Zeigler House – Frankfort KY (1909)
Frank Lloyd Wright Architect
509 Shelby Street, Frankfort KY
This is the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in Kentucky built in his lifetime. Located in a residential neighborhood close to the Kentucky State Capital building, this Prairie style house is beautifully maintained. The front is visible from the street, and the contrast to the contemporary victorian counterparts on the block is striking.
Occupied as a private residence.
This is the 150th Frank Lloyd Wright building I have visited.
Lindner Athletics Center, University of Cincinnati (2006)
Bernard Tschumi, Architect
University of Cincinnati Campus, Cincinnati OH
Visited September 1, 2013
Initially I wanted to say that this building was wedged in an impossibly tight site between the Nippert football stadium and the Fifth Third Arena (and over the arena’s loading dock). Although factual, it does not feel that way when walking around the building. Tschumi’s curved facade slides in and around the confined space with ease and does not feel compromised.
The triangular gridded mass is lifted lightly by occasional continuations of the triangular structural system that go to grade, providing an open arcade of sorts for pedestrian circulation. The triangular fenestration is actually the negative space left between the structural grid – not punched openings in a wall.
I was not able to go into the building on this trip to take photos, but on previous visits I was able to ascend the grand stairway that goes up through the center of the building. True to Tschumi’s emphasis on Space, Event and Movement, this building captures all three – you will just have to wait for the interior photos to appreciate the experience of the grand stairway…or better yet, go visit it yourself. The University of Cincinnati has an impressive collection of buildings by the Starchitects. Works by Graves, Gehry, Eisenman, Cobb, and Mayne are all within walking distance (Click here for a list of the notable buildings on campus and their designers).
Planning a visit? Stay at the great 21c Museum Hotel downtown, and event in itself. The hotel is adjacent to Zaha Hadid’s Contemporary Arts Center.
21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati (2012)
21c Museum Hotel , Deborah Berke Partners Architects
Metropole Hotel , Joseph G. Steinkamp & Brother Architects
609 Walnut Street, Cincinnati OH
Originally constructed as the Hotel Metropole by Joseph G. Steinkamp & Brother Architects in 1912 and added to in 1924, this was one of Cincinnati’s premier hotels. Over the years, it slowly transformed into a low-income apartment building. The Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation put together a development plan to renovate the building into a 21c Museum Hotel, the second location in this new art focused luxury hotel chain.
The facade has been renovated and restored bringing back the grandeur of the original. The juxtaposition of Zaha Hadid’s Contemporary Art Museum, the “Urban Carpet” rolled up next door, creates an exciting composition for the streetscape. What a perfect pairing, a museum hotel in a historic 100 year old building next to a contemporary art museum by a current superstar architect. And Deborah Berke Partners put their sophisticated and fun aesthetic in the mix and makes it all work together. Building upon the excellence and sucess of the original 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, which was voted one of the top 10 hotels in the world by Conde Nast Traveler Magazine (really!), the Cincinnati hotel I believe lives up to that tradition. Bravo to Deborah Berke Partners for pulling it together and making it happen.
The lobby and other public areas are in fact a fine art museum, with fascinating museum quality artwork displayed throughout.
For more photos and comments of the hotel room and the restaurant Metropole, check out my other blog posts:
John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (1866)
John A. Roebling, Engineer
Spanning the Ohio River
Cincinnati OH / Covington KY
In 1866 when the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge opened it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It was completed just a year after Abraham Lincoln’s death.
John A. Roebling was also the designer of the better known Brooklyn Bridge in New York (1883).
Still in use today by both pedestrians and automobiles, it is amazing to think that automobiles were not even around when the bridge was built. Henry Ford did not sell his first car, the Quadricycle, until 1896, and the assembly line for the Model T was first used in 1913 – 47 years after the bridge was built.
The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge (2008)
Daniel Libeskind, Architect
Covington, KY
Visited January 26, 2013
Just across the river from Cincinnati, at the foot of Roebling’s suspension bridge, is The Ascent. This somewhat squatty spiral building is clad in a Tetris like composition of blue glass and white panels. Behind this architectural skin are 19 stories of residential condominiums, with additional space for parking and amenities.
Unfortunately located slightly behind other taller generic brown brick hotel and office buildings from the river, you have to be on the eastern side of the Cincinnati riverfront to see the dramatic Ascent from across the river. Also unfortunately the facade visible from the river has balconies of different widths tacked on to the outer curved face. I believe the inner curved facade facing downtown Covington is the more interesting facade – and the most hidden until you are right at the building.
From Downtown Cincinnati, you can actually walk across Roebling’s Bridge to visit this monument. Roebling is the engineer that also designed the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
Cincinnati Union Terminal (1933)
Paul Philippe Cret with Fellheimer & Wagner, Architects
1301 Western Ave., Cincinnati OH
Last Visited March 19 2012
Visible from I-75, you may think this building is the Hall of Justice from the DC Comic’s Justice League – which it did inspire. An image of this building also appeared in the movie Batman Forever as the “Hippodrome”, where Dick Grayson’s family is killed by Two-face.
In reality, it is the Cincinnati Union Terminal for train service in Cincinnati. Designed by Paul Cret, the same beaux arts architect as the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The Art Deco facade has bas relief sculptures flanking a huge arched window assembly with a stepped fountain out in front greeting travelers.
Inside, the halfdome lobby is vast and surprisingly colorful, with bold stripes of yellows and oranges in the ceiling, and amazing colored glass mosaic murals, each 22 feet high and 110 feet long depicting the history of Cincinnati. From the lobby floor you at first do not realize they are composed of thousands of small glass mosaic pieces, but once you realize that, there are all the more impressive.
Carew Tower (1930)
Walter W. Ahlschlager, Architect
W. Fifth Street and Fountain Square, Cincinnati OH
Last visited March 19 2012
This 49 story Art Deco/Art Moderne office tower is part of the complex that includes the Netherland Plaza Hotel. Be sure to explore the street level shopping lobby to see the silver leaf ceiling and the colorful Rookwood pottery tile archway surrounds with a bold floral theme.
Netherland Plaza Hotel (1931)
Walter W. Ahlschlager, Architect
35 West Fifth Street, Cincinnati OH
Last Visited March 18-19, 2012
The Historic Netherland Plaza Hotel Building opened it’s doors on January 28, 1931 to rave reviews. The 800 room Art Deco hotel has one of the most beautiful hotel lobby restaurant/bars anywhere, the Palm Court. Built as part of the Carew Tower Complex, this hotel has hosted the likes of Winston Churchill, Elvis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bing Crosby and John and Jackie Kennedy. Make sure you stop by the consierge station and pick up the “Walking Tour & Pocket History” brochure. Take the meandering path leading up through the Palm Court, Apollo Gallery, Continental Room, Hall of Mirrors, the Julep Room, Pavillion Caprice and the Hall of Nations. Grand staircases, each different, make the “climb” from street level up to the fourth floor Pavillion Caprice a most pleasurable journey. The Pavillion Caprice hosted 16 year old Doris Day’s first professional appearance. Even the coat check room off the lobby has the most interesting art deco door surround.
This is the first building that has a post on all 3 of my blogs, check out the Hotel and Restaurant posts for additional photos of this grand old dame.
Contemporary Arts Center (2003)
Zaha Hadid Architect
44 East 6th Street, Cincinnati, OH
Last visited March 19 2012
I have visited the CAC many times while in Cincinnati visiting friends. I cannot believe it has been open almost 10 years. It seems at though I never get great photos for some reason. There are the odd large spherical streetlights seemingly in the way of all exterior shots, not to mention the traffic and trucks stopped on the street. I have posted these from my recent trip hoping they give some impression of the building and space inside.
Zaha’s first building built in the US I think has held up pretty well. It almost seems a little timid now, but that could be that I am so used to it. (I recently visited the now under construction Broad Museum of Art on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing by Zaha. That building looks like it will be a bold jarring presence on campus, the same feeling I remember of the CAC when I first saw it. I will post some progress photos soon) The CAC really fits into the Cincinnati streetscape well.
Inside the museum offers a variety of gallery experiences. Even if you have just a few minutes, you can experience the first floor for free and get a feel for Zaha’s complex angular composition with the floor turning up the wall on the north side.
I stop in every time I am in Cincy, and it still is an exciting experience. I cannot wait to see the completed museum in East Lansing, and experience Zaha’s more mature/developed style in comparison.
Wolfe Center for the Arts (2011)
Snohetta, Architects Oslo Norway
On the Campus of Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green OH
Photos taken March 15 & 19, 2012
Snohetta’s project webpage
With projects in locations such as London, Paris, Marseille, New York, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Cairo, Oslo and Berlin, – Snohetta’s latest completed building is in Bowling Green, Ohio.
This wedge building forms a grand lawn “ramp” up the east end of the building. The wedge is emphasized on the side walls with the siding panel grid and windows oriented on the angle. The main entry is on the west entry under the deep second floor overhang. Inside the lobby is a grand staircase which doubles as a seating/studying area.
I have been watching this building under construction, stopping several times to check up on the progress. To be honest, I was a little disappointed in the finished building…but cannot pinpoint exactly why. The concept is intriguing, the renderings were beautiful, the shape under construction was bold….as I was walking up to the completed building it just didn’t seem exceptional. Yes, it is an unusual building with a large bold wedge shape – but after that – it just feels like a regular rectangular college building, fit into a wedge shaped shell.
When I visited the building at the beginning of my roadtrip, it had just started raining, and was gloomy. So on the return trip, I stopped by again on a sunnier afternoon to “give it a second chance”…and it just felt the same to me. I wanted to be thrilled by it….perhaps I need to attend a performance in the auditorium.
I really want to like it…
People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (1917)
Louis Sullivan, Architect
101 East Court Street
Sidney, OH
Last Visited August 29, 2011
Well worth the short drive off I-75, this is probably the nicest brick box you will ever see. Beautifully detailed with ornate terracotta trim, stained glass windows, and bold colored mosaic tile “Thrift” mural over the main entry, this is one of Louis Sullivan’s great small masterpieces. Situated on the corner of the midwestern town square across from the county courthouse, it documents what small town America was like 100 years ago. It is meticulously maintained and is pristine for it’s age. The building still houses the People’s Federal Savings and Loan Association, and is open to the public during regular business hours.
Engineering Research Center (1995)
Michael Graves, Architect
University of Cincinnati Campus
Last Visited August 28, 2011
The Engineering Research Center is another good Graves building. It if full of his earthy colors and chunky columns and simple building block shapes. The long building facade is broken up into a series of seemingly individual pavillions all in a row. The main section is twice as wide as the others and is more formal looking with the tall colonnade at the entry level and two rows of short fat columns at the top. This wide pavillion is flanked by several tall narrower pavillions, two on the south side and one on the north side. These boxy bodies with barrel vaulted shoulders, and blocky heads look like old school robots with party hats. Not my favorite Graves Building, but it has a strong presence on campus and is interesting. Next trip I hope I have than just a few minutes and I can walk all the way around and get inside and explore it more.
Vontz Center for Molecular Studies (1999)
Frank Gehry, Architect
University of Cncinnati
3125 Eden Avenue, Cincinnati OH 45267
Visited August 27, 2011
Gehry’s first “all brick” building stands as a sculpture on the University of Cincinnati’s campus. It is an interesting assembly of forms with windows applied in various shapes floating or rotated out from the brick skin. From a fountain and lawn on the west side of the building, there is a grand brick stair as wide as the facade leading up to the building. At the top of the stairway, where you would expect a grand entrance, is a brick wall with a wide window above the top landing with no door. You have to contunue around the building wing to get to a doorway. The grand stairway forms more of a pedestal for a sculpture, not a grand entry for a building. It is an interseting work of art.
Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion (2006)
Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA) , Architects
2445 Monroe Street, Toledo OH 43620
Visited May 31, 2011
Designed by the Pritzker Prize winning architctural duo Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (who’s firm is known as SANAA), this glass pavilion fittingly houses the Museum’s world renowned glass collection.
What initially appears as a “simple” glass box, square in plan with curved corners, is actually a very skillful study in minimalist aesthetics with a complex mechanical and structural design. The facade is a continuous glass enclosure from the edge of the floor platform to the edge of the ceiling plane. The glazing is inset into the floor and ceiling plane with butt jointed side connections, providing a frameless and nearly invisible joint instalation.
Contained within this glass box is a series of glass rooms, also with curved corners, arranged within the enclosure so that the room’s perimeter comes only as close as a couple feet of the exterior glazing.
Structurally there are very few slender columns and solid wall segments which emphasises the transparent glass box effect. The roof plane appears as a fairly slender white plane with only recessed lighting and recessed curtain tracks interrupting the ceiling. The mechanical system is mysteriously invisible. There are no rooftop units visible, and therefore no rooftop screens needed to “hide” them. On the interior the supply and return grilles are continuous slot diffusers in the floor, or a couple simple white rectangular boxes with circular diffusers. All of the HVAC system is delivered from a remote building and runs invisibly underground to the pavillion. Therefore the pristine glass pavilion does not have any of the ugly rooftop units or grilles/vents or operable windows in the facade.
Although I appreciate (and was amazed at) all of the obvious lengths they went through to accomplish this minimalist facade, standing back and looking at the Pavilion I thought it almost looks a little too “Simple”.
Center for the Visual Arts (1992)
Frank Gehry, Architect
Connected to the East End of the Toledo Museum of Art,
2445 Monroe Street, Toledo, OH 43620
Visited May 31, 2011
The University of Toledo Center for the Visual Arts is an early Frank Gehry design. The composition is an arrangement of geometric solid forms, clusted and stacked. Here Gehry is using lead covered copper panels to enclose volumes which define the space. Compare this to Gehry’s later designs where the metal panels are polished stainless steel and the surfaces are more flamboyantly curved and sculpted, flaring in and out in a free form composition.
The Center for the Visual Arts building is attached to the Toledo Museum of Art with a one story link. On the Monroe Street side the Center and Museum are seperated/screened by dense plantings and an earth berm, allowing the Center visually stands alone from the Museum as you drive west on Monroe Street.
On the South side of the Center, adjacent to the entry is a Japanese inspired rock garden. It includes with several large rocks carefully placed in a raked white gravel field. This garden is enclosed by an odd green tinted glass tall fence. I am curious to find out the story behind this garden and it’s fence. It just seems, well…odd.
I personally like the weathered lead panels and the volumetric composition of the North facade of the Center better than the glare, distortion and spectacle of some of Gehry’s later works.
Also visit the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion (2006) across the street by another Pritzker Prize winning architectural firm SANAA from Japan.
Boulter House (1954)
Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect
1 Rawson Woods Circle, Cincinnati, OH 45220
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- View from Southwest
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- Detail of Window
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- View from Southeast
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- Cantilevered Bedroom Balcony on West End of House
Angled on a steep corner lot, this house overlooks the house across the street into the Rawson Wood Preserve. Although located in a fairly typical upscale neighborhood subdivision, the Preserve partially surrounds this neighborhood. With the natural planting of the front yard instead of the typical lawn, and the proximity of the Preserve, this house retains the feel of the typically more isolated Usonian house settings.
Complete Photo Archive Here.
This is the 143rd Frank Lloyd Wright Building I have visited (but who’s counting?).
Ohio Steel Foundry Roll and Heavy Machine Shop (1938)
Albert Kahn and Associates, Architect
1600 McClain Road, Lima, OH
With the decades long accumlation of dirt on the windows, and the later addition of the “solid” walled building to the west, the original transparent glass box effect is hard to envision. It must have been amazing in 1938 to see this transparent glass enclosure, with the angled skylights on either side of the overhead crane making even the roof structure appear light and airy. Through this delicate glass curtain, the overhead crane moving back and forth and the other industrial machinery and processes in full production were exposed and on display.
Traverse360 Architecture 