By Elizabeth Meyer

The Terrace Plaza Hotel by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill is a Modernist masterpiece in Downtown Cincinnati.  The exhibit features over 40 photographs of the hotel from its heyday in the 40s and 50s.

In addition to photos, architectural plans, letters, newspaper articles, and quotes from those involved in the project, one can also view Rookwood ashtrays, a bottle of Terrace Plaza Kentucky Bourbon, Gourmet Room and Skyline Room menus, other restaurant objects such as spoons, forks, knives, ladles, aperitif glasses, cocktail shakers all adorned with either TPs or rooster logos. Also on view is what is believed to be the only surviving piece of furniture from 1948 –a restored barstool from the cocktail lounge. 

In addition to information about the client, architects, designers, also incorporated in the exhibit are details about Louis Skidmore, Morris Lapidus (who designed the Bonds Clothing Store on the Walnut side of the complex), and Henry Fletcher Kenney (landscape architect for the hotel). And, of course, information about the now very famous artists involved in the project: Alexander Calder, Joan Miró and Saul Steinberg.

Read more about the Terrace Plaza Hotel in an article by Stewart Maxwell.

Curated by Stewart Shillito Maxwell and Elizabeth Meyer