The City of Seven Hills- Cincinnati
When we were in Buffalo, our first city, Christine Roach ‘88 assured me that with so much travel, eventually I would need a few seconds after waking up to figure out where in the world I was. I haven’t gotten to that point yet, but when I think back over the past week, things are starting to blur together. This might have something to do with the fact that our past three stops were all in Ohio, and all began with a C.
Our final Ohio “C” was Cincinnati, the farthest west and south of the three (it’s about as far west and south as you can get in Ohio: it borders both Kentucky and Indiana). We got a late start out of Columbus, but arrived at the home of Lib Stone, honorary ‘48, just in time for our event. Lib’s house was designed by Carl Strauss ‘33, a Williams alum and well-known Cincinnati architect.
Professor Cruz, me, Jason and Emily in front of Lib Stone's house
The Strausses are a longtime Williams-Cincinnati family, and Gerri Strauss, honorary alum ‘61, was in attendance. Jason was excited to learn that Gerri’s husband Tony was a classmate of Jason’s dad, Jon Kohn ‘61. Other alums in attendance included David Olson ‘71 and parent of Meredith ‘04 and Karen ‘07, Sarah Hill ‘09 who moved to Cincinnati last week, and Virginia Despard, ‘02.
Jennifer Menzies '07 and Rod Geier '75 listen to Prof. Cruz
Afterwards, we went to dinner with Peter Geier ‘49, Gerri Strauss, Lib Stone, Peter Hoyt. Dinner was full of old Williams stories, including World War II stories compliments of Peter Geier. During his junior year, he enlisted in the army and fought in France. After returning to the States, he was stationed temporarily at Amherst College to finish his stay in the army. During that time, in true Williams sports fashion, the men he was around decided to host a soccer game. Peter, being a soccer player himself, gathered his friends who were not quite so athletically inclined. He told them to play in their army boots and “kick far”, and he’d do the rest. Williams ended up winning, but not without many a Williams player unable to walk afterwards due to running in the army boots, and many Amherst players who couldn’t walk anymore due to being kicked in the shins by the same army boots.
We also got our first taste of Graeter’s ice cream (At the recommendation of our hosts, we shared peach and blackberry chip. We went to Graeter’s in Hyde Park the next day, and we all agreed it was really, really good.)
Peter Hoyt, ‘66, was kind enough to host us. Peter is a retired architect who has turned to quilt making–he started making quilts while he was stuck on his couch after knee surgery last year, and he’s been going strong ever since.
Peter showing off one of his quilts
And, do you notice that picture of Jackie Kennedy in the background? It’s a Warhol, and Peter has a great story about how he acquired it. You can listen to it here:
Yesterday, Peter took us on an tour (mostly architectural, at our request) of Cincinnati. We started out by driving through Over-the-Rhine, a part of downtown that was originally settled by German immigrants in the 1850’s. It has more Italianate buildings than any other neighborhood in the United States.
Over-the-Rhine, downtown Cincinnati
Directly adjacent to Over-the-Rhine is Music Hall, which houses many performing arts orgnizations, includingthe Cincinnati Pops and the Cincinnati Opera.
Music Hall
Cincinnati definitely has it’s fair share of well-known architecture. Does this bridge look familiar at all?
There is something really cool about this bridge...
Any guesses? This bridge was designed by John Roebling about 10 years before he designed the Brooklyn Bridge. At its completion in 1867, this bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world (this claim to fame lasted until the Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883. Tragically, Roebling’s foot was crushed by a ferry while he was working on the Brooklyn Bridge, and he died before it was completed.)
At the end of this bridge, in Kentucky, (no, you don’t need a passport to cross the border) is another architectural marvel:
The Ascent
This blue and white statement is a new apartment building built by Daniel Libeskind. Libeskind, who is famous for the Jewish Museum in Berlin and for winning the competition for the redevelopment of Ground Zero, supposedly wanted to play off the blue in the bridge. I think the whole thing is a bit too much, but Jason called it striking. Our newest architecture critic (and convert) Emily liked that it was distinctive. She liked the colors, and how it tied into the bridge.
This post is getting long, but a few more pictures of Cincinnati:
Zaha Hadid's Cincinnati Center for Contemporary Arts. The floor curves to become the wall.
Union Terminal. Look at that Art Deco! It reminded us of a building from a Superman comic.
That’s all from this end! More soon from our two new guest bloggers, Prof. Will Dudley, ‘89, and Brooks Foehl, ‘88.
Signing off,
Jen
