Elements of Surprise
Urban Farming—All Over Price Hill
Eighteen months ago, the Price Hill neighborhood also known as Enright Ridge Urban Eco Village acquired a derelict greenhouse on Enright Avenue in Price Hill. With the help of fellow resident and professional farmer Charles Griffin, Eco-villagers have renovated the structure and soil and have filled it with new crop starts for their neighborhood CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). The rest of this community farm is spread out over the backyards and properties throughout the neighborhood—what’s known as a “dispersed model.” “There are about seven or eight growing sites,” says Nancy Sullivan, Enright Ridge’s secretary. “All the potatoes are on my property.”
In the past year, this organic co-op has increased its membership from 28 to 40. Non-work shares can be purchased, but most members buy work shares, which require 36 hours of labor throughout the season. Last year the farm benefited from an in-kind donation of a walk-behind tractor that can do anything from till to chip wood to harvest potatoes. “It’s really brought us from the Iron Age into the Machine Age,” says Sullivan. Any leftover produce is donated to Manna, a local food pantry. Sullivan readily admits that farming isn’t without its challenges. “Last year my ducks got into the lettuce and beet beds,” she says, “but this project has far exceeded my hopes.”
A Pool Grows in Newport’s East Row
At summer’s peak, some kid, somewhere, is whining, “I wish we had a pool.” This year, the kids of Newport’s East Row neighborhood got just that when 50 families ponied up five grand each and bought the pool from the Hannaford condo building . “Getting people on board was not as challenging as we had feared,” explains Tom Fisher, a lawyer with Barron, Peck, Bennie & Schlemmer. Fisher, along with fellow residents Bill Kreutzjans and Guy van Rooyen, put together the purchase proposal and presented it to neighborhood investors. The pool complex includes an acre of land and a clubhouse. Annual dues are approximately $400 and there is already a waiting list. “It’s not a terribly big pool, but it’s easy to walk to, there are grills available, and it can be rented out for parties,” says Fisher. Until now, the condo owners in the Hannaford were paying the maintenance fees on the underutilized pool. Residents still have the right to use it—as
long as they don’t mind a few more cannonballs.
Empty Nesters Restoring Clifton
“We’re kind of crazy, but we’ve always enjoyed older homes,” say Bob Bennett. Last Christmas, Bennett and his wife, Kathy, left a small 1950s ranch on the west side for a 105-year-old Clifton home with 10 rooms, five fireplaces, a tiled roof, and a two-car garage, originally built by J.G. Japp, a German immigrant who established a successful hair care business downtown. The couple, who had lived in Clifton from 2001 to 2007 before buying the ranch in Delhi, have three grown children and one new granddaughter. “The house in Delhi had been a family gathering place for years and we wanted to preserve that,” says Kathy, who is in charge of landscaping and yard work at their new place. “But we still had a lot of family coming to stay with us and no extra room.”
First on the to-do list for the new place: evict the squirrels and raccoon from the attic and make extensive repairs on the roof and leaky gutters. The Bennetts are also refinishing some of the floors, painting, and landscaping. “There have been people working here since January,” says Kathy, whose favorite space is the dining room with its original wood wainscoting and hand-painted ceiling. For the family chef, they added a commercial grade stove. “I hang out in the kitchen,” says Bob, who has also claimed the basement for his woodworking tools and beer brewing supplies. “It’s my man cave.”
Building a Modern Home in Hyde Park
Straying from the traditional building vernacular in a neighborhood like Hyde Park might seem daunting to some, but not to architect Andy Keller. When Keller and his partner, Gene Kimbrew, a finance manager at P&G, moved back to Cincinnati from New York City, they bought a piece of property near Ault Park and decided to design their contemporary dream house. With its flat roof, large windows, and grayish aubergine siding, the house—which will be LEED-certified—is a striking departure from its Tudor neighbors. “People have come up and said they love it,” says Keller. Still, building modern isn’t without its challenges. Keller, who designed the house with glass at every orientation, says, “our south facing living room is going to roast in the summer.” To control the temperature the windows will have electric MechoShades and canvas curtains. After they move in, Keller and Kimbrew will host open houses to help educate the community about building LEED. “It excites me as an architect that people are interested in sophisticated, modern stuff,” he says.
Raising a Family—In Mt. Adams
As a young married couple living in Mt. Adams, Judy and Tracy Finn saw new parents staying put in their hard-partying urban enclave and decided they could too. “We love Mt. Adams and totally wanted to make it work,” says Judy Finn, whose children are now a first-grader and a kindergartner at Sands Montessori. The Finns are currently building a new home on a double lot they purchased right down the street. “The new house will be 30 feet wide instead of 15,” she explains, “and it will have a garage.” In the spring and fall, the family walks to Eden Park for kite flying, bike riding, and kickball. In the summer it’s up to the Mt. Adams pool and playground, and evening picnics in the Art Museum courtyard. In the winter there’s ice skating and hockey on Mirror Lake and the best sledding in the city—down the hills of Playhouse in the Park. “There’s an interaction between adult spaces and kid spaces here that’s seamless,” she says. If it’s hot or rainy, Finn and her kids head to the Art Museum. “We’ll pick a theme, like ‘red’ or ‘princesses,’ and we’ll search the museum for examples.” Halloween is a community event, with families gathering at one of the local pubs before trick-or-treating in the business district, and the Mt. Adams Bar & Grill sponsors a soccer league for kids aged 3–7. Mt. Adams is also a mid-line stop on the number 1 bus, which runs between the Museum Center and the Zoo. Says Finn: “The beauty of it is I don’t have to take my car.”
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Originally published in the August 2010 issue.