Thanks to Matt for pointing out this cool Flickr set taken by Michael G. Smith, the grandson of photographer Nelson RonSheim. Smith grabbed some photos that his grandfather took around Cincinnati 70 years ago, then photographed the same scenes. Here's three that grabbed my attention:
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Be sure to check out the rest of the photos!
It looks like the 21c hotel is officially coming to Cincinnati.
image from 21cmuseumhotel.com | click to enlarge
According to their website, 21c is working with 3CDC to restore the Metropole Apartments. There will be "160 rooms, a contemporary art museum with more than 8,000 square feet of exhibition space open to the public free of charge, a Proof restaurant and bar, and meeting spaces." The hotel will follow federal standards for historic rehabilitation for the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Autumn is my favorite time of year. I love the explosion of colorful foliage. The warm days and chilly nights. The feeling of settling in for the winter.
I took a walk the other day around Clifton Gaslight and took some photos.
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The leaves are especially bright this year!
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What are your favorite autumn things?
Detroit seems to have a problem with razing its historic architecture rather than preserving it... unfortunately, that sounds too familiar 'round these parts.
I recently came across the photography at 100abandonedhouses.com, which documents homes in Detroit's abandoned neighborhoods:
images from 100abandonedhouses.com | click to enlarge
From the photographer: "The abandoned houses project began innocently enough roughly ten years ago. I actually began photographing abandonment in Detroit in the mid 90’s as a creative outlet, and as a way of satisfying my curiosity with the state of my home town. I had always found it to be amazing, depressing, and perplexing that a once great city could find itself in such great distress, all the while surrounded by such affluence."
Let's make sure Cincinnati doesn't get to the point where tourists are flooding in to photograph our crumbling historic architecture.
In case you hadn't noticed, there's a giant river near here. I thought I'd see how our friends on Flickr have photographed it:
click to enlarge | click links below for original photos
1. Cincinnati Ohio River - Eden Park Overlook "Morning Glow - 6:15 A.M.", 2. 10-07-06 ....the 8' advantage - over exposed w/ shadow, 3. Full Moon over the Ohio River, 4. Cincinnati from air 2, 5. River Queen Great American Ball Park, 6. 03-05-06 Early Morning Hours on the Ohio River - edit, 7. Cincinnati - Ohio River 2003 1022, 8. Cincinnati at flood time (LOC), 9. 08-28-06 Poisoning The Ohio
I recently came across this polaroid that I took 10 years ago while a student at DAAP working on a senior project...
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It was taken in the home of Jim Alexander, a former DAAP professor of architecture and industrial design. He had designed the home himself. It recently sold after Alexander passed away in 2006.
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He designed several other modern homes in the Wyoming area. For more info, read about Alexander in a UC student thesis, posted online.
About 8 years ago, when I was working for a small advertising agency based in Covington, we filmed a television commercial on top of the Terrace Plaza Hotel. We filmed it on the 20th floor, in the cantilevered Gourmet Room. At the time, I called it a spaceship because of its circular shape.
click to enlarge
The Joan Miro painting is one of my favorites at the Cincinnati Art Museum which once hung in the Gourmet Room.
Check out more about the Terrace Plaza Hotel in this week's edition of Soapbox. Also, visit CF3.org for more detailed images with blueprints.
Part of the Industrial Design curriculum at DAAP requires each year of students to design chairs. Thanks to Blake, I came across the Flickr photostream of last summer's finished chairs. Here are some of my favorites:
Check out more on Flickr.
I love this old photo of the San Marco apartment building at the corner of Madison Road and Woodburn Avenue, AKA DeSales Corner in East Walnut Hills...
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Notice the streetcar.
via [Queen City Survey]
I am loving these before and after Over-the-Rhine photos from CityKin.
1985 and 2009 | click to enlarge
I've always loved Sandra Freyler's Cincinnati photo set on her Flickr page. Here are some of my faves:
click to enlarge | click links below for original photos
1. Architreks South Tour 14, 2. Over The Rhine 5, 3. Architreks South Tour 9, 4. Over The Rhine 8, 5. Architreks South Tour 5, 6. Main Street, 7. Architreks South Tour 4, 8. The Shops in Downtown Cincy, 9. Fountain Square Labor Day 2008
For more from Sandra, Check out her Flickr Page.
Thanks to Becky for sharing her Charley Harper find she discovered while in town last week:
images from blog.designpublic.com | click to enlarge
I recently came across the Flickr page of user chrislrmo. I was so impressed, I decided to make this edition of Cincinnati Flickr Faves just out of his photos. Enjoy.
click to enlarge | click links below for original photos
1. Carew Tower Reflection, 2. Waiting for the Next Call, 3. Cincinnati Observatory, 4. Colorful Sunrise, 5. Untitled, 6. Union Terminal 75th Anniversary Fireworks, 7. Fountain Square Panography Daytime, 8. WEBN Fireworks, 9. Cincinnati
For more from Chris, check out his Flickr page.
I love these two photos that CityKin posted today...
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The first photo is from the 1990s and was a rough area for crime. The photo below was taken recently. Today, these buildings are condos. What a huge difference!
Mid-century modern houses are rare in Cincinnati. Our housing stock seems to be mostly built before 1940 or infill bland suburban style McMansions.
click to enlarge
Local blog author, Chris, was lucky enough to find one of these modern houses inside the city limits, which is even rarer. The architect, who works at a downtown architecture and design firm, is recording the improvements he is making to his newly bought mid-century modern house on his blog he calls Cincinnati Modernation.
Chris's blog reminds me a lot of Drew's adventure refurbishing a building in Norwood that I wrote about last year.
Stop by and see Chris's progress at Cincinnati Modernation.
This week's Cincinnati Flickr favorites come from the amazing set of photographs of the original main public library building:
click to enlarge | click links below for original photos
1. Main Library Entrance, 2. Main Library Entrance, 3. Main Library, 4. Art Room, Main Library, 5. Fiction Alcove, Main Library, 6. Newspaper Room, Main Library, 7. Main Hall, 8. Main Library, 1950s, 9. Main Hall
The Main Library has been downtown since 1874, when a new building was constructed at 629 Vine Street. According to library history, this building was considered "the most magnificent public library building in the country at the time." The building closed in 1955.
It sort of makes me sick knowing this building could have been saved.
I've always loved the architecture around DeSales Corner, especially along Woodburn Ave. facing Madison Road.
images from building cincinnati | click to enlarge
I've wondered why this area hasn't been developed like O'Bryonville. Although, it's seen some new buildings and businesses the past few years.
Here are some "design-y" shops, galleries and restaurants in the area:
Manifest Gallery
"Venue for the display and experience of insightful, thought provoking art and design."
Pac Gallery
"A contemporary exhibition space that specializes in internationally based Contemporary Art and reflects our artistic style and global vision."
Strebel Art
Portraits
One More Stitch
Yarn, Knitting and Crochet supplies
Café Moca
Espresso, Tea and light food
I was recently reading a blog post on The Urbanophile about Michigan losing so much of its educated citizens and it got me thinking.
According to the Urbanophile, there are three sources of talent for Mid-western cities:
1. People who stay
2. Boomerangers who left and came back
3. Those new to the city
I think Cincinnati does well with attracting "boomerangers". There are quite a few locals I have met who lived in other parts of the country, but then returned when they started cranking out babies and wanted to be closer to their families.
As far as brain drain goes, I think we're not quite as strong as we are attracting boomerangers. There are, of course, a few college grads who stay (me included). As most of us know, however, many of them leave the city once they graduate from high school or from a local university like UC, Xavier or Miami.
Images from bousinka, cincyimages | click to enlarge
What about number 3, attracting those that are new to the city and have no prior connection? Most cities that are doing well, excel at this. Think about it. The cities that are constantly referred to as some sort of super cool hipster city that every body loves and is moving to in hoards **cough Portland cough** are attracting people who never lived in that particular city before.
I also have to add, many of these rock star cities I find physically boring, with mega sprawl and zero history. Houston and Phoenix, I'm looking at you. Also, other than the mountains and nature in general, Portland's surroundings and neighborhoods aren't anything special. In fact, most of its architecture is boring. But I digress...
Back on track... This quote from The Urbanophile got my attention:
"...to [attract talent] you can't just copy Seattle or Portland or Denver or Austin. Tackling those cities at their strongest point by trying to beat them at their own game is a fool's errand. And they've more or less decided to focus only on the educated elite. Instead, you have to think hard, get creative, dig deep and find a unique, compelling, and truly local vision for an environment that will appeal to a segment of the educated classes. It is an absolute imperative. Because smart, talented, ambitious, educated people, the kind who start companies or work in new economy businesses, want to live in a place where the civic aspirations match their personal aspirations."
It got me thinking. Then something that had been floating around in my head resurfaced. The one thing that sets Cincinnati apart from almost ALL Mid-west cities is its history, architecture and dense, walkable neighborhoods.
Why aren't we using this to attract new talent, fresh faces with new ideas and those willing to work on a grassroots level?
Images from cincyimages, rustbot82 | click to enlarge
There should be a local program created to find urban pioneers and historic preservationists. I'm not suggesting recruiting local citizens, since we all know that would fail. I'm talkin' a national search. Looking for people who want to roll up their sleeves and get to work. Who want to move someplace new and be part of its renaissance. A program that helps them purchase buildings, gives them advice should they need it, resources for tools and supplies, a place to live while they are renovating...
Why isn't the city doing this? I'm scratching my head.
I am a fairly heavy Flickr user. I usually post around 10 photos a week. I don't really consider myself a photographer, so I mostly use the photo sharing site as a social networking and marketing tool for my business.
I thought since I spend so much time on Flickr, I'd share some of my favorite Cincinnati photos in a regular series of posts. Up first, architecture:
click to enlarge | click links below for original photos
1. Riverfest, 2. Clifton Gaslight, 3. One Way to get a Loan., 4. Union Terminal, 5. morphosis, 6. Red Church, 7. Ceiling Detail, 8. morphosis, 9. Someone Lives Here.
I just came across these photos of new development in Over-the-Rhine. The first is of an infill building at 14th and Vine Streets developed by The Model Group.
click to enlarge | photos from urbancincy.com
I don't like to complain, so I won't say anything about the design of the building. I am more impressed that new construction is happening in Over-the-Rhine and that they attempted to blend the building in with the surrounding architecture.
The second building is at 13th and Republic Streets called the Lackman Lofts. Check out more photos here.
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