer lines and utilities. The original roads are one more underappreciated piece of OTR history.