From
Tenements to Townhouses:
Multi-Family Housing in Cincinnati
at The Betts
House April 17 – September 30, 2010
From Tenements to Townhouses:
Multi-Family Housing in Cincinnati explores an often-overlooked
area of history.
Today, most people have experienced apartment life; yet a century ago,
apartment living was considered immoral by many people. The exhibit
will
examine the physical structures and social context of multi-family
housing in Cincinnati and how it
evolved over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Cincinnati
has numerous architecturally distinctive multi-family buildings built
by talented
local designers, as well as some associated with architects of national
reputation. Whether in the central business district, streetcar
suburbs,
factory neighborhoods or close-in suburban communities, these buildings
represent a remarkable variety of architectural styles and hosted a
diverse
array of residents.
The
historic rowhouses and apartments in Cincinnati represent a thriving
city with
a remarkably diverse transit system including, at various times,
streetcars,
inclines and cable railways, as well as the nation's largest interurban
network. Some were experiments in enlightened city planning and
progressive
responses to social problems and hard times.
As a tool for modern development, they provide a template for
re-populating and re-densifying the city, and more sustainable,
less-auto-centric ways of life.
From Tenements to Townhouses is
curated
by Margo Warminski, the Preservation Director of the Cincinnati
Preservation
Association. She was the primary author of the 2002 book, Historic
Resources
of Boone County, Kentucky, published by the Boone County Historic
Preservation Review Board. In addition, Ms. Warminski was curator of
the 2006
Betts House exhibit, Endangered
Cincinnati: Can These Buildings Be Saved?, which won an
Education Award
from the Ohio Historical Society.
From Tenements to Townhouses will
be on view at The Betts House April 17 through
September 30, 2010. The Betts House is open Tuesday through Thursday,
11 am – 2
pm, and the following Saturdays, 12:30 – 5 pm: April 17, May 8 and 22,
June 5
and 19, July 10 and 24, August 14 and 28, and September 11 and 25.
Other days
and times are also available by appointment.
In
conjunction with the exhibit, The Betts House will present lectures on
Over the
Rhine Tenements and Rowhouses and a walking tour of historic
multi-family
housing in Walnut Hills. The lectures will be held at The Mercantile
Library on
May 13 and June 3 and are co-presented by The Mercantile Library and
the
Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati. The walking tour will take
place May 22
and is co-presented by the Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati.
This
exhibit is made possible, in part, by grants from The Louise Taft
Semple
Foundation and the Bettman Prize administered by AIA Cincinnati, and
sponsorships from LPK, Blue Ocean Developers, York Vision, and
anonymous donors. The public programs held in conjunction with the
exhibit
are sponsored
by The National
Society of The Colonial
Dames of America in the State of Ohio.
