Ravishing in Ruin.
The second stop that Crawdad and I made was to a derelict, formerly glorious mansion, also in the Avondale neighborhood.
I can only imagine how beautiful this house was before it was before some half-wit decided to hack its resplendent rooms into ghetto apartments…
The exterior of the building is appointed with artistically masterful details. There are sweet faced cherubs, various flora and even a soldier looking down over the driveway on the left side of the house.
We did ascend the fire escape on the right of the building; this afforded me a peek into one room of the second floor, around a window air conditioner. The interior is even more woebegone than the exterior.
I felt sad after poking around the mansion… it was constructed by masters of the craft… and I’m sure dearly loved. Then after the mass exodus from Avondale, it was treated as a jilted lover… cast off like yesterday’s newspaper.
Then it suffered even more indignities by being butchered by someone with no appreciation for what magnificence was held within and upon its walls…
If anyone knows anything about this house at approximately 356 Forest Ave, Cincinnati OH, I’d love to know it!
**Well, I fortuitously stumbled upon a wonderful blog today (3/7/13) that actually had the history of this beautiful mansion.
It seems as though it’s last life was spent as a nursing home…
Check out this blog..
http://diggingcincinnati.blogspot.com/#!/2013/03/a-furriers-fine-family-home-edgewood.html
A gargoyle’s face?? I don’t know what this is called.
More detail at the summit of the fire escape.
The sturdier-than-it-looked fire escape.
Hiding behind the shrubbery.
A tired-eyed cherub…
My favorite shot from Sunday, I think…
A little pug nosed cherub…
Her countenance, obscured by a hideous ramp, almost like huge black framed glasses…
Notice the detail around the windows on the third floor.
The spire.
Looking up at a bay window on the back corner of the house. Notice the layers of decorative trim, reminds me a of a southern belle’s petticoat…
A glance inside the side door.
A sweet-faced little cherub, welcoming vistors at the main entrance.
One of the dormers, decorated like delicate icing on a cake.
Peeking in the second floor window.
Reflections Upon My Reality 
Great photos of a great house. What a crime that this is allowed to happen!
It’s truly heartbreaking
If I ever win the lotto I’m totally buying one of these places!!!
Kinda looks like you know a great deal about the property; considering you went all over it, inside and out and took tons of gorgeous photos. Did you have permission? A key? It’s abandoned? Private property? All okay to be there? Just look up the deed (Hamilton County Recorders Office on Court ST.) and call some Realtors regarding it’s status. Shouldn’t take much. What is the address?
These things do happen to old houses. Sometimes their lives change (the house) and we tend to them as best as we can. Sometimes it’s too late, too little. We revel in the reverie of what i had been and learn to cherish any beauty we come across in houses. This is one of them.
I didn’t go inside…
There may have been squatters as there was clearly a way in at the tip of the third floor fire escape.
Permission? No
There weren’t any no trespassing signs… I know it was iffy… But I did no damage and only hoped to appreciate and capture some of its beauty before it’s gone forever.
I believe it’s in a condemned status actually.
The home next door was also a part of the nursing home. I showed this when I was a realtor. There were squatters living there, but fortunately not in when we entered. My client, a huge preservationist, unfortunately felt it was too big a nut to crack.
The one with the glass block windows??
If you’d ever like a pal to tag along and take photos, I’m your girl!
I simply love these places… It breaks my heart to see them in ruin.
Maybe my photos can preserve a little of their beauty…
Good work at preserving (in pictures) the past glory of old buildings. Be glad the arsonist punks have not (yet) done the final insult.
As soon as I win the lotto… It’s MINE!
😉
Hopefully someone will pick it up and restore it to its former glory. A beautiful place.
I believe it’s in condemned status 😦 so sad….
NICE! wow, what a find! I absolutely LOVE tromping around in places like that 🙂
Me too!
I am always looking for more places…. But I always leave saddened.
This was once the home of a wealthy furrier, now it houses transients and rodents 😦
But it retains its dignity.
400 Forest was never cut up into ghetto apartments. The floor plan remains basically as built – inside and out with some changes made to the dinning room and butlers pantry areas to accommodate the nursing home needs. The nursing home kitchen was in the basement. The last thing they did was enclose the front porch. The building was fine and working before the neighbors bought it. Some alterations were made before the nursing home like the addition of the room on the second floor by the fire escape – a bathroom/dressing area. There are walls with doors constructed closing off the stairs. This house is in very salvageable condition. It would make a great event space on the first floor and offices above. Even a nice restaurant on the first floor. The area it is in is changing. The roof is the main problem especially the northwest corner. The sooner the better for repairs. Why the city does not enforce their rules is beyond me.
358 another beautiful house. Some people should not be homeowners.
Thanks for the info Ross!!
I did discover later that it had been a nursing home…
And I agree, some people should not be homeowners…..
Reading this a little later than most, but love it none-the-less!
I can’t believe you haven’t read all my posts BFF!!!!
I recently took a photo of this house while sitting at a stoplight on my way home from a doctor visit. I saw the big sign that stated it was a future home to a new modern building and it shocked me. From the road it seemed so beautiful and historic and I wondered why no one was saving it. Thanks for the pictures. I now see why saving it would be monumental. Perhaps they will rescue some architectural pieces. The address is 400 Forest Ave. Wikipedia said it was called the A. E. Burckhardt House. He was a furrier.
Thanks Heather!
I hate that she’s going to be torn down.
Such beauty and history… it makes me so sad. 😦