The Carew Tower-Netherland Plaza Hotel
5th, south side between Vine and Race Streets;
W. W. Ahlschlager; 1929-31

Cincinnati’s two Art Deco masterpieces were erected just at the end of the booming 1920s and the beginning of the Depression. The Netherland complex, consisting of the Netherland (now Omni Netherland) Plaza Hotel, the Carew Office Tower, and the Emery Arcade, expresses the vision of John J. Emery, Jr. (1898-1976). He inherited the extensive Emery family real-estate and manufacturing enterprises, founded in 1836, at the death of his aunt, Mary M. (Mrs. Thomas J.) Emery, the philanthropist and sponsor of the exemplary planned community of Mariemont. John J. Emery moved from his native New York to Cincinnati in 1924 and soon became a leader in civic, business, industrial, and cultural affairs. Aco-founder of the reformist Charter party, he also determined to reinvigorate the Downtown center, even while suburban development was first providing competition before and after World War II.

The multi-use Netherland Plaza-Carew Tower complex, a contemporary of N.Y.’s Rockefeller Center, replaced an Emery hotel and shopping arcade, as well as a popular department store, combining these uses in a glamorous new facility that, by means of deliberate urban-planning controls, still climaxes the Downtown skyline and stabilizes the Fountain Square area (see 3).

Designed, constructed, and decorated in only 15 months, the complex was developed by The Starrett Co. of N.Y. The architectwas Walter W. Ahlschlager (1887-1965) of Chicago, already noted for large-scale urban projects, with contributions by William Delano (1874-1960), of the elite N.Y. firm of Delano & Aldrich, who also designed Emery’s residence, "Peterloon," in Indian Hill.

Publications of the 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs in Paris supplied a ready-made decorative vocabulary that was superbly adapted to a variety of materials and positions in the public areas of the hotel and the Rookwood-framed arcade, as well as the exterior. Perhaps most exciting, however, is the complex interior spatial experience from the subdued street-level entrances, around the central lobby (now restaurants and a bar), and up to the splendid Hall of Mirrors Ballroom, long the center of Cincinnati social life. Recent restorations by Richard Rauh & Assocs. of Atlanta have maintained the sense of Art Deco style and luxury while updating functions. NHL. Public areas open; Observation Deck above 48th floor.