A Tudor Revival’s West Side Story

This Tudor Revival stayed in the family for eight decades.
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Exterior view of the Tudor home in Western Hills.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY COLDWELL BANKER

Since its construction in 1926, some of Cincinnati’s most prominent families have called this west side manor their home. The estate was destined for an illustrious cast of characters from the beginning, when Kroger board of directors member George Meiners and his wife Clara Estermann (from another well-known Cincinnati family) built it as a place to raise their 13 children. Their thoughtfully selected site overlooked the Western Hills Country Club, and they christened the 4,300-square-foot house “Clarestone.”

To design their dream home, the Meiners enlisted the help of Rendigs, Panzer, and Martin, the same architectural firm that brought nearby Pine Meer—probably better known as the Schott Estate—to life before going on to design hallmark structures including the Cincinnati YWCA, the Mt. Echo Park pavilion, and the Cincinnati Art Museum’s Alms Wing.

The Clarestone sitting room that some prominent Cincinnatians have called home.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY COLDWELL BANKER

It’s rare that the Tudor Revival changes hands. In the early 1940s, the home was purchased by the Garrison family, whose patriarch, Stuart, was an insurance man, philanthropist, and diehard Bearcats fan who endowed the first-ever full tuition football scholarship at the University of Cincinnati. He lived at Clarestone with his wife, LaVaughn, and their three daughters, who were known by their Western Hills High School classmates as “The Garrison Girls.”

Clarestone was meticulously maintained by the sisters and remained in the family for another 80 years before hitting the market. Much of the home, with its 10-foot ceilings and leaded glass windows, has remained just as it was in the mid-1900s, down to the original hardwood and tile floors. Even the kitchen is largely untouched, with old-school stainless steel kitchen counters and patterned wallpaper that harkens back to a far different time. Similarly, in the attic, the owners preserved the larger-than-life cartoons drawn on the wall by Roger Sampson L. Meiners, one of the 13 Meiners children, who was among the first to call this timeless manor home.

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