Walking Cincinnati. Danny Korman

      The Taft Museum of Art features paintings by American and European masters.

      BOUNDARIES: Plum St., Court St., Pike St., Fourth St.

      DISTANCE: 3 miles

      DIFFICULTY: Easy

      PARKING: Metered parking on streets; $1 parking for up to 59 minutes at 2 garages, including Fountain Square

      PUBLIC TRANSIT: Metro (go-metro.com) and TANK (tankbus.org) buses serve downtown with routes radiating from Government Square. Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar (cincinnatibellconnector.com) connects The Banks, downtown, and Over-the-Rhine with 18 stations. Cincinnati Red Bike (cincyredbike.org) has bicycle rental stations at Fountain Square, Duke Energy Convention Center, Main Library, and elsewhere.

      As Ohio’s third-largest city, Cincinnati benefits from a downtown that is walkable and easy to navigate, mostly because it was built before the invention of the automobile. Although most streets are one-way and connect with a freeway ramp or other major thoroughfare, downtown has retained its human scale. It has a growing mix of entertainment options, green spaces that encourage both interaction and relaxation, and diverse architecture. Eateries boast a range of flavors and ethnicities, while Broadway tour productions and museums offer people multiple ways to spend their days. In all, downtown Cincinnati is a good place to experience city life.

      Walk Description

Start your tour with a cup of coffee at Booksellers on Fountain Square inside Fountain Place. Maybe you bought this book there! Across the street is Fountain Square, Cincinnati’s primary public space and its heart since 1871. Enlarged and remodeled most recently in 2005, Fountain Square serves as the site of free concerts, festivals, demonstrations, and relaxation year-round. At its center is the Tyler Davidson Fountain, possibly Cincinnati’s most recognizable landmark, dedicated in 1871 and named in honor of hardware magnate Henry Probasco’s brother-in-law and business partner. Aside from the fountain, Probasco is known for his historic Oakwood mansion in Clifton.

Walk south on Vine Street and turn right on Fifth Street. On the left is Carew Tower, Cincinnati’s second-tallest building. Built in 1930 and rising 49 stories, it offers spectacular views of the city for $4 from its observation deck. Carew Tower and the adjoining Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza together create one of the nation’s finest French Art Deco ensembles. The hotel is a member of Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Places. Its famed shopping arcade is the final point of this tour.

Turn right on Race Street. On the left, between Fifth and Sixth Streets, is the headquarters for 84.51°. This nine-story, charcoal-gray, concrete tower features an asymmetrical zipper design with first-floor restaurant space. Past Fountain Place on the right is the former Terrace Plaza Hotel. Designed by Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill and built in 1948, the hotel was the first major building to rise in downtown after World War II and the first International Style hotel building constructed in the United States. Architectural historians claim it as one of America’s Modern Movement buildings. Cincinnati’s Terrace Plaza Hotel: An Icon of American Modernism, by Shawn Patrick Tubb, is a good source of additional reading on this often-misunderstood building. As this book was going to press, development offers continued to be presented and considered. Across from Terrace Plaza Hotel on Sixth Street is The Cincinnatian Hotel, the city’s finest surviving French Second Empire building from 1882.

      Cross Sixth Street and enter the Race Street Historic District, a group of 24 contributing buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Streamline Moderne building at 604 Race St. was originally a two-story J.J. Newberry department store and is now Newberry Lofts on Sixth. For a quick alley tour, turn right on Morand Alley and then left on College Street. To the right is the rear of the former Cincinnati Enquirer Building, at 617 Vine St. Designed by the firm

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