Downtown Cincinnati's Hotel Metropole, a Neoclassical hotel from 1913, rises ahead of you. Imagine the confidence of its origin: conceived by lawyer Joseph C. Thoms and drawn by the firm Joseph Steinkamp & Brother, its name was announced on May 17, 1912, and the hotel opened in 1913. The enterprise was backed by a management corporation, the Hotel Metropole Cafe Company, established on June 22 with a capitalization of $100,000.
Construction here did not follow a straight line — on September 13 a labor dispute led nearly 2,000 workers across several large Cincinnati projects, including this building and the Fourth and Vine Tower, to strike; the strike was called off on September 28 and work resumed that day. Later, in 1973 this grand building became Mid-Towne Apartments, serving as low-income housing, until it came full circle and was converted back into a hotel in 2012. As you stand on the sidewalk, you can feel layers of the city’s ambitions and upheavals held in the stone and detailing of this Neoclassical façade.
From apartments in 1973 back to a hotel in 2012, this Neoclassical façade still holds the city's ambitions for you to trace.