in 1926, it is now a Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites. To the left is the gleaming back side of the Macy’s Inc. Building, at 7 W. Seventh St. Turn left on Seventh Street and walk to Race Street, one of downtown’s most impressive corners. The four buildings contributing to this epicenter of urban architecture include (clockwise from the southwest corner) Shillito Place, Pearl Market Bank Building (1910), The Groton (1895), and Jewelers Exchange (1915). The most notable building is the massive John Shillito & Co. department store. Designed by James McLaughlin and built in 1878 (and modernized in 1937), it originally featured five elevators and is considered a precursor to Marshall Field’s State Street flagship store in Chicago. The landmark building is now Lofts at Shillito Place apartments. It served as a set for the movie Carol, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara and filmed almost entirely in Cincinnati in early 2014.
Backstory: Betts-Longworth Historic District
The Betts-Longworth Historic District on the eastern edge of the West End is named for its early landowners: William Betts and Nicholas Longworth. Betts owned 111 acres in the West End where he and his family farmed and ran a brickyard. His house, the oldest brick house in Ohio still on its original site, stands at 416 Clark Street and is now a museum. The family slowly began subdividing their property in the early 1800s, around the same time Longworth acquired 33 acres adjacent to the Betts parcel. Longworth immediately divided his entire property for development, including selling a small lot on Chestnut Street to a Jewish congregation for a cemetery, now the oldest Jewish cemetery west of the Allegheny mountains. The neighborhood was home to well-to-do businessmen, including architects Henry and William Walter, department store owners Frederick Alms and William Doepke, jeweler Frank Herschede, and James Gamble, cofounder of P&G.
Turn right on Race Street and walk to Garfield Place and then Piatt Park, the city’s oldest park. Donated to the city in 1817, the park stretches between Vine and Elm Streets. A bronze statue of President James Garfield stands at the east end of the park. On the south side of the park is the Doctor’s Building (19 Garfield Pl.), a stunning Late Gothic Revival building from 1923 that serves as headquarters for LPK, an international design agency. North of the park is Cuvier Press Club Building (22 Garfield Pl.), a rare surviving Italian Renaissance residence designed by Samuel Hannaford and built in 1861.
Turn left on Garfield Place and walk past Gramercy on Garfield and Greenwich apartment buildings to the statue of William Henry Harrison on horseback at Elm Street. Cross Elm Street to
Turn right on Goshen Alley and then left on Weaver Alley. An overlooked part of Cincinnati’s downtown, alleys serve as a safe space for bicyclists and pedestrians to navigate clear of motorized vehicles. Cross through the parking lot on the left and return to Eighth Street and walk west to Plum Street, another one of downtown’s great corners where politics and religion are represented. On the southeast corner is the
Walk north on Plum Street and turn right into the Ninth Street Historic District, three blocks of more than 40 buildings from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. Walk to Elm Street and go to the northeast corner. Crosley Square (140 W. Ninth St.), was designed by Harry Hake and built in 1922. Originally home to the WLW radio station, this impressive Classical Revival–style building currently houses the Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy.
Continue walking east toward Race Street. While there’s an empty lot on the northeast corner, the other three compensate for the void with solid historic buildings listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places. On the southeast corner is The Phoenix, built in 1893 to accommodate Cincinnati’s first professional Jewish men’s club. On the southwest and northwest corners, respectively, are Saxony and Brittany apartment buildings, designed by Samuel Hannaford & Sons.
Turn left on Race Street and walk to Court Street. On the left is
Cross Vine Street and stay on the south side of Court Street. This block retains its 19th-century scale and is almost completely intact, with just one missing building. According to Ann Senefeld of Digging Cincinnati History, all of Court Street, from Central Avenue to Main Street, was once lined with market booths, while the market building stood between Vine and Walnut Streets. By 1912 the city declared the market building a health hazard, and it was torn down in 1915. Perhaps as a partial nod to Court Street’s market past, Kroger built a 45,000-square-foot supermarket below a parking garage and 139 apartments that opened in summer 2019 at the northeast corner of Court and Walnut Streets. Ahead is the
Turn right on Walnut Street and look to the left at Homecoming (Blue Birds) ArtWorks mural on the side of Courtland Flats, at 119 E. Court St. It is based on a painting in Charlie Harper’s geometric style and depicts two bluebirds returning home. The
