Photograph by Brittany Dexter
The Over-the-Rhine Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, encompassing more than 360 acres of dense urban blocks stretching from Mulberry Street north of McMicken Avenue east to Pendleton and bordered on the south and west by Central Parkway. Even with 40 years of protection, though, OTR continues to face assaults on its historic character.
The Over-the-Rhine Foundation points out that since 1930, roughly 50 percent of the neighborhood’s building stock has been removed, much of it taken down by the city after sitting vacant and threatening to collapse. Some buildings were cleared for construction at Washington Park, the School for Creative and Performing Arts, and surface parking lots, but most came down because of what the foundation calls “demolition by neglect.”
As Over-the-Rhine became attractive to real estate developers in the past 20 years, many of them built “infill” projects on those empty lots—and some don’t really fit in with the neighborhood’s Italianate architecture. Preservationists realized there was a problem: The city’s guidelines for new construction in OTR were out of date and out of step.
The city of Cincinnati passed a new ordinance, Conservation Guidelines for the Over-the-Rhine Historic District, which took effect on July 8. The 60-page document guides future rehabilitation and infill development using terminology and illustrations that ordinary residents can understand. Douglas Owen, Cincinnati’s urban conservator in the city planning department, says “context” is the key term in the new rules. “We focus on the block that any empty lot sits in, meaning the new building should fit in with the surrounding historic buildings,” he says. “Not some buildings four blocks away, but the ones right next to it.”
GUIDELINES FOR CONTEXT INCLUDE: MASSING, HEIGHT, AND SCALE
OTR’s tall, long, narrow buildings were designed to maximize residential and business density. Typical blocks have buildings three to four stories in height, though some are shorter and others taller.
Photograph by Samuel / stock.adobe.com
SETBACK
The vast majority of residential buildings were built up to the sidewalk, with zero setback. Some larger iconic churches, schools, and public buildings were set back to provide more of a monumental scale.
COMPOSITION
Typical OTR buildings have a recognizable base (different looks for residential and retail ground floors), middle (horizontal lineup of windows and sills), and top (including OTR’s famous Italianate cornices).
RHYTHM
The repetition of tall, narrow buildings of varying height and projecting wall surfaces results in a particular pattern, or “rhythm,” on OTR blocks.
MATERIALS
Exterior surfaces should reflect the block’s prevalent look, especially brick but also limestone, sandstone, wood, metal, and cast iron.
Owen evaluates every building permit application for new work in Over-the-Rhine and makes a recommendation of approval or modification to the Historic Conservation Board, which must approve the project before it receives a city permit.
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