A walking tour is an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon—or a day—at very little cost to your travel budget. And a tour of some of the surprising Art Deco masterpieces in Cincinnati can be both awe-inspiring and informative.
The Art Deco style of ornamentation and architecture developed in the late 1920s, and came to be used for trains, radios, and architecture (most notably for office buildings, post offices, and movie houses). It employs geometric decoration such as zig-zag patterns and stylized depictions of plant forms, and Cincinnati’s downtown area provides the most striking examples of the style.
Great American Ballpark (2003), 100 Joe Nuxhall Way. Start your tour where the Cincinnati Reds play ball, and see a recent tribute to both Reds’ history and art history in the frieze in front of the ballpark (which also depicts the Union Terminal and the Roebling Suspension Bridge).
Dixie Terminal North (1921), Fourth and Walnut Streets. Constructed before the recognized advent of Art Deco, the Dixie Terminal (formerly a streetcar terminal and bus station) features breathtakingly beautiful examples of the form.
Carew Tower (1930), 441 Vine Street. Until recently the tallest building in Cincinnati, Carew Tower stands forty-nine stories tall, and is one of the finest examples of the Art Deco form to be found anywhere in the world.
Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza Hotel (1931), 35 W. Fifth St. Known by various names over the years, this historic hotel has been recently restored in all its French Art Deco splendor.
Shillito/Lazarus Building (1877), 675 Race St. Known to long-time Cincinnati residents as the Shillito Department Store Building (once the largest in the country), this structure predates Art Deco, but was given a 1938 facelift in the style.
Cincinnati Bell Telephone Building (1931), 209 W. Seventh St. Fourteen stories tall (though only twelve can be seen from the street), this structure’s façade features relief sculptures of telephones carved into the limestone frieze.
Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal (1933), 1301 Western Avenue. Perhaps Cincinnati’s most famous building, Union Terminal’s visual delights go on and on, from the ten-story limestone and glass facade to the massive mosaics adorning the half-dome’s interior. The American Institute of Architects recently included it among the fifty most architecturally significant buildings in America.
These are just some of the examples of Art Deco in Cincinnati (others include the Western Hills viaduct and numerous two-story apartment buildings throughout the city’s neighborhoods), and the ease with which a person can walk from one to the other (with the exception of Union Terminal, which is roughly ten blocks from the Cincinnati Bell Building) make Cincinnati one of the best places in the country to appreciate the distinctive beauty of Art Deco.
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