[UHNA] 1 - Possibility of designating Riddle Road an Historic District
- From: "ecereb" <ecereb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Group:, UHNA" <uhna@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 21:44:21 -0400
Riddle Road Historic District
William L. Forwood
Historic Conservation Office
Department of Community Development and Planning
805 Central Ave., Suite 700
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Dear William,
This letter is the start of an idea that I have had since I moved into my
home on Riddle Road <http://home.cinci.rr.com/ecereb/UHNA/riddle_hist.htm>
some 16 years ago. I moved here from Mt Adams because I wanted a larger
home and because this house had so much of its original character intact.
Prior to that, I lived in Dayton Ohio.
Though I was born and raised in Cincinnati, I lived in Dayton for over 15
years. The reason I stayed so long in Dayton was because of the people I
was involved with. They were urban pioneers such as Alice Woodward, the
woman who restored the Steamboat house. I lived most of that time in Dayton
in two historic districts, St <http://www.stanneshill.org/main.shtml>
Anne's Hill and South <http://www.historicsouthpark.org/> Park.
I moved to St. Anne's Hill in 1980 5 years after its designation as the
second historic district in Dayton. I found it to be far more "rough" than
the current neighborhood I am now living in here in Cincinnati. What I saw
during my tenure was a remarkable transformation in the neighborhood and
neighborliness as well. Also, many significant strictures that would have
gone by way of substandard rentals and then the bulldozer were preserved for
many more generations.
I like many of my neighbors in St Anne's Hill, understood the implications
of living in a neighborhood with an historic designation. Among other
things, the exteriors were governed by city ordinance for appropriateness.
It is also note worthy that the older pre-designation lower income and
retired residents embraced the idea of historic preservation. Of course,
the ones who didn't were the landlords.
Today I live in what is known as Middle Riddle
<http://home.cinci.rr.com/ecereb/UHNA/riddle_hist.htm> on Riddle Road. I
live at 660 Riddle Road <http://home.cinci.rr.com/stephenst/my_house.htm> .
You can go to my web site steves.us <http://steves.us/> to read about the
house and the work I did to it. As you may or may not know, Riddle Road is
known for the Christmas Train House at 645 Riddle Road
<http://home.cinci.rr.com/ecereb/UHNA/645_riddle_road.htm> now owned by
Roland Petazver.
Everyone I talk to who lived here in Cincinnati during the 60s and 70s
remembers the old fellow who had the trains in his front room.
Anyway, I have this idea for some time of seeing if it were possible to have
Riddle Road designated as an historic district. So at our last UHNA
<http://home.cinci.rr.com/ecereb/UHNA/index.html> meeting, I posed the
idea. I am now part of a committee of two who will look into this idea.
The other person is Roland Petazver.
This letter is the start the investigation process.
I am writing to you to get input into what it would take to accomplish this
goal and what resources the city might offer to help us.
We do have some history of the houses on Riddle Road on a webpage under
esrv.net under the UHNA <http://home.cinci.rr.com/ecereb/UHNA/index.html>
link.
Can you let us know if such an endeavor is possible and if so what steps are
necessary to reach this goal?
Sincerely,
Stephen Staubach
660 Riddle Road
513-961-7872
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