Major Bibliographical References (Enter categories from instructions) significant in our past. Federal agency La Tosca Flats Areas of Significance recorded by Historic American Engineering our history. County and State Name of repository: (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) Hamilton County, Ohio Name of Property 10. Geographical Data (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.) - See continuation sheet (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By Margo Warminski, historic preservation consultant June 19, 1998 street & number - telephone city or town - state - zip code Submit the following items with the completed form: A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location.
A Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Representative black and white photographs of the property. (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) (Complete this item at the request of SHPO or FPO.) Grandin Properties, Inc. - zip code45202 Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.). 606-581-2883 41071 Zone date Easting Northing Newport name Additional Documentation Photographs organization Boundary Justification Additional items Maps UTM References city or town Cincinnati Continuation Sheets name/title County and State street & number 2000 PNC Center, 201 E.
5th Street Property Owner La Tosca Flats Verbal Boundary Description 340 East Second Street of this form to the Chief,Administrative Services Division,National Park Service,P.O.Box37127,Washington,DC 20013-7127;and the Officeof (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) - telephone 513-723-2319 Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form isestimatedto average18.1 hours perresponse including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Projects (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. 4335000 721040 Acreage of Property less than 1 acre NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Hamilton County, Ohio The La Tosca Flats, built in 1915, meets Criterion C and is significant in the area of architecture building. It has been evaluated in the context of apartment house development in Cincinnati c. 1910s. It retains many original features, including masonry detailing, windows, woodwork and mantelpieces. The La Tosca has been little altered since its construction and enjoys a high Apartment House Development in Cincinnati and Hyde Park particular, has been conducted to date. Original research by historians, however, has delineated some basic patterns of development.
A citywide survey conducted in 1978 provided general information about apartment house styles, and Ohio Historic Inventory forms and National The development of apartment houses in Cincinnati can best be understood in the context of the process of suburbanization in the late 19 and early 20" century. Prior to 1870, the river city of Cincinnati was primarily a "walking city," much of its growth confined to a basin surrounded on west, north and east by steep hills. Over the next three decades transportation system easier for citizens to move away from the central city. A network of suburban communities (some of which were formerly farming villages) thus developed atop the surrounding hills. Many of these towns were eventually annexed by Cincinnati.
The first series of annexations took place in the mid-19th century, during which several communities near downtown were added to the Queen City's crown. During the 1890s, 1900s and 1910s many more communities farther from the center-including Hyde Park, where the La Tosca is located-were enveloped by the city (see WPA Guide to Cincinnati). Partly as a result of this expansion, Cincinnati's population climbed Abstract of the United States, 1980). The increase in the city's population created interest in apartment living. Apartment living came to Cincinnati in the 1880s, several years after the new "French flats" had achieved popularity on the East Coast (Elizabeth Cromley, Alone Together: A History of New York's Early Apartments [Cornell University Press, 1990], p. 101). The earliest buildings, not all of which have survived (8-86) degree of integrity under all its aspects.
La Tosca Flats from296,908in1890 1910-1930.The building represents the Prairie-style small apartment building as built in the Section 8 Page 2 No formal study of apartment buildings in the city of Cincinnati in general, or in Hyde Park in improvements, including inclined planes, commuter railroads and electric streetcar lines, made it as a distinguished and uncommonly seen example of the Prairie style as applied to an apartment NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 8 La Tosca Flats Hamilton County, Ohio to the present day, were built in the 1880s and 1890s on outlying blocks of the central business district.
The Lombardy (1885) in the West Fourth Street Historic District (National Register, 1976), for example, was one of several apartment buildings built in the downtown core during the late 19 century; others included the Brittany Apartments (1885), the Normandy Apartments (1894) and the Courtland Flats (1902). In the 1880s through 1900s the firm of Thomas J. Emery's Sons, perhaps the city's most prolific and influential developer of apartment houses during the late 19th and early 20" centuries, pioneered the construction of apartment houses in middle-class hilltop neighborhoods. The Emery firm built blocks of flats along major thoroughfares well-served by public transit, so tenants could ride streetcars to jobs downtown. Most early apartment blocks (1880s and 1890s) exhibit lively Queen Anne styling, sometimes with Eastlake, Romanesque or Renaissance Revival details.
Examples include the Eckert Flats (c. 1895) and the San Marco Apartments (1895), both located in the Madison-Woodburn national trends, Cincinnati's apartment builders of this era had a strong preference for toward a more unified classicizing style coincided with a tenant clientele already used to apartment living" (Cromley, p. 204). Thomas J. Emery's Sons, for example, embellished their turn-of-the-century buildings with detailing borrowed freely from a variety of classical traditions. For example, both The Alexandra, built in 1904 (National Register, 1997), and Haddon Hall (National Register, 1982), which dates from 1909, feature gambrel rooflines and classical elements. Likewise, the Melbourne Flats (National Register, 1984), constructed in 1898, includes elements of several popular classical styles. While not built by the firm, it was designed by Joseph G.
Steinkamp, architect of many of the Emery buildings including the Alexandra and Haddon complexes. The Park Flats (1904; National Register, 1983), whose architect has not been identified, combines characteristics of the Chicago Commercial and century in Cincinnati residential neighborhoods include The Verona (1901) in Walnut Hills, The Glenwood (c. 1900) in College Hill (demolished), The Roanoke (1900) in Clifton, the Bradley Flats (1907) in Columbia-Tusculum, and 3406-3412 West Eighth Street (c. 1907) in Price Hill. The development of Hyde Park was in many ways typical of the pattern of suburbanization and suburb in the late 19t century, Hyde Park was incorporated in 1896. Originally called (8-86) Second Renaissance Revival styles.
Other classically inspired apartment blocks of the early 20th characteristic architectural styles for large apartment houses....This new architectural style presented the apartment house as a unified whole rather than as a set of fragments... This trend classically-inspired styles.At the turn of the century the classical style..became one of the Historic District (National Register,1983) in the Walnut Hills neighborhood. annexation that characterized Cincinnati's late 19" century development.Founded as a railroad Page 3 NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 8 Page 4 Hamilton County, Ohio Mornington, it was renamed for the Hudson River village as a mark of status. The village Road, which would eventually be expanded to the east and the south.
A promotional brochure plateau..far above the smoke and soot of the city." It went on to say, "The view is grand. One (ibid.): an exclusive residential suburb with broad avenues, expensive homes, regulated Hyde Park was annexed to Cincinnati in 1903. Roads were improved, streetcar lines extended and utilities upgraded, and the new neighborhood's population grew. As it developed a somewhat denser, more urban character, it lost some of the exclusive ambience of its early development. In a patter typical of Cincinnati in the first two decades of the 20" century, a added to Hyde Park's residential mix in the 1890s with the construction of multi-story buildings around the newly-developed Hyde Park Square.
The oldest buildings, built on main avenues close to transit lines, often had ground-floor storefronts, and some built in commercial districts Hyde Park, and throughout the city as a whole, in the 1900s, 10s and 20s. "The quadraplex or Jennings, American Vernacular Design 1870-1940: An Illustrated Glossary, p. 4). These buildings are three or four stories in height, with centered entrances (which may be contained in orientation (taller than wide), balanced facades, and corner balconies or sunrooms. "Some multifamily buildings will organize the facade into projecting and receding planes. For example, (Gottfried and Jennings, p. 5). Flat or shed roofs are the norm. Many have raised basements for extra living space.
Inside, public spaces are minimal; limited to a small vestibule and one or at 2727 Erie (1910s) and the Sibcy Flats (1920s) on Madison Road are examples of six-unit buildings; the former, built on Hyde Park Square, includes twin storefronts, with the main entrance centered between them. (8-86) had common walls. commercial districts and no industry.
growing population meant increased demand for multi-family living units.Apartments were produced in the 1890s (exact date unknown) described the site as"a beautiful rolling Units are stacked over one another and usually repeat a basic floor plan.(Gottfried and sixplex are common arrangements in which apartment units are accessed through a central hall urban lots.In neighborhood business districts, they often included shopfronts.The Peebles Flats a slightly projecting pavilion),and secondary entrances at the rear.They feature a vertical Freestanding six-to nine-unit buildings such as the La Tosca were built in large numbers in may see for miles a charming succession of pretty villages separated by stretches of green- La Tosca Flats comprised a triangular parcel bounded by Madison Road, Observatory Avenue and Edwards a common treatment includes projecting corner pavilions with a recessed entrance area" more stairhalls.
Relatively compact in footprint, six-unit buildings were well adapted for smaller topped trees" ("Hyde Park Subdivision," n.d.). Hyde Park was conceived as a "place of homes" NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 8 La Tosca Flats Hamilton County, Ohio structures in the 1910s and 20s. "Another common type of plan that evolved for these larger buildings was an indented plan, a circulation core with wings filling the site and extending toward the street or the rear in the shape of a fat U, or wings extending in both directions like an for exterior light and air to every apartment" (Cromley, p. 147). Horizontal in orientation, built around a central courtyard or a series of smaller, interior courts, or face a common green.
rectangular or terrace-like; none, however, are completely enclosed, and all offer a view of the street. The apartment blocks may consist of one large building or a series of smaller structures grouped together, unified by common design and landscaped settings. On more constricted lots, individuality in design, but most feature flat or low hipped roofs, corner porches or balconies. vestibules or pavilions. The interiors of the buildings offered the possibility of larger, more building at 2570 Madison Road, a wedge-shaped building facing a broad lawn. Regardless of form or size, Hyde Park's apartment buildings were scaled to their domestic context: a neighborhood made up primarily of one- and two-story dwellings. Thus they differ more intensive use of land.
For the first three decades of the century, most Hyde Park apartment builders-like those of other neighborhoods-favored either formal, academic styles or picturesque modes: all of which also were popular as house styles in the neighborhood. This may have been an attempt to present a "proper," dignified image attractive to tenants, or simply to maintain an architectural at the northwest corner of Hyde Park Square, which may be unique in its use of the late Romanesque Revival style. Some of the oldest extant apartment blocks in the neighborhood employ a Neo-classical vocabulary, with prominent cornices, corner quoins, and classical motifs. Flats at 2718 Erie Avenue, which anchors the square's northeast corner.
The Georgian Revival (8-86) expansive-and more elaborately detailed-public spaces than did the more constricted six-unit H...These plans maximized the exterior wall, thereby allowing the greatest number of windows consistency in the neighborhood. The earliest identified building is the Burch Flats (mid-1890s) elaborate entrances which may be flush with the building plane or contained in projecting they maybe built with narrow end to the street.Large apartment houses also exhibit much Indentations in side walls maximize the light and air available to each unit.
They often include On larger parcels of land, generally on main thoroughfares, builders built larger, more imposing from the tall buildings built in the central business district, where high property values dictated square, built in 1904; another classically inspired building, simpler in expression, is the Virginia standing three or four stories high, these larger buildings are set back from the street; they are Perhaps the most striking example is the A'Laise Apartments at the southeast corner of the buildings.Examples of large-scale courtyard apartment buildings of the 1920s include the Page 5 NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 8 Hamilton County, Ohio style, characterized by symmetrical, restrained compositions and embellished by jack arches, (1900s) at 3405 Monteith and the Ravenswood Apartments at 3387-3417 Erie Avenue. The Grassmoor Apartments on Madison Road are inspired by the Italian Renaissance Revival style. The Tudor Revival style, distinguished by steep gables, applied half-timbering, stonework and leaded-glass casements, is represented by a number of buildings, including the Aero at 3634 Edwards Road and two buildings at Madison Road and Kendall Street.
Some buildings, such as 2570 Madison Road (1920s) and Georgian Terrace at 2136 Madison Road (1920s), freely combined elements of various styles; still others, such as 2560 and 2580 Madison Road, favored no particular academic style. A locally rare example of an Art Deco apartment house, with a profusion of characteristically stylized and angular terra-cotta ornament, can be found at 2649 Erie Avenue. By the 1930s the Art Moderne style, identified by ribbed or molded concrete ornament, glass block sidelights, and rounded entrance canopies or balconies, became the dominant architectural expression for multi-family buildings. Many Moderne apartment buildings were built in the neighborhood, including a cluster at Observatory and Shaw Avenues.
Blocks of four-unit buildings with muted Moderne detailing were built in large numbers throughout the city in the 1930s and 40s; rows of these buildings, some of which incorporate Colonial Revival elements in an incongruous manner, can be found along Shaw Avenue and While the design of the Tosca Flats is characteristic of small apartment buildings in its scale, setback and facade symmetry, it surface treatments and decorative detailing are markedly different from others of the period in Cincinnati. It represents the influence of national trends that revolutionized building design in the late 19th and early 20 centuries. This movement rejected European models and classicism in favor of an organic American architecture inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement.
The two most important manifestations were the Craftsman style, which developed in southern California, and the Prairie style, which originated in Chicago. The practitioners of the Prairie style, known as Prairie School, sought to create "honest forms that blended in with the landscape" (Steve Gordon, How to Complete the Ohio Historic Inventory [Ohio Historical Society, 1992], p. 107). The result was one of the few indigenous American styles. Prairie buildings are characterized by low-pitched roofs, usually hipped; strong horizontal lines, and often massive, square porch supports (see Virginia and Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Architecture [Knopf, 1997], p. 440).
Like buildings in the contemporary Craftsman style, Prairie buildings often employed "natural" materials such as dark-hued or wire-cut brick, rough stone, concrete stucco and stained wood shingles; many employed stucco or brick wall surfaces with contrasting dark wood trim. Also associated with Prairie buildings were geometrical ornament, bands of casement windows, and doors and (8-86) Linshaw Court. La Tosca Flats Page 6 quoins and fanlighted entrances, is represented by a number of buildings including: the Monteith OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET windows with geometrical muntin patterns, such as those found in the La Tosca's sunporches.
One of the "more short-lived styles," the style enjoyed a brief heyday from about 1905 to 1915; it "quickly faded from fashion after World War I" (ibid.). Landmark Prairie houses, especially level (Eric Johannesen, Cleveland Architecture 1876-1976 [Western Reserve Historical Society, 1979], p. 107), while popular dwellings borrowed design elements from these high-style examples and applied them to simpler forms. While landmark examples were concentrated in spread throughout the country by pattern books published in the Midwest" (McAlester, p. 440). While no historian has yet addressed the topic, few Prairie buildings appear to have been built in Cincinnati. None are included in the citywide 1978 survey, nor does the accompanying report include the Prairie mode in its appendix of Cincinnati architectural styles.
The relative rarity of the style in the Queen City may also have been true of much of the state as a whole. The Ohio historic survey manual states that "Despite its innovative features, the Prairie style did not have a great influence on popular home design in Ohio" (Gordon, p. 107). Given the scarcity of Prairie buildings in Cincinnati, and the local preference for revival styles in apartment houses, it is not surprising that only four apartment buildings have been found to date that use the Prairie vocabulary. Those few that have been identified, such as the La Tosca, exhibit a rather austere appearance, with flat, planar facades; flat or low-hipped roofs, and tapestry brick in russet tones. They may also have deep eaves, heavy console brackets and geometrical ornament. Other examples include the San Carlos Apartments on Madison Road, a sunporches (photo 11).
The eaves have been wrapped in vinyl siding. At 2836 Observatory is a small-scale building with twin storefronts, and broad eaves carried by heavy console brackets brick has been painted in a rainbow of colors. On the east side of Edwards Road south of Observatory stands an unnamed three-story apartment house of rectangular massing whose these buildings to some degree exhibit the Craftsman/Prairie influence, the style's unique qualities are highly developed in the La Tosca: they are evident in the color, texture and pattern of the brickwork, the stylized entrance and parapet treatments, the window configurations, and the broader importance of the Prairie School to the history of architecture in America. The (8-86) the mantelpieces. (photo 12).
The storefronts and entrances have been unsympathetically altered and the tapestry La Tosca Flats NPS Form 10-900-a Hamilton County, Ohio Section 8 Page 7 The significance of the La Tosca, however, goes well beyond its comparative rarity and rests on NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 8 Page 8 Hamilton County, Ohio from academic revivals or eclectic styles and its movement toward modern design is, perhaps, discerned the shape of modern architecture's stripped-down, horizontal forms. The La Tosca Flats' design signals this architectural transition.
In sum, the La Tosca Flats is important to Cincinnati's architectural history as a distinguished and locally uncommon example of the Prairie style and as a unique representation of the style preserved inside and out, it maintains a high degree of integrity under all its aspects. (8-86) National Park Service applied to an apartment building.As such it represents stylistic innovation in an era of prolific it represents the influence of a radical new style in an architecturally conservative city. Well- La Tosca Flats apartment-building in the Hyde Park neighborhood and in the city as a whole.More significantly Prairie style was pivotal in the transition to the modern movement. "Architecture's departure best embodied in the Prairie style..." (Gordon, p. 107). In its rejection of historical models and NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 8 Page 9 Hamilton County, Ohio The La Tosca's neighborhood developed for the most part in the 1900s and 1910s, although some of its main thoroughfares are far older. Edwards Road was built about 1830, extending northeast from the Ohio River toward the present-day city of Norwood (see topographic map). "Observatory Road, then called the City Road, was an old plank-and-gravel way that had been laid down in 1792 and extended from.. Walnut Hills to Chillicothe, Ohio" (The WPA Guide to Cincinnati, p. 306). Erie Avenue, on the other hand, was built in the 1890s at the insistence of the Mornington Syndicate. An undated photo (c. 1893-96) shows the north side of Hyde Park corner of Edwards Road the Burch Flats stands alone, surrounded by empty lots.
The 1904 Cincinnati Sanborn map depicts the area north of Observatory as platted with a grid of streets but with few buildings, while the area south of Observatory (from Madison east to Linwood) was still largely open land. By 1917 the square and the surrounding streets, including the area south of Observatory, were lined with buildings. Edwards and Observatory were solidly residential, while the square featured commercial edifices and apartment houses. (While the blocks of Observatory and Edwards adjoining the La Tosca are now predominantly commercial, this change in use seems to have taken place after World War II.) At the southeast corner of apartment house are noted on the map as pasted-on additions, indicating they were built between 1917 and 1932.
The block of Observatory where the La Tosca is located was not included in the 1904 map; local tradition asserts that a large pond occupied much of the block bounded by Erie, Michigan, Edwards and Observatory until the early 20 century. The building is clearly indicated on the 1917 map. Central Hyde Park, in the vicinity of the square, was a convenient location for apartment century. A city directory published in 1915-the year of the building's construction-indicates that the neighborhood was serviced by three streetcar routes, one of which traveled Madison Road eastward to the city limits and two of which followed Madison and Erie.
A 1931 route listing and map indicates the neighborhood was served by four regular streetcar lines and one commuter (rush-hour only) route; four of these lines traversed Madison and Erie, while the fifth Madison while the other followed a convoluted route including sections of Edwards and Erie. Hamilton County deed records indicate that the La Tosca Flats' lot was originally part of the holdings of local resident Robert Shaw.
On March 13, 1915, Louise Shaw (heir of Robert Shaw) (8-86) Historical Development Observatory and Edwards(opposite the La Tosca) a one-story commercial block and an Square as largely open land; to the northeast lies an unbroken vista of hills and trees.At the buildings such as the La Tosca because it was well served by public transit by the early 20th La Tosca Flats followed Madison out of the city.The neighborhood also had two bus lines:one ran along NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 8 Page 10 sold the parcel to Alfred E. Andersen for $3,000 (deed book 1114 page 236). On April 23, 1915, received a $20,000 building permit to construct an apartment building at the northeast corner of Observatory Avenue and Edwards Road.
The La Tosca is first listed in the Cincinnati city a personal connection with its owners. While in the tradition of the fanciful or exotic names Andersen's wife, the former Tosca Holz. In 1921 the Andersens sold the building to August Walter for $47,000 (book 1238 page 330). In the next five years the building changed hands three more times. In 1927 it was purchased by Katherine and Louis Koemner (book 1449 page 599). The building remained in the Koerner The 1927 directory-one of the first to be cross-indexed by street address-offers a glimpse into the lives of the La Tosca's early tenants. In the occupied units resided three salesmen, an insurance company clerk, a designer for a clothing firm, an attorney, and a research department assistant.
In 1931 the building included two insurance agents, a salesman, the managers of an except the janitor worked in downtown Cincinnati, which was readily accessible by streetcar or automobile. Over the next two decades the tenant mix continued to include a predominance of white-collar workers from many walks of life, including professionals, lower-level managers, clerks, salesmen and clerical workers. In the 1940s and 50s, however, it began to include more single or widowed women, and a greater number of people employed at various locations on the east side of Cincinnati. The basement apartment was converted to a store c. 1965. The designer and original owner of the La Tosca Flats, Alfred E. Andersen (1889-1959), was a builder, architect and engineer born and educated in Chicago.
Formerly a teacher at Cincinnati's Woodward High School, Andersen started a building contracting business in 1915. (Although he is listed as an architect in city directories of the 1920s and early 30s, he was not registered with 1910s; during the 1920s he and his wife moved to the La Tosca. In the 1920s Andersen formed a 1Neither the Ohio Architects Examiners Board nor the Registration Board of Ohio Engineers had any record of a license being issued to Alfred Andersen. (8-86) family until 1972. given to many apartment buildings of the era, "La Tosca" may also have been named for Hamilton County, Ohio the Cincinnati Enquirer published a notice stating that architect Alfred E.Andersen had La Tosca Flats directory (under "Public buildings and flats") in 1916. The building's name appears to have had auto laundry and an advertising agency, and a janitor (who occupied a basement apartment).
All the state of Ohio.)' A Hyde Park resident, Andersen resided on Michigan Avenue during the NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 8 educated at the University of Cincinnati. During World War II Andersen worked on dam and pumping station projects with the Army Corps of Engineers in Cincinnati. By 1951 the two employee of the Paxton Building Company. innovations that took hold in that city in the decades of rebuilding after the Great Fire of 1876: exact dates of his education have not been learned, his formative years (late 1900s-early 1910s) coincided with the heyday of the Prairie style (1905-1915). One of the few indigenous American styles, it originated in the work of a remarkably creative group of architects, centered around Frank Lloyd Wright and his atelier.
All these designers lived and worked in Chicago (although some eventually practiced in other cities, especially in the Midwest). Of all historic styles locale. Its influence, as stated earlier, can clearly be seen in the locally unique design of the La Little has yet been learned of the other building projects of Andersen and Holz. They may have been responsible for the Ravenswood Apartments at 3387 Erie Avenue, a large, multi-building complex which, as mentioned previously, employs eclectic Georgian styling. While no source directly links the firm with the building, the firm maintained an office there in the 1920s and 30s; in addition, Andersen resided there for many years.
In addition, the Priscilla Flats, a U- shaped block on Michigan Avenue built in the 1920s, bears some resemblance to the La Tosca in cornice treatment and the handling of surfaces and may also be the work of the partnership. The building's styling, however, is much more traditional than that of its earlier neighbor. Andersen's obituary states that the firm specialized in apartment buildings, industrial structures and drive-in theaters. Both men were members of the Engineers Club of Cincinnati. (8-86) Hamilton County, Ohio During Andersen's tenure in Chicago he was undoubtedly influenced by the architectural La Tosca Flats an era when the city evolved into the nation's architectural capital.Although the details and period of tremendous innovation and creativity.
contracting and engineering partnership with Robert Holz (1894-1969),a native Cincinnatian popular in America, the Prairie style is perhaps the most strongly associated with a particular Tosca Flats. Its design almost certainly resulted from Andersen's years in Chicago during a NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 9 Page 1 9. Major bibliographic references Andriot, John L., compiler and editor. Population Abstract of the United States. McLean, Va.: Andriot Associates, 1980 Cincinnati Enquirer, April 23, 1915; January 23, 1959; January 13, 1969. Cromley, Elizabeth Collins. Alone Together: A History of New York's Early Apartments. New York: Cornell University Press, 1990. Federal Writers Project of the Work Projects Administration.
The WPA Guide to Cincinnati, a reprint of Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City and Its Neighbors. Cincinnati: The Cincinnati Historical Society, 1987. Giglierano, Geoffrey J., and Deborah A. Overmyer. The Bicentennial Guide to Greater Gordon, Stephen C. How to Complete the Ohio Historic Inventory. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Gottfried, Hubert, and Jan Jennings. American Vernacular Design 1870-1940: An Illustrated Glossary. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1989. Hamilton County deed records. Hyde Park Business Club. Hyde Park in Its Glory: A Historical Sketch, 1908. Cincinnati Historical Society, Cincinnati. "Hyde Park Subdivision," n.d. Cincinnati Historical Society, Cincinnati. Johannesen, Eric. Cleveland Architecture 1876-1976. Cleveland: Western Reserve Historical McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, (8-86) 1988. 1997. Society, 1979.
National Park Service Hamilton County, Ohio Cincinnati Historical Society. Cincinnati:The Queen City. Cincinnati: Cincinnati Historical Cincinnati:A Portrait of Two Hundred Years.Cincinnati:The Cincinnati Historical Society, La Tosca Flats NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 9 Mitchell, Fred. "The Alexandra," National Register nomination. 1996. Sanborn Map Company. "Cincinnati, Ohio." New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1904, 1917. Walsh, Rita. "Melbourne Flats," National Register nomination. 1984. "Park Flats," National Register nomination. 1983. Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture Since 1780: A Guide to the Styles. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1981. Williams' Cincinnati City Directories, various years.
(8-86) La Tosca Flats Hamilton County, Ohio Page 2_ NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 10 . Page 2_ Hamilton County, Ohio 10. Geographical Data All the parcel of land situated at the northeast corner of Observatory and Edwards Roads, beginning at a point in said corner and running north on the east side of Edwards Road 150 feet; Road; then south parallel to Edwards Road 150 feet to the north line of Observatory Road; then west with the north line of said road 55 feet to the place of beginning. The nominated property includes the parcel of land historically and visually associated with the building.
(8-86) Verbal boundary justification Verbal boundary description National Park Service La Tosca Flats then east at right angles 55feet to a point lying 150 feet north of the north line of Observatory NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No.
1024-0018 National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 12 Page 2_ Location: Hamilton County, OH (same for all photographs) Photographer: Margo Warminski (same for all photographs) Date taken: March 1998 Location of negatives: Grandin Properties, 2000 PNC Center, 201 East Fifth Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202 (same for all photographs) View: Streetscape view of Observatory Avenue, looking northwest Photo 1 May 1998 Streetscape view of Edwards Road, looking northeast Photo 2 Photo 3 Main facade (south elevation) and west elevation, looking northeast Photo 4 Photo 5 Rear (north) and east elevations, looking southeast Photo 6 Newel post, main staircase Photo 7 (8-86) Photograph key Main doorway Additional documentation March 1998 United States Department of the Interior La Tosca Flats Name of property: La Tosca Flats (same for all photographs) Hamilton County, Ohio NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No.
1024-0018 National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 12 Page 3_ La Tosca Flats Living and dining rooms Photo 8 Fireplace, living room Photo 9 Built-in kitchen cabinet Photo 10 San Carlos Apartments, looking northwest 2836 Observatory Avenue, looking northwest Photo 12 Apartment building, Edwards Road, looking east Photo 13 (8-86) Hamilton County, Ohio March 1998 May 1998 United States Department of the Interior Photo 11 AUTO MICHIGAN OBSERVATORY 2706-08 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET NAME : OTHER : N PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: N REQUEST: N COMMENT WAIVER: N ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: RECOM./ CRITERIA TELEPHONE RETURN DATE REJECT MULTIPLE 1/08/99 DISCIPLINE REVIEWER 2/05/99 2/22/99 SAMPLE: PDIL: PERIOD: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: REASONS FOR REVIEW: DATE OF 45TH DAY: Bntered in the DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N DATE OF 16TH DAY: APPEAL: N N SLR DRAFT: N STATE & COUNTY: OHIO, Hamilton PROPERTY VACCEPT NATIONAL: La Tosca Flats ha Tcsca Rlats 2700 nu tosca Flats 1Hamilton Co) OH ha Tosca Fluts na tosca Flats Hamilton Coy CH DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OHIO LA TOSCA FLATS 721040 4335000 UNITED STATES ROAD CLASSIFICATION 7.5 MINUTE SERIES (TOPOGRAPHIC) CINCINNATI EAST QUADRANGLE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CINCINNATI EAST, OHIO UTm; 805 Central Avenue Suite 720 Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 (513) 352-4880 (513) 352-4853 Fax August 10, 1998 Leon A.
Meyer Stephen C. Gordon Survey and National Register Manager Ohio Historic Preservation Office 567 East Hudson Street Columbus, Ohio 43211-1030 the National Register of Historic Places. The Board's decision was unanimous. City Planner City of Cincinnati Sincerely, Equal Opportunity Employer Dear Steve, Director of City Planning City Planning Department On August 3,1998,Cincinnati's Historic Conservation Board recommended that Two Centennial Plaza 2700 Observatory Avenue (La Tosca Flats) be listed to the National Register of Molly M. Hehning CTA Historic Places.The Board found that the property met criteria "C"for listing in 1788
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