Hotels 2

18 Hotel montage

HOTEL METROPOLE

Located on the west side of Walnut Street between 6th and 7th Streets. The hotel with 400 rooms was built in 1912 as a 10 story luxury hotel. In 1924 it had a mezzanine added between the 1st & 2nd floors and an 11th floor for a penthouse. It was converted, in 1971, to low-to-moderate income apartments. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. It is now in the process of being converted into a 160 room hotel and contemporary arts venue.

Gentlemen's Cafe Turkish Baths Lobby Dining Room/Bar

What, Me Worry? Kid

This iconic image first showed up in a medical textbook illustrating a boy who had gotten too much iodine in his system. It was then used by a Topeka, Kansas dentist (Painless Romine) who made advertising postcards around 1900 stating "It didn't hurt a bit". Of course it wasn't until Mad magazine made this image the magazine's mascot that he became known world wide. First named "Melvin Koznowski" he eventually became Alfred E. Neuman, after a character on the "Henry Morgan Radio Show". That character was named for real-life Alfred Newman a composer and arranger for more than 250 movies. Below are a couple of examples of the Kid.

HOTEL HAVLIN

Hotel opening-1906

Located on the s. w. corner of Vine and Opera Place. It became part of Rollman's Department Store.

Lobby Quick Service Lunch Room Grill Room

OXFORD HOTEL

Southeast corner of 6th and Race

PALACE HOTEL

When the Palace Hotel opened in 1882 the eight story structure was the tallest building in Cincinnati. It is now known as the Cincinnatian Hotel. and is located on the n. w. corner of 6th and Vine.

Hotel around 1885

Not postcards

Lobby 1948-Before Terrace Plaza Palace Today

1892 Souvenir Menu (4th of July)

Change over from the Palace to the Cincinnatian.

The Palace Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 3, 1980.

MUNRO HOTEL

Located at 33 West Seventh Street

Restaurant The Plunge Grill and Buffet

New Year's Morning

I believe the last Munro card above was produced by the hotel as a gag card. It supposedly shows the results of too much partying on New Years Eve. The 1910 card is larger and heavier than a normal postcard.

BURNET HOUSE

When this 340 room hotel opened in 1850 the London Illustrated News called it "the best hotel in the world". Located on the n. w. corner of 3rd and Vine it was more than twice the size of any previous Cincinnati hotel. In the nineteenth century fire was the bane of not only steamboats but also of theaters and hotels. Burnet House was made as fireproof as possible. The original structure was 5 stories high with a central dome 42 feet in diameter. There was even a separate children's dining room. There was also a mini mall on the bottom level on the 3rd street side with 8 stores. The room Abraham Lincoln stayed in on his way to his inauguration was maintained as a showplace. In 1864 Parlor A had two important occupants: General Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, as they were planning the final offensive strategy of the Civil War. This room became a sacred place for the GAR which would hold a banquet there each year. The Prince of Wales also "slept here". The names of the rich and famous go on and on (Sarah Bernhardt, Horace Greeley, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, etc.). On January 17, 1926 this building came down to be supplanted by the Union Central Annex. There is a plaque commemorating this hotel on the corner.

Burnet House Ad. 1884 Envelope mailed around time of the Exposition

The Cincinnati Industrial Exposition ad on the back of the Burnet House envelope above is rather confusing. It makes it seem like the exposition was being held at the hotel, when it of course was not. It was just advertising the event in the hopes they would stay at the Burnet if they came. By the way the ad has the same manager's name as on the envelope so both items were in the same time frame.

These are not postcards