Abandoned apartment building Cincinnati OH

The Alexandra Apartments Building, Cincinnati Ohio

Date added: June 29, 2023 Categories: Ohio House Multi Family

Decorative facade details at north facade looking south from William H. Taft Road (1996)

Constructed in 1904, this building was the first of several apartment buildings that contributed to the historic development pattern of large-scale residential real estate developments. The Walnut Hills area had experienced an influx of residential development as early as the 1860s. It was a desirable residential location because of its short travel distance from downtown Cincinnati and its neighborhood business district. In 1872, horse-drawn coaches traversed the long slope of Gilbert Avenue as it extended from downtown Cincinnati to Peebles Corners, the main transportation hub and commercial center of Walnut Hills. The advent of cable cars along Gilbert Avenue, in 1885, replaced the more laborious horse-drawn transport. The more reliable cable cars allowed for the mass movement of people who wished to live away from the congested basin area of the city. Topographic constraints and the lack of adequate transport technology had confined many people to living within the basin area. With the implementation of six cable car lines, travel time to and from the central part of the city was greatly reduced and made much more efficient. In response to the improvement of cablecar and streetcar transportation, Walnut Hills experienced an increase in housing demand. By the 1890s several single-family residential subdivisions had been established. In addition, numerous small apartment buildings had been constructed along Gilbert Avenue and McMillan Street, the major streets crossing through Walnut Hills. Real estate developers had envisioned larger apartment buildings that could provide housing for the increasing demand in rental units located away from downtown Cincinnati.

In 1903, Thomas J. Emery's Sons, the major real estate developers in Cincinnati at that time, proposed to construct a large apartment building located one block away from the cable car terminus and the busy shopping district of Peebles Corner located at Gilbert Avenue and McMillan Street. Large-scale apartment buildings were not new to this company. They had previously constructed numerous apartment buildings in downtown Cincinnati. Notable apartment construction included the Lombardy Apartments (1881) located on West Fourth Street, and the Norfolk Flats (1891) constructed on West Eighth Street. The developers knew the apartment market in Walnut Hills. They had previously constructed smaller apartment buildings within the neighborhood.

The Alexandra was constructed to house fifty-four apartments and was the largest apartment building to be constructed by that time. With the success of The Alexandra, the Emery's constructed The Verona a few blocks to the southeast in Walnut Hills. This is a large building with fifty-one apartments and was built in 1906. Also in 1906, the Emery's constructed The Clermont, a seventy-unit apartment building in the neighboring community of East Walnut Hills. With the success of these apartment building developments, the Emery's undertook one final large-scale apartment building in Walnut Hills. The Navarre was constructed one block north of The Alexandra on Gilbert Avenue. Built in 1907, it contains thirty-seven apartments. With the construction of these four apartment buildings the development company added two hundred and twelve units into the apartment marketplace. No other development company had constructed such a large number of apartment units within Cincinnati's hilltop neighborhoods. The construction of The Alexandra illustrated that there was a significant demand for apartment living in Walnut Hills. Its success was followed by other large-scale apartment projects within the neighborhood.

Thomas J. Emery's Sons was not the only real estate developer to construct apartments in Walnut Hills. Other developers also capitalized on the demand for apartment living. One example is the Park Flats which was constructed in 1904 on Park Avenue by Charles Mayer, a developer primarily of single-family houses.

The construction of large-scale apartment buildings was not exclusive to Walnut Hills. From ca. 1895 to ca. 1915, apartment construction had been undertaken within several other expanding neighborhoods of Cincinnati. The neighborhoods of Avondale, Clifton, and Hyde Park had experienced significant residential growth with developers constructing large apartments to meet the demand for this type of housing. Thomas J. Emery's Sons was also a major developer in several of these neighborhoods. With respect to Clifton, the company built four large-scale apartment buildings (Roslyn 1904, Roanoke 1904, Rutland 1906, and Romaine 1906) that contained a total of ninety apartments. The largest of these was The Roanoke with thirty-seven apartments. The company constructed one building in Avondale. Haddon Hall was built in 1909 and contained fifty-six apartments.

The building was designed by the Cincinnati architect, Joseph .G. Steinkamp (1868-1948) in collaboration with his brother, Bernard F. Steinkamp. Joseph started out as a draftsman and moved into architecture. In 1891, he developed a working relationship with Thomas J. Emery's Sons when he designed the Norfolk Flats. He was subsequently employed to design various buildings the Emery's developed. Included among these were other apartment buildings in addition to The Alexandra. He also designed Haddon Hall in 1909 for the Emery's. With another Emery commission in 1905, he designed the Mercantile Library Building in downtown Cincinnati. This is a large scale skyscraper office building constructed at a time when Cincinnati was experiencing the development of its tall building office skyline.

There are identifiable architectural details that Steinkamp used on numerous Emery's apartment buildings. These included the use of glazed brick and classically inspired details. Several apartments exhibited a gambrel roof, however most use a flat roof surmounted with a classically inspired parapet.

Steinkamp enjoyed a long architectural career within the city. Other examples of his work include the Art Deco American Building (1927), several Xavier University buildings, several Cincinnati churches, and several industrial buildings.

Building Description

Located approximately three miles from downtown within the Cincinnati neighborhood of Walnut Hills, The Alexandra is situated at the corner of two busy streets that serve to move high amounts of vehicular traffic. The immediate built environment is composed of several buildings that contain adaptive reuses, a fast food franchise, the parking lot for a large grocery store, a church, and several late nineteenth century multiple-family residential buildings. Because of its scale and architectural details, this building dominates the visual setting situated at the intersection.

The Alexandra is a large-scale four-story building that exhibits a mix of several stylistic details. The more prominent elements are associated with the Dutch Colonial Revival style. The architectural details also incorporate the use of a gambrel roof and blind machicolations. Overall, the facades are asymmetrical with the main north side facade exhibiting three large wings that project from the main axis of the building. Distinctive features associated with its style accentuate the large decorative north main facade and extend to incorporate the west facade. The main raised entry, at the north facade, exhibits a one-story frontispiece composed of smooth rectangular stone columns and simple classically inspired capitals with egg and dart molding and a full stone entablature. The same frontispiece details are found at the smaller west side entry. The two decorative facades have large open balconies that extend to the third floor and are supported by brick columns with Doric inspired stone capitals and with single turned stone columns that terminate with Doric capitals. The machicolations terminate the balcony treatments at the fourth floor. Window lintels, at the decorative facades, are accentuated with large flat stone voussoirs with larger plain keystones. Gable roof dormers continue the details with the use of closed pediments with deep plain entablatures helping to enclose the gable ends.

The building sits atop a raised ashlar stone foundation. Several window bays, especially towards the east have been blocked over with plywood. The north and west exterior walls are composed of glazed stretcher bond brick across the decorative facades. At the east and south side facades, painted common bond brick walls complete the wall construction with much less fenestration. Small stone lug sills are the only embellishment to these facades. Most windows are 1/1 wooden sash with single bay placement. Several paired window bays are found at the north and west facades. The fourth floor has numerous dormers piercing the slate gambrel roof at its side slopes. Tall plain chimney stacks rise above the apex of the gambrel roof.

The interior architectural detail is highlighted by the treatment of the public spaces. These incorporate two large decorative staircases with marble treads and risers. Plain wood balustrades are accentuated with square newel posts. Hallways exhibit small square red tiles highlighted with smaller white marble squares. Plain surrounds accentuate door treatment. Decorative wainscoting adds architectural interest to the halls. Staircases extend upwards from the first floor to the fourth floor. A large skylight, above each stairwell, helps to illuminate the staircases. On the first floor, the two entry halls continue the floor tile motif. Large double entry doors are flanked by glass sidelights and a large lighted transom. An elevator shaft constructed of concrete block has been added at the smaller stairwell. Some interior decay to plaster ceilings and walls has occurred.

The building was originally designed to accommodate fifty-four apartments. Surviving details include some decorative mantles with tile surrounding the fire boxes, simple window and door surrounds, baseboards, and oak strip flooring laid to accentuate a plain floor pattern. A continuous picture mold, even with the top of window and door lintels, extends across most walls.

The building has experienced some damage due to vacancy and a fire in part of the upper floor. Decay to existing ceiling and wall plaster is evident in many apartments. Some floors have buckled. The east side staircase exhibits some structural decay.

It is estimated that twenty percent of the building had experienced fire damage with subsequent water deterioration due to the loss of a portion of the roof. The building is presently vacant. Current plans call for rehabilitation and use as an apartment building.