Left: James W. McLaughlin, PLCHC Digital Library, Center: Hubert Von Herkomer (German British, 1849–1914), H. H. Richardson, 1886, oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, R&R CC0, Right: Samuel Hannaford, PLCHC Digital Library

Richardson's outsized influence

From the 1870s through the 1890s, architects across the United States—including James W. McLaughlin (left) and his Cincinnati rival, Samuel Hannaford (right)—emulated Richardson's brand of Romanesque revival in their own designs. Richardson (center) died in 1886 at the relatively young age of 47, less than one month before the Cincinnati Art Museum celebrated its grand opening, and before construction began on his last major commission: the ill-fated Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce building.

James W. McLaughlin (American, 1834–1923), View of Original Front and West Façade of Cincinnati Art Museum, circa 1885, pen and brown ink, Gift of Theodore A. Langstroth, 1979.106

An "Art Palace" in Eden

This presentation rendering depicts McLaughlin's design concept for the Cincinnati Art Museum. The rough-cut stone structure, designed by McLaughlin in a Romanesque Revival style, appears to grow out of its hilltop location in Cincinnati's Eden Park.

source: Wikimedia Commons

Circa 1890

Cincinnati Art Academy (left) and the Cincinnati Art Museum (right) as architect James McLaughlin envisioned them: two separate Romanesque Revival buildings sharing a hilltop campus. Over the years since then, the museum would build many additions, largely obscuring the original structures.

Circa 2020

In this aerial view of the Cincinnati Art Museum's campus, elements of the McLaughlin's original museum buildings are visible, although encased within several later additions. You can see the landmark tower and large hip-roofed “dome” and skylight spanning the museum's Great Hall.

A view from the courtyard

Today, you can see some of the exterior elements of McLaughlin's original 1886 building from the museum's Alice Bimel Courtyard, including the tower. Notice the contrast between McLaughlin's rusticated stonework and the smooth masonry of the later, Classical-inspired additions.

The Mary R. Schiff Library & Archives, Cincinnati Art Museum

Art school or medieval palace?

Architect James W. McLaughlin also designed the Art Academy of Cincinnati building (1887) located on the museum campus in Eden Park. (Today, it is known as the museum's Longworth Wing and houses staff offices.) The design includes the hallmarks of Romanesque revival: rusticated stone, rounded arches, and minimal ornamentation.

photo courtesy PLCHC Digital Library

An art school in the park

This view of the Art Academy building (now the Longworth Wing) in Eden Park, circa 1900, reflects McLaughlin's original vision of the art school within the physical context of Eden Park. The exterior elements suggest its interior functions. A large, rounded arch (flanked by squat columns) marks the entryway; the turret encloses the main staircase; a curved wall and half dome (on the left, hidden behind a tree in this photo) define the school's lecture hall; and the tall rectangular windows bringing light into the studio spaces.

It's all in the details ...

Architectural details of McLaughlin's Art Academy building (1887) now known as the Longworth Wing, include,

• left: massive, rounded arch over main entry supported by squat columns,
• center: column capital with restrained architectural ornament
• right: rusticated limestone walls with bands of red granite. According to sources in the museum's archives, the red granite came from the same quarries used by architect H. H. Richardson for his New England buildings.

Cincinnati Times-Star, "More Daylight Assured Now for Art Academy," July 12, 1940. The Mary R. Schiff Library and Archives

A major "facelift"

More than 50 years after its opening in 1887, the Art Academy upgraded its facilities. "Elaborate improvements are being made in the Cincinnati Art Academy in Eden Park that will give this historic institution more studio rooms, more daylight and entirely new heating, electric lighting and plumbing systems," stated a Cincinnati Times-Star article in 1940. "The roof is being lowered nine and a half feet and additional skylights are being installed in such a manner that there will hereafter be daylight on both the second and third floors."

Mary R. Schiff Library & Archives, Cincinnati Art Museum

An academy for the Modern Age
In mid-century modern fashion, the Art Academy's 1940 renovation emphasized the building's horizontal lines. Cincinnati architects Henry Hake & Henry Hake, Jr., removed the entire third floor, including the dormers, the half-dome above the lecture hall, as well as the top tier of the stair tower. A new rooftop structure—with more expansive windows—replaced the original elements and allowed more natural light to enter the building.

Mary R. Schiff Library, Cincinnati Art Museum

Renovation number 2

In 2005, the Art Academy left its Eden Park home of almost 120 years and moved to a new campus on Jackson Street in Over-the-Rhine. The vacant building underwent another ambitious renovation project, conceived and overseen by Cincinnati firm Emersion DESIGN, completed in 2013. 

Mary R. Schiff Library & Archives, Cincinnati Art Museum

Today's Longworth Wing

Today, you can see some of architect James W. McLaughlin's original Art Academy building and its Romanesque Revival architectural elements. Now known as the Longworth Wing—named in honor of Joseph Longworth, a significant figure in the history of the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Art Academy—the building houses the museum's curators and staff. The Mary R. Schiff Library sits atop the roof inside a 2013 deconstructivist addition designed by architect James Y. Cheng of Cincinnati's emersion Design.