GRAND HOTEL
Noted for its "direct-acting hydraulic passenger elevator" with a 90' shaft. Located on the s. w. corner of 4th and Central, across the street from the Union Central Railroad Depot. It had 285 rooms and it's lifespan was from 1874 to 1933. In 1876 the Republican National Convention was held here. Rutherford B. Hayes won the nomination and addressed the convention from the lobby stairway. The 2nd row of non-postcards images all show the lobby.
All four cards show the lobby
EMERY HOTEL
Vine St. between 4th & 5th
Sts.
These three cards show the lobby
These four cards show the Emery Arcade which connected the Emery Hotel and Race Street one block west. Built in 1877 it predated shopping malls with stores, offices, a restaurant, and hotel all under one roof. The glass roof was 40 feet in height, with two stories on each side The arcade passageway was 15 feet wide with gaslights hung in the center. This arcade was destroyed in 1929 to make way for the Carew Tower and its new arcade which is still in use today.
ST. NICHOLAS HOTEL
Edward N. Roth President
Located on the s. e. corner of 4th and Race from 1865 to 1911. This is the hotel where, in 1903, August "Garry" Herrmann, President of the Cincinnati Reds, hosted American and National League owners. All the professional clubs were in a "war" with each other over competition for fans, players, and franchises. Herrmann kept them there until agreements were reached on territories, rights to players, uniform playing rules, and non-conflicting schedules.
STAG HOTEL / CAFE / BAR
These
are not postcards
Located on the east side of Vine between
4th and 5th Streets.
For more information on the Stag complex go to the 2nd page in the Taverns section.
L. B. HARRISON CLUB HOTEL
The first image below is the first L. B. Harrison
Club Hotel that was opened April 14, 1914. The 5-story building was located at
540-542 W. Seventh Street and was named after Learner Blackman Harrison in
whose memory his seven children created the hotel. Blackman was founder and
later. president of the First National Bank of Cincinnati and was a leading
figure in the establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory, Art Academy, Art
Museum, and Zoo.
This was "A home for the young man away from home"
with rooms from $3.50 to $7.00/week including 3 meals a day. The 225 room hotel
had a library, billiard room, and showers. Rent was paid by the honor system.
Everyone paid what they could afford and they reported any raise they would get
so that his rent could be raised appropriately.
An annex was erected in 1915 that contained a pool and later, in
1917, a gymnasium and soon the hotel had amateur and semi-pro sports teams. The
athletic teams were led by W. O. "Doc" Wakestraw who believed in clean
living combined with sports. He would regularly scout nearby colleges to recruit
basketball players to come live at the hotel after graduation. By 1922 the LBH
basketball team had won the city basketball championship 5 times.
Determined to build strength of character they had a strict 11.00
P.M. curfew and had rules like: "Have your gym suit washed once in a
while" and do not associate with anyone who would not be good company to
take home to your mother or sister.
The area soon became more crowded and a less desirable place to
live and a new club-hotel was built in Walnut Hills. The new 6-story building
opened on April 20, 1930 at 2368 Victory Parkway at McMillan Street (2nd
image below). The old building was taken over by Union Bethel until 1942 when it
was turned into a hotel for blacks.
Low rates continued at the Harrison, it was only $18.00 a week in
1964, but the residential club had become outdated, vacancies increased and,
finally, it closed.
Neighboring Edgecliff College bought the building and turned
it into a dormitory known as Harrison Hall. It was again sold in 1981 and after
remodeling it was turned into an office building with a pool, sauna, and
exercise facilities for the tenants.
These are not postcards
1st
Hotel
2nd
Hotel
Building Today
Real Photo Postcard
Residents of the hotel.
Lobby Dining Room Gymnasium Reception Room
Swimming Pool
Billiard Room
Lounge
Bed Room
*
Library
Library & Writing Room
SEVENTH AVENUE HOTEL
S.W.C. 7th & Vine Sts.
AVENUE HOTEL WALDO HOTEL IMPERIAL HOTEL
3123 Spring Grove
Ave.
Jackson Street
n. e. cor. 3rd & central
Loveland
Bar
DENNISON HOTEL
M. E. Shinkle
3 non postcard
images
In all the years that I have been collecting
postcards I have never seen any other image of the Dennison Hotel except
variations on the lobby of the 5th & Main Hotel you see in the 2nd image
above. To compensate for this lack I
have posted 4 non-postcard images to help explain the hotel. The present day building,
seen in the 2nd row, was built in 1890 as an ironworks and was converted into
the hotel in 1932. This is actually the 3rd version of the Dennison. The first
hotel was opened in 1817 at 5th & Western Row (now Central Avenue) by
William Dennison. Williams son William Dennison Jr. was the governor of Ohio
during the Civil War. In 1822 the hotel moved to 5th & Main Sts. This structure was also known as the Merchant's Hotel. It was torn down
in 1932 and replaced by the present day building.
In recent years the building was used as a low income, single-room
residence. In 2011 an $11 million redevelopment was begun to convert the
building into The Ironworks Apartments.
BROADWAY
4th &
Broadway
Silver Foil
STERLING
The Sterling Hotel housed the only integrated nightclub in Cincinnati the Cotton Club. The club was host to hundreds of famous black orchestras and the rooms at the Sterling was usually booked solid. Band members were refused entry at any downtown hotels and usually stayed in Walnut Hills at the Manse Hotel. The 4th image taken in 1945 shows the house band being lead by Chris Perkins. Radio station WFBE would broadcast the big name acts on 1200 AM. WFBE would become WCPO in 1935. Only the 1st image is a postcard.
COLUMBIAN MILNER
Elm &
Longworth
27 w. 7th
St.
PLAZA HOTEL RAND HOTEL REGAL HOTEL
opp. Union
Station
Color Version
29 west 5th
street.
6th and
Vine
THE SHERIDAN SAVOY HOTEL
The Sheridan building is located at 21 east Eighth St. During the Civil War Thomas Buchanan Read lived there and it was known as the Read House. A poet and painter Read (1822-1872) was very popular in his day and although his poems are little read today he is best remembered for his poem "Sheridan's Ride," which was inspired by the victory of the Union forces at Cedar Creek. A plaque on the building notes this fact. His most famous painting is the Harp of Erin and is on permanent display at the Cincinnati Art Museum.
FOUNTAIN SQUARE HOTEL
Hotel Fountain Square
Pick-Fountain Square
The Fountain Square Hotel (later known as the Pick-Fountain Square Hotel) was located on the East side of Vine Street between 4th and 5th Streets. There was an alley bisecting the block called Church Place and the hotel was located on the north side of this alley. Built in 1927 it was probably torn down in the mid-seventies.
STOUFFER'S
Extra wide card. Convention Center on left.
Cincinnati Towers
When then new convention center was under construction the city of Cincinnati realized that new and renovated hotels were essential to accommodate the many visitors that would be coming. Stouffer's Cincinnati Inn seen in the first wide postcard was the first new downtown hotel built. Opening in 1968 at 5th and Elm Sts. it was the 1st hotel opened since the Terrace Plaza had opened, one block east, in 1948. The second card above, with the convention center in the lower right corner, looking southeast shows the hotel after the second tower of the complex was constructed in 1975 at 141 W. 6th St. The complex was then called Stouffer's Cincinnati Towers. The two buildings are connected by the lobby. The ownership of these two buildings have changed several times since they were first constructed.
Clarion Interior
I probably do not have the sequence correct but, I believe, it was next called the Clarion Hotel and then the Regal Hotel. I believe, about 5 years ago, the newer tower on 6th St. was called the Millennium Cincinnati Hotel and the other building on 5th St. was called the Four Points Sheraton. They both then became the Millennium Hotel.
The 3 non-postcards images above are a little bonus to help you orient where this hotel is located. The first two are very nice aerial shots of downtown Cincinnati. This hotel is located next to the large white rectangular structure (half of the convention center)/ The 3rd photo shows the view looking out from the east side of Stouffer's Cincinnati Towers (now known as the Millennium Hotel). The orange building directly ahead is the hotel formerly known as the Terrace Plaza/Hilton Hotel seen on the Plaza Hotel page.
FOR MORE HOTELS 
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