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Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati Board of Trustees President Michael P. Kelley, IIDA, LEED AP Vice President Jay Schuermann Treasurer Nick Rosian Secretary John C. Krug Past President Ex-Officio David S. Arends, AIA, OAA Trustees J. Wickliffe Wick Ach Kyle L. Campbell Robert Grace Jamie Humes Eric Todd Inglert, AIA Gary Meisner, FASLA Mario San Marco Christine Schoonover Mark Schlachter Gary R. Volz, IIDA William E. Woodward, PE Randy G. Merrill, AIA Executive Director Kit H. Anderson Administrative Assistant Krysten Stein
F R O N T A N D R E A R FAC A D E S
HANNA HOUSE
In 1905 1906, Mary Hanna who had recently inherited her fathers signicant estate, commissioned the Cincinnati architectural rm of Elzner & Anderson to design and oversee construction of her new home in East Walnut Hills. She would occupy the home for the next 50 years. The property of approximate 10 acres (now slightly smaller) is located between the Hill & Hollow Subdivision and the Woods Estate and McGuire Estate on Grandin Road. The land is a sloping hillside with a commanding view of the Ohio river below and the city of Cincinnati in the distance. Elzner & Anderson, were the celebrated architects of the recently completed Ingalls Building (1903) the rst reinforced concrete skyscraper in the world, at the corner of 4th and Vine Streets. The team was known for their diverse and complimentary design styles, while also incorporating each architects personal artistic sensibilities. Both men were trained and accomplished artists. The design of the home is an interpretation of Gothic Revival; with its Bedford stone facades, pointed & arched windows and stone details, turret, battlements and pinnacles, along with steeply pitched roofs. Elzner & Anderson have simplied this rather symmetrical and stern architectural style by minimizing the decorative details, accentuating horizontal lines (bringing your eye to the landscape and not the sky), moving the battlements lower on the roof structure, and incorporating the use of green tile shingles instead of the classic use of slate. Simple but elegant adornments were added to the exterior of the home; the turned copper downspouts soften these normally harsh vertical lines, and the iron, copper and glass suspended canopy with simple Gothic adornments
over the main entry to the home provided a welcoming focal point as you entered the property (canopy is no longer in place). The interior is a further display of the artistic capabilities, innovative design, style simplication and the architects expertise with concrete and re separation. We also see subtle elements of the Arts & Crafts movement. When the estate was rst developed, the only other structures on the grounds were the Stable and Caretakers Cottage. The Stable, detailed to compliment the main house, housed horses, dairy cows, estate implements and an attic apartment for the male employees. The design of this three story structure built into the hillside uniquely incorporated reinforced concrete oors, a real innovation in its day. Several years later, a Garage structure and Greenhouse were added on the hillside below the Stable. The Garage is also a three story, reinforced concrete building and was designed with a mechanics service pit and overhead automobile washing machine. One of the last documented improvements that the Architects made to the home was an addition to the west faade of the main house to accommodate an electric refrigerator.
Rookwood Images: Hanna Library, Rookwood Faience Mantel, executed in colored mat glazes, special design, one of a kind. Hanna Garden, Rookwood Swan Garden Seat
EXTERIOR DETAILS
Greenhouse..
Stable.
Garage.
INTERIOR DETAILS
BIOGRAPHIES
Mary Hanna, Estate Owner
Mary Hanna was born in Cincinnati on June 10, 1860 and died May 23, 1956 just a few days short of her 96th birthday. Mary was the daughter of Henry Hanna, a leading nancier and industrialist and Mary Jane Ellison Hanna. One of nine children born on East Fourth Street, on the property currently occupied by the Residence Inn at the Phelps, Mary lived with her parents in that home for 46 years until the death of her father. Hanna was related through her mother, to the mother of Anna Sinton Taft, who married Charles Phelps Taft, the brother of the President William Howard Taft. Mary Jane Ellison Hanna and Jane Ellison Sinton were rst cousins. At the age of 49, Mary no longer had any immediate family and was on her own for the rst time. She traveled widely and between 1910 and 1949 Mary and her companion Rebecca Larkin made at least a dozen ocean voyages to England, France, Italy, Spain, the Bahamas, and Hawaii; often traveling with a group of friends. These trips sometimes lasted between three and ve months. Mary also owned a summer home near Camden Maine and in her later years purchased a home in Clearwater Florida where she spent the winter. Mary was an avid art patron for half a century, with a special interest in the Cincinnati Art Museum. Over the years she generously donated both works of art and signicant nancial gifts to the Museum. She also was an active volunteer there as a member of the former ladies auxiliary of the Museum. In 1928, she contributed the funds to design and build the Hanna Wing of CAM, dedicated to the memory of her parents. In 1939, Mary continued her support with the nancing of the addition of galleries and a balcony on the second oor. Mary also made a generous annual gift to the Museum for many years. In 1946, she gave her collection of 32 oil paintings to the Museum; including valuable examples of French, English and Dutch schools of painting. Among the art donated were works by Gainsborough, Renoir, Canaletto, Raeburn, Homer, and Degas. At the time these works were valued at over $1,000,000. Mary lived quietly and instructed her attorney John B. Hollister to make her donations known when she was traveling. Her philanthropy was done without publicity or fanfare. In addition to her lifelong support for the Cincinnati Art Museum, Mary also contributed scholarships and funds for special research projects to the University of Cincinnati and other educational institutions. Mary honored her mothers charitable giving by supporting her favorite organizations, the Orphan Asylum in Mt. Auburn and the Fresh Air Farm in Terrace Park. Upon her death in 1956, Marys estate was valued at approximately $5,400,000 after taxes. (In todays dollars that would be worth about $52,000,000.) In her will, Mary Hanna made generous gifts to her long-time staff, a few friends and distant relatives, godchildren, Christ Church, the Widows Home, and the Institute of Fine Arts. But by 1956, most of Marys close friends and relatives mentioned in her will had already died. The Estate provided remembrances, gifts and life annuities amounting to about $500,000. The remainder of her estate was split equally between the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Art Museum. Mary left her beloved home of 50 years on Grandin Road to her friend and attorney John B. Hollister.
Hanna Wing,Cincinnati Art Museum.
BIOGRAPHIES
Alfred Oscar A.O. Elzner, Architect 18621933
Alfred was educated in Cincinnati, including art studies with Frank Duveneck, as well as technical training at the Ohio Mechanics Institute and attended M.I.T. He contributed architectural designs to the 1883 Cincinnati Exposition; worked for J.W. McLaughlin in Cincinnati in the early 1880s, possibly introducing the inuence of H.H. Richardson for whom Elzner worked in Brookline, Mass., ca. 1885. Elzner set up his own office in Cincinnati early in 1887, proudly citing his recent association with Richardson, although he seems to have soon abandoned Richardsonian inuence. This move away from late Victorian styling in 1890s when Elzner was joined by George M. Anderson, of the prominent local and national family of Larz Anderson. It was apparently Anderson who brought Beaux-Arts methods and styling to the rm. The rm remained Elzner & Anderson even after Andersons death, dissolving at the brink of World War II, after Joseph Nardini, Elzners designated successor, made some important studies of wartime housing. The rm is perhaps best known for the design of the Ingalls Building, Fourth and Vine streets, recognized as the rst reinforced concrete high-rise office building in the world. Elzners clients included Cincinnatis WASP establishment, such as members of the Taft, Emery, Procter and Bullock families and he also served Cincinnatis German-American elite. Elzner was an active community volunteer as well as artist, designing facilities for the Cincinnati Country Club on Grandin Road, Hyde Park and other such institutions.
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The Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati would like to extend a special thank you to:
Brent Coleman Cincinnati Enquirer Charles W. Gay - Estate Caretaker Amanda Davidson - Enquirer photographer Alexandra Avery Student Photographer Phil Nuxhall Spring Grove Cemetery Jason Revalee - Volunteer Conky Greiwe - Summit Country Day School Weini Mehari - Volunteer Coldwell Banker