Architecture in Cincinnati — 2006 ·

An Illustrated History of Designing and Building an American City

By Sue Ann Painter
Additional text by Jayne Merkel and Beth Sullebarger
Photographs by Alice Weston

“Beautifully conceived and well produced, Architecture in Cincinnati is at once a coffee-table book and something more ambitious.”

H-Urban

“One challenging task for the writers was to identify patrons, planners, architects, engineers and artists involved in the process of executing plans for the city’s significant structures and it is this effort that sets this book apart from similar works.”

Traditional Building magazine

“A big, handsome, ambitious book.... Even for those familiar with the city’s architectural history, the approach here gives new insight to our surroundings.”

Cincinnati CityBeat

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Cincinnati was the first “great” city founded after American independence, and its prodigious growth reflected the rise of the new nation. Its architecture is a testament to that growth and to the importance of the city itself.

Architecture in Cincinnati: An Illustrated History of Designing and Building an American City traces the city's development from the first town plans of the 1780s to the city that it is today, renowned for its dramatic architectural achievements. It is a fascinating story of patrons, politicians, architects, engineers, and planners building a city.

Bringing the city's rich architectural history to life in luminous color photographs by noted photographer Alice Weston, Architecture in Cincinnati captures the beauty of the Queen City and the spirit of individual buildings, bridges, and urban places. Supplemented by historical images and interesting sidebars, Architecture in Cincinnati is an informative and lavishly illustrated book that will inspire renewed pride of place in residents of the city. Nonresidents and students of architectural and urban history will enjoy this authoritative introduction to a remarkable—yet typical—American city.

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Sue Ann Painter, a cultural and political historian, is director of the Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati. Her historical publications have won local, state, and national awards. Her most recent book, William Henry Harrison: Father of the West, is the first in a series on Ohio Presidents.

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Jayne Merkel, an architectural historian and critic, has written books about Michael Graves and Eero Saarinen. She was architecture critic for the Cincinnati Enquirer (1977–88). She is now a New York-based contributing editor for Architectural Design/AD in London and writes for numerous architectural journalists in the United States.

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Beth Sullebarger is principal of a historic preservation consulting firm in Cincinnati. She has thirty years of experience in the field, including seven years as director of the Cincinnati Preservation Association.

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Photographer and environmental artist Alice Weston whose photographs appear in Great Houses of the Queen City captured the beauty and variety of the residential architecture of her native Cincinnati.