Great
Cincinnati Families at Home
an exhibit at the Betts House
Research Center
May 16 - October
31, 2008
Since Cincinnati’s early
days, the city’s leading families have sponsored the design and
construction of significant civic and residential architecture. The
Betts House is pleased to present Great
Cincinnati Families at Home, an exhibition showcasing the homes
of four of these well known Cincinnati families.
On view from May 16
through October 31, 2008, the exhibition will feature the private
residences of the Taft, Probasco-Rowe, Hauck, and Huenefeld families. A
companion exhibition in 2009 will present the Emery,
Longworth-Anderson, Maxwell-Schmidlapp-Graydon-Mitchell, and the
Gamble-Werk-Oskamp families and their homes. A companion
lecture series will offer an in depth presentation on each of these
families, their homes and architects.
The nearly twenty homes
included in Great Cincinnati
Families at Home exemplify a range of architectural styles and
time periods, ranging from an early-nineteenth-century Greek Revival
home to a late-twentieth-century Late-Modern residence. The homes also
represent many Cincinnati neighborhoods including Avondale, Clifton,
Downtown, East Walnut Hills, Indian Hill, Mount Auburn, and the West
End.
The homes in the
exhibition represent the architectural trends of their eras, although
some express innovative styles that would have been considered quite
"modern" to their contemporaries. The individuals who commissioned
these homes chose well known local and national architects -- including
Gwathmey/Siegel, Samuel Hannaford, James W. McLaughlin, Bruce Price,
J.J. Rueckert, William Tinsley, and James K. Wilson -- to design their
primary residences, vacation homes, and "honeymoon cottages." They also
recognized and used the impressive talent of local craftspeople such as
the Fry and Pitman art-carvers and the artists of Rookwood Pottery.
Several of the homes
featured in the exhibit are still private residences, while others have
been converted for alternate uses; only a handful are open to the
public as museums. The exhibition features images of the exteriors and
some interiors using historic prints and photographs as well as recent
photographs by Alice Weston.
Great
Cincinnati Families at Home
is co-curated by Walter E. Langsam, architectural historian and adjunct
associate professor at the University of Cincinnati, and author of Great Houses of
the Queen City; and
historic preservation consultant Beth Sullebarger of Sullebarger
Associates and contributing author of Architecture
in Cincinnati. The
exhibit is made possible by grants from the
John Hauck Foundation, the William S. Rowe Foundation, the Jeanne
Anderson Trust, and contributions from anonymous donors.
SPECIAL
WEEKEND HOURS: June
14 and 15, July 12 and 13, September 20 and 21, October 11 and 12,
12:30-4 pm
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Hear
a story about the exhibit on WVXU's Around Cincinnati
Read a Cincinnati Enquirer article
about one of the homes in the exhibit
Read about the exhibit on SoapBox
Cincinnati
Visit the Betts
House Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 am - 2 pm.
Other days and times are available by appointment.
The Betts House is closed on federal holidays and during the month of
August.
Please call (513) 651-0734 or email BettsHouseRC@fuse.net