Going back to the south and heading north again looking at the west side of Main Street in the Over the Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, we see more of the newly rehabbed, and a little of the old. I love this old storefront church, which is a remnant of when this was not a “hot”…
Main Street, Over the Rhine, Cincinnati, Ohio, East Side
The built environment on Main Street through Over the Rhine in Cincinnati is just about perfectly preserved, with few building losses. We’ll look at the east side of the street first. Despite being “Main Street,” it’s a surprisingly narrow thoroughfare, allowing for relatively slow traffic speeds and easy pedestrian crossing. The street has one of…
Liberty, Sycamore and Thirteenth Streets, Over the Rhine, Cincinnati, Ohio
We’ll look at a variety of streets next. Liberty Street is a classic example of a narrow street that was widened by the demolition of historic structures, creating what I call a traffic sewer. The north street wall is preserved, as you can see above and below, but on the south side, there’s a jagged,…
Vine Street and Environs, Over the Rhine, Cincinnati, Ohio
Vine Street is one of the main streets cutting through the Over the Rhine neighborhood, coming up from the Ohio River through Cincinnati’s downtown. It is not interrupted from the central business district by any interstates and other than the overly wide Central Parkway, pedestrians can easily connect with the heart of the city from…
Over the Rhine, Cincinnati, Ohio
We’re heading to Cincinnati, Ohio next, to look at Over the Rhine, which is one of the best preserved early Nineteenth Century neighborhoods in America. St. Louis used to have numerous neighborhoods like Over the Rhine, but we annihilated them like fools. Kosciusko, Carr Square (read part two) and Mill Creek, all neighborhoods in St….
Schiller Park, German Village, Columbus, Ohio
We’ll leave German Village and Columbus today with this final look at greenspace. Much like Lafayette Square in St. Louis, the center of German Village is a park, the aforementioned Schiller Park. Originally known as City Park (its western boundary street preserves that name), the current name reflects the strong German heritage of the neighborhood….
German Village, Columbus, Ohio, Part Three
We’ll look at a few more streets in German Village today. I think what makes this such a beautiful neighborhood is that even if the houses are different sizes, they maintain a certain architectural uniformity that creates that harmony. Likewise, with only a couple of different roof types, such as the gable above and the…
German Village, Columbus, Ohio, Part Two
Like Lafayette Square in St. Louis, the side streets of German Village in Columbus are where I found much of the more intimate and interesting views of the neighborhood. What really struck me were the alleys! Wow, talk about clean and unobstructed! I think St. Louis’s decades-long experiment with dumpsters has failed. It just makes…
German Village, Columbus, Ohio, Part One
We now turn to Columbus, the capital of Ohio, and the German Village neighborhood south of the city’s downtown. German Village is one of those special places in America that I have a feeling most people have never heard about, but it is easily one of the most beautiful and harmonious built environments I have…
East Fifth Street, Oregon District, Dayton, Ohio
We’re going to be in Ohio now for awhile, and it’s recently become one of my favorite states to visit due to its economic links as well as it being a stopping off point for several famous St. Louis brewers, including Adolphus Busch and Adam Lemp. We’re starting with Dayton, a city that doesn’t get…