The Glencoe Hole

Glencoe Place was the subject of the first post on this blog. Over the past five years or so, I've been to Glencoe frequently, mostly because I live close, and also because it's pretty easy to drive through and show people an "example" of the types of places I like to explore. The old post has as much historic information on Glencoe that I could find, so I won't get into that here. Instead, I'll point out some of the things that have changed at Glencoe over the past few years. Unfortunately, none of them are positive changes.

Looking north at the courtyard out of one of the main buildings at Glencoe.

Unfortunately, the past few years have taken a toll on Glencoe. When I first visited, it seemed like the sight have some semblance of potential. Today, however, I think Glencoe may very well be a lost cause. A myriad of problems have plagued the place over the last decade, from the freak windstorm of 2008 that blew the roofs off a few of the buildings, to the utterly disgusting mismanagement on the part of the developer, as well as the City of Cincinnati (browse this thread on UrbanOhio to see a bit more about that).

The units inside Glencoe are mostly destroyed, and much of the old wood framing is water damaged to the point that it likely won't be repairable. While it hasn't been in good shape since it closed, the deterioration seems to have increased exponentially over just the past few years.

A kitchen in one of the units at Glencoe.

One of the upper floor, common area hallways; the units at Glencoe, while giving the appearance of row houses, are actually mostly small apartment units.

An interior of one of the larger, 3 bedroom units at Glencoe Place.

Some of the stellar brickwork that abounds Glencoe, I'm not sure what the proper term is for a course that begins as one horizontal brick, changes to vertical, and then to two stacked horizontals, but I think it's something like "half-assed."

An exterior shot of Glencoe, on a dreary street that's shady most of the day, most of the year; note that this was taken before the plywood doors and windows were painted the goofy colors they are now (you can see this in the first photo, and the next one).

The historic entrance to the "Glencoe." I'm always amused that they decided to make the word "Glencoe" into a complete sentence by putting a period at the end. I'm not amused at the lame attempt to follow "broken windows theory," and think that painting the boarded up windows gaudy colors will make the place any better.

So, to summarize, in my opinion Glencoe Place is approaching the point of no return very, very quickly (if it isn't already there, which it may be). It's a glimmering example of mismanagement, and has started a quest toward becoming a disgrace. It also serves as an example of a horrible attempt at a public-private partnership, like a bizzaro-Cincy version of 3CDC. On top of that, the city decided to paint the doors and windows gaudy colors.