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.

The Best Abandoned Building in Cincinnati

2007 and 2010, respectively, in the Crosley Building

There are a lot of abandoned places in Cincinnati. The abandoned subway is clearly the mother of them all, and despite being the most fun to explore (no matter how many times I do it), it's not quite my favorite. It's so tightly locked up and untouched by outsiders, that it's exactly the same every time I go. Over the past four years, I've checked out the Crosley Building even more often than the subway, (check here and here for other posts on Crosley).

Interior, Crosley Building

The last few times I've been to Crosley, it's emptied out quite a bit. It's been a mix of the owners cleaning out the junk, in perpetual preparation for something, and people undoubtedly swiping souvenirs. It's still different every time I visit though, be it new graffiti, more or less junk, or just shifting light conditions and quality.

Former 700 WLW Offices, Crosley Building

The photos here were taken over the past few months. I'm currently working on a thesis project, as part of my masters degree in architecture, and my focus is on abandoned spaces, with the Crosley Building being my specific example. I'll likely post more about that in future posts. As of now, I hope you enjoy the rest of the photos below!

The Courtyard Facade, Crosley Building

Abandoned Office Area

Warehouse Floor

Some Bigwig's Office

Sunset Behind the Crosley Building

First Annual Cincy Urbex Calendar

Just in time for the holidays, the first annual Cincinnati Urban Exploration (Urbex) Calendar is now on sale! The calendar includes photos seen here on Local Architecture as well as photos from our friends at Queen City Disco. It's only $19.99, and makes an excellent present for the holidays. Check out the preview below:

As digital calendars and mobile devices are becoming less and less popular, there's no cooler way to keep track of the date than a paper wall calender.

Click here to purchase!

Try coupon code "PHOTOGIFT355" through the end of November to get 30% off! Make sure to check the comments below for any other deals and sales that will take place between now and the end of the year.

House With a View

Fellow explorer Lance DeLune and myself have had our eyes on this smaller residential building for some time. Built in 1875, it's similar to many of the buildings found throughout the Over-the-Rhine area of Cincinnati, except for its location midway up the steep hillside adjacent to the neighborhood. The building sits on an isolated street, most of the other buildings around it have been torn down over the past few decades. The location offers an excellent view, but at a price; Cincinnati's hillsides are made up of loose soil and clay, which makes it very difficult to build a foundation upon. This building doesn't seem like it will stand for much longer, as the foundation is sliding down the hill, and has been, slowly, for 135 years.

Nevertheless, after being left open to the elements for many years, this old apartment building made for a small, but interesting exploration. Lance, myself, and a new groupie Dana Barrett took a peek around:

Looking out the front windows over Cincinnati.

There isn't a window left in the entire building, but the ground floor is boarded up fairly tight, making it really dark. There is some junk left around, and there are gaping holes in the floors.

The ground floor was boarded up tightly and crowded with junk.

The second floor is a lot more open to the elements. There are no windows at all, it's likely that they were removed and salvaged for use somewhere else. The building was mostly empty, sans some junk that was probably brought in by transients after it had become abandoned. It wasn't clear if some homeless had spent the night, or some hipsters had just hung out; the line between hipster and homeless is so blurred.

A room on the second floor of the building.

The basement was the last stop. It was also pretty empty, and tiny. Dana was the only one who could stand up down here. We took a few photos, then got out.

In the basement.

Cincinnati Subway

The Cincinnati Subway is by far the most famous abandoned subway on the planet. It's also one of Cincinnati's most infamous landmarks, and aside from randomly scheduled and extremely expensive tours, no one ever gets to see it. Conveniently, it's a stones throw away from the Local Architecture headquarters. So myself and Gordon Bombay from Queen City Disco decided it was about time to make a visit.

The east (uptown bound) platform of Brighton Station.

The subway was built by the City of Cincinnati between 1920 and 1925. Seven miles of the line were constructed in some way, from downtown Cincinnati beneath Central Parkway, and on up to Norwood. Construction was stopped in 1925 when the city ran out of money to continue. The project ran extremely over budget as a result of inflation. The bonds taken out to provide the funding for the project were taken in 1916, shortly before the US entered WWI. As a result of the war effort, construction was put on hold until 1920. By the end of the war, inflation had made the $6 million worth of bonds worth just a fraction of what they had been 4 years prior, and the budget for the project had more than doubled due to increased supply and labor costs. Currently, there's a little over two miles of tunnel that exist, and four underground stations. To read up about more of the history of the subway, visit Cincinnati Transit.

On a beautiful, calm night the gang and myself set out to find the hidden entrance into the subway. While most of the old entrances that visitors of the past have snuck in through have been sealed, as we have found with most abandoned buildings... it's very near impossible to seal a place up entirely. Especially one that's two miles long.

In front of us: nearly two miles of abandoned subway tunnels.

We were in pretty easily, with all our gear and enough flashlights to suit an apocalypse. The hustle of late night, after hours downtown Cincinnati continued above us, but we enjoyed the eerie, serene scene that was the abandoned subway. All in all, it was one of the most well planned and executed series of trips we've been on in awhile. The fact that the destination was a major historic icon probably played a part in that.

The following images are arranged station by station, starting from the southernmost station at Race St. to the northernmost remaining station, Brighton Corner.

Race St. Station

The Race St. Station is the largest station in the system, and would have been one of the main downtown hubs. It's the only station that has a central platform, and three tracks (the center track is a stub on either side).

Race St. Station is composed of three tracks with a large, central platform.

Looking down the abandoned Race St. Station platform to the west.

The eastern approach to the Race St. Station. One of the tunnels is now home to a water main.

Liberty St. Station

The Liberty St. Station is the first stop north of Race Street. This station is infamously well known for Cincinnati's attempt to retrofit it as a faux-fallout shelter during the 1950's and 1960's, under the false pretenses that A) Cincinnati was important enough to even be a target, and B) the entire population would be able to survive together in a tunnel with a few boxes of "survival biscuits" for longer than about 10 minutes.

Liberty St. Station. The fencing and lights were presumably installed during the fallout shelter retrofit.

The platform at Liberty St. The booth was of newer construction, and likely a part of the fallout shelter.

Linn St. Station

Linn St. Station is the least exciting of all the stations, because it's been completely sealed over at the edge of the platform. I'm not sure why it was down, but it seemed as if Linn St. would have looked very similar to the upcoming Brighton Corner Station.

Linn Street Station is sealed off completely.

Brighton Station

Brighton Station is the northernmost subway stop that was built, past this point a few more above ground stations were built at places like Ludlow Avenue, Clifton Avenue, etc. on the route up through Norwood. Brighton was my personal favorite station because it represented what would have otherwise been the standard station, had the rest of the system been built. The other stations all have their eccentricities: Race St. being the hub, Liberty St. being a bomb shelter, and Linn St. being nothing but a solid concrete wall. That said, my favorite photos came from Brighton.

Looking at the platform, and up the long sealed stairs to the street above. One of the gang, Lance Delune, was up the stairs with a flashlight.. it was 3:00am and the stairs end in a solid concrete slab, so there's no outside light coming in at all, ever.

Looking south down the tunnel. The uptown bound platform is on the left, and the water main can be seen in the other tunnel to the right.

The downtown bound platform, the water main is visible on this side of the station.

The entrance on the downtown bound side, looking into the subway platform and track area. There are stairs and provisions for bathrooms to the right and left of where this photo was taken.

The Tunnels

The rest of the shots were taken in the tunnels themselves. Besides the stations, the two miles of tunnels have some interesting features as well.

The gang - part of C8P

Be sure to check out Queen City Disco for some more photos of the subway. And remember to follow Local Architecture on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with the latest updates!

The Viaduct

It's not abandoned yet, but the Western Hills Viaduct is crumbling beneath the thousands of cars it carries every day. The City of Cincinnati is planning to spend millions over the next five years, however, for a rehab and/or replacement plan. Sadly, the billions upon billions of dollars being spent on the I-75 Mill Creek Expressway Project and the Brent Spence Bridge Replacement/Rehab Plan don't account for the Viaduct, and barely alter the interchange with I-75 at all. This could be a missed opportunity, but it may be possible for the City to attempt to propose plans for the Viaduct, and take advantage of the massive projects that are forthcoming by extending the bounds of those projects. A new viaduct could be built simultaneously to the massive reconstruction of I-75, and it would improve traffic flow in the grand scheme of the interstate. Doing this would leave the old one disconnected from traffic, and ready for a contemporary alternative use. This is a proposal for just that, a way to use a (soon to be) abandoned, decaying piece of urban infrastructure as something positive, in this case a park:

Western Hills Viaduct Park Project presentation poster, click to enlarge.

I won't get into the history too much, because between Jake Mecklenborg at Cincinnati Transit and Sherman Cahal at Bridges & Tunnels, it's written up perfectly, but it's extremely important to note that the Viaduct was built in 1932 and is one of the most architecturally significant bridges in Cincinnati. It's not often a bridge has such character, and the threat of it being demolished caught my attention.

The eastern archway of the Viaduct, shown here with park space on top deck.

The proposed, hypothetical Western Hills Viaduct rehab/replacement plan. Click to enlarge.

Typical scene atop the proposed Viaduct Park.

The concept is a simple one. After hundreds of thousands of dollars of research, the city will probably determine it is more viable to replace the Western Hills Viaduct than rehab it. Aside from the fact that it's old and difficult to upkeep, the lanes are too narrow, the sidewalk is a joke, and it fails to meet a number of standards that came about when the interstates were first built (since it was built 30 years prior to any interstate highway). If replacement is the way to go, a little investment could make the historic structure into a destination.

What the new Viaduct Park would like like from above, with the Cincinnati skyline behind.

A similar project has been undertaken in New York City, where an aging, defunct elevated freight rail line was converted into a park. The High Line recently opened its first phase to the public, and has become extremely popular.

The recently opened High Line park in New York City.

Sources:

• Brent Spence Bridge Replacement/Rehab Plan. http://www.brentspencebridgecorridor.com/
• Cahal, Sherman. Bridges & Tunnels http://bridgestunnels.com/index.php?catid=580
• City of Cincinnati Engineers - Bridges. http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/transeng/pages/-6815-/
• The High Line. http://www.thehighline.org/
• I-75 Mill Creek Expressway Project. http://www.i75millcreekexpressway.com/
• Mecklenborg, Jake. Cincinnati Transit http://www.cincinnati-transit.net