I had my wisdom teeth removed Monday. Today I decided to take in Cincinnati; the temperature was nearly 100 degrees. Operative word: wisdom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ohhh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doing CG&E justice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always a favorite

 

:|

 

 

 

Can't wait to see this project start

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hamilton County Courthouse

 

 

 

 

 

Lookin' Good Cincinnati.

Bah.  Where's CADILLAC RANCH!?!?

^Purposely not included.

That's one heck of a stroll for that temperature.

i see you found a way to get that place called 'hamilton!' in the thread title.

I was gonna ask, "Did you hit every single corner?"  Then, I noticed the lack of cadillac ranch, then saw your explanation.  I applaud thee.

 

Very thorough, great pics.  I agree about the McAlpin.  I hurt inside when I walk past it, and it's not going to age well.

 

Also, what's the story on this one?

 

 

Are there plans for it?  Such a beautiful building, hopefully whoever does something with it restores the cornice.

^I believe that is the building that Bang Nightclub is located in.  Obviously they don't use the upper-floors, but it would be interesting to see what they might do with them.  Residential is the obvious choice, but some 2nd/3rd story retail or restaurants would be a cool feature.  Offices would also work nicely above a nightclub as opposed to residential units that would have people trying to sleep above.

damn, I didn't realize that was the bang building.  I thought that one (314) was on the south side, next to the mcalpin.

 

anyway, you're absolutely right.  offices/studios on the upper floors would be a perfect match.  they may already be up there, i can't really tell from the photos.

Wow - that's pretty comprehensive!  Very nicely done, and a great effort on such a hot day!

 

Great tour.  You are brave.  Must have been the meds from the oral surgery ;) 

 

What don't you like about the McAlpin?

 

Personally, I hate the 5/3 tower.

Damn, you sure got around a lot for such a hot day!

 

So you left out Cadillac Ranch but somehow managed to post a pic of the CBD's ugliest building?

 

I actually saw that as a nice move on ink's part, intentional or not.  When I got to the Garfield/Gramercy, whatever it is, I wanted to comment on how ridiculously ugly and disproportioned it is.  Then, he followed it up with, as you said, quite possibly the ugliest building around, which made me reconsider slightly.  Bad is better when compared to awful, but none should ever be acceptable.  I'm generally a fan of Towne, I just see this as a mistake to learn from.  Pretty much everything they've done since has been progressively better.

Beautiful photos and I agree that the building in the photo Grasscat referenced is the ugliest building in the CBD.  Just ugly...  #2 would be the Crown Plaza building on 6th.

This is probably the most well rounded downtown photo thread I've ever seen. I think 4th street is my favorite street. What's wrong with the McAlpin building? I think it's one of the best buildings downtown. Why wouldn't it age well? Because it's painted? Lol. I hate that ramp on 4th street though; its a huge annoyance for pedestrians. They need to do something about it.

 

Whats the deal with those concrete buildings on the west side of downtown? Do people live there?

This is starting to really disturb me. How can anyone not like the McAlpin building?! It's amazing. lol.

Great tour.  You are brave.  Must have been the meds from the oral surgery ;) 

 

Just what I was going to suggest.

 

The procedure doesn't seem to have impaired your eye for interesting scenes. Nice job!

This is starting to really disturb me. How can anyone not like the McAlpin building?! It's amazing. lol.

 

I love the McAplins Buildings; what I hate is what has been done with the first two floors. While it is one thing to do a shiny, contemporary entrance, it is another to put in strip mall-esgue glass that just looks cheap.

 

Preserve the intergrity of the street (with period storefronts) or do something that really different and contemporary (ie. how CAC plays off the historic buildings on either side).

 

What someone thought was 'cool' just looks cheap.

 

That is not to say I'm not thrilled to see the buildings renovated and occupied, that is the most important thing in my mind anyway.

^Exactly.  I love the buildings, and they are deserving of much better treatment of the storefronts.  The lack of depth screams of strip malls and I wouldn't be surprised if whoever designed it came from that background.  Note the difference between the following:

 

 

 

I'm not necessarily opposed to modernizing ground floor levels of historic buildings, although I prefer the original craftsmanship of turn of the century storefronts (thick pilasters, recessed panes with substantial muntins, etc).  I've seen some very interesting modern facade treatments that, even with extremely different materials and style, sometimes fit well with the building.  The problem is that even the ones that don't look as cheaply constructed as this tend to look dated very quickly.

I see your point, I would favor more depth as well, though the first floor being all glass seems appropriate to me. Those fake balcony things look kinda awkward. I don't really see the point of those unless it's a real balcony.

yeah, inanely fake shit like that doesn't even work on the suburban schlock on which it originated.  to apply it to a building like this is an insult to the original architect, the builders, the residents old and new, and the city.

Those "fake balconies" actually look quite similar to real French-style balconies.  In case you're not familiar those are the balconies that simply open up and you use your interior as the open area...the rail then acts to prevent you from falling out (or a convenient foot rest).

 

While the street-level facade leaves something to be desired...I'm quite pleased with the rest of the project.

Yes, I'm familiar with them.  They're called juliet balconies and, when done correctly, are very attractive and useful.  Take another look at the picture.  Across the entire length of the facade, there are only 3 sets of doors on the second floor that actually open.  I see two easy and acceptable solutions:

 

1. Put double doors in every bay.

or

2. Remove the railings entirely.

 

Anything in between is just wrong.  It's not modern, it's not historic, and it's not convincing ornamentation. 

 

Again, I like the building.  A lot.  It's just that things like this bother me when it's just as easy and often cost-effective to actually do it the right way.