The Freedom Center
Ohio Riverfront between Vine and Walnut Streets;
Blackburn Architects; 1999-2003

Southwestern Ohio and Northern Kentucky along the Ohio River provided many of the major "stations" celebrated in the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, whose name indicates its much broader vision of reconciling and enhancing relationships between all peoples, through education and a wide range of interactive experiences. Its location, linked through landscaping to the bank of the river and nestled just west of the Cincinnati access-ramp to the Roebling Suspension Bridge (see 2), will highlight the institution's role as the "jewel" in the current riverfront redevelopment project.

Although the embankment was from the start one of Cincinnati's prime assets, in recent decades it has been barely accessible for recreational purposes, except for the 1970s Serpentine Wall Park and 1988 Bicentennial Commons to the east. Improvements to the adjacent highway system along the south edge of Downtown Cincinnati, replacement of the self-contained Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field in favor of up-to-date but more appealingly "old-fashioned" sports facilities to the east and west, and enhanced landscaping are realizing century-old aspirations (and numerous plans) to make the riverfront a public asset.

The Freedom Center's design team consists of Blackburn Architects of Indianapolis, BOORA Architects of Portland, Ore., landscape architect Martha Schwartz of Cambridge, Mass., and local firm Alexander, Camabean & Assocs. The complex consists of three four-story structures, open toward each other and the river through glass walls between colorful stone-clad pylons and decks, set in landscaped "outdoor rooms." The Center will house permanent galleries, temporary exhibitions, and "story theaters" to help bring history alive - far beyond the Cincinnati area's vital role in the Underground Railroad - and inspire present and future recognition of the American democratic ideals of tolerance, harmony, and understanding. When completed, will be open to the public.

Other Sources

Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati, Architecture and Construction in Cincinnati (1987); Cincinnati Historical Society, Bicentennial Guide to Cincinnati (1988); John Clubbe, Cincinnati Observed (1992); Daniel Hurley, Cincinnati: The Queen City (1982); Walter E. Langsam, with photographs by Alice Weston, Great Houses of the Queen City (1997); City of Cincinnati, "Historic Walking Tour of Downtown Cincinnati" (1996); Cincinnati Historical Society, "Queen City Tour"(1998). See also websites www.aiacincinnati.org and www.libraries.uc.edu/libinfo/daap.