Monday, July 6, 2009

Walking Tour: Lincoln and Melrose

Walnut Hills

One of my favorite corners in Walnut Hills is the intersection of Lincoln and Melrose Avenues. The north side of Lincoln and up Melrose to Beecher is part of the Lincoln Melrose Local Historic District. The south side of Lincoln though also has some nice houses near the corner. All the homes are Queen Anne or Richardsonian Romanesque in style and were built between 1880 and 1910.

841 Lincoln Avenue (SE Corner)

849 Lincoln Avenue

827 Lincoln Avenue (SW Corner)
A lodge of the Black Elks or, more formally, the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World (IBPOEW) which was actually founded in Cincinnati in 1898 by Benjamin Franklin Howard and Arthur J. Riggs, a former slave and Pullman porter. Riggs’ story and the establishment of the Black Elks is an interesting one that I really didn’t know until now!

820 Lincoln Avenue (NW Corner)

835 Beecher Street (SE Corner)

3017 Melrose Avenue

3014 & 3010 Melrose Avenue

836 – 852 Lincoln Avenue
Many of these are owned by the City of Cincinnati. Building Cincinnati did an article on these homes and the neighborhood in 2007.

As an aside, at one time, the Cincinnati Club had a location further south at 2840 Melrose for a time, now the location of the Melrose YMCA. (Link to Library’s Cincinnati Memory Project photo.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an area this used to be. Two really neat houses were torn down somewhat recently. NW corner Lincoln and Melrose (few years ago) and one at the other end of Melrose on the west side of street. Both suffered from lack of proper maintenance (neglect) and both houses had been converted into "churches" - a sure death sentence from the beginning.

Thanks for the nice pictures.

Paul Wilham said...

Some friends of ours looked at 820 Lincoln and it has some great features (its been on and off the market recently) The carrigae house has a lift in it. Unfortunately the current misguided owner has carpeted and painted much of the interior woodork white. But the asking price was under 200K as I recall