{"nrhp_refnum":"76001443","name":"West Fourth Street Historic District","other_names":["See Also:West Fourth Street Historic District (Amendment)","Sa"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded by Central Ave, W. 5th, Plum, and McFarland Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cincinnati","county":"Hamilton County","state":"OH","lat":39.09949519450004,"lon":-84.51825213807908,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-08-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly six-acre commercial and high-density residential historic district in downtown Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, bounded by Central Avenue, West Fifth Street, Plum Street and McFarland Street, with buildings dating from about 1870 to 1910.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the last intact area of the central business district showing late 19th century commercial and high-density residential activity as a cohesive streetscape. Its scale, silhouette, stone and brick texture and design reflect Cincinnati's outward commercial expansion in the 1879-1890 period. Surrounding areas lost similar buildings to expressways and redevelopment.","narrative":"West Fourth Street Historic District is a compact group of late 19th century commercial and apartment buildings in downtown Cincinnati, centered on West Fourth Street and Plum Street. Most of the three- to seven-story buildings went up between 1879 and 1890, in Italianate, Renaissance and related styles, using cut stone, brick, cast iron and tin cornices. Anchoring the district is the 1870 Cincinnati Gas, Light and Coke Company Building, designed by James W. McLaughlin, which visually ties Fourth Street to Plum. The area grew as a lower-rent fringe of the central business district, housing millinery shops, insurance offices, banks, furniture makers and apartment houses such as the Lombardy and the Biltmore. It also benefited from its closeness to the Grand Central railroad depot. Expressways and redevelopment later removed similar nearby structures, leaving this streetscape as the last intact section of its kind in the central business district. Condition varies, but commercial activity continues and rehabilitation efforts were under way when it was listed.","period_of_significance":"1875-1910","architect_builder":"James W. McLaughlin (Cincinnati Gas, Light and Coke Company Building)","architectural_style":"Italianate, Second Empire, Renaissance","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is mixed: many buildings are remodeled and several are in poor condition from neglect, while the district as a whole is in commercial use and owners are pursuing rehabilitation.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.381925-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/76001443.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001443/e5357f4c38-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001443/e5357f4c38-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Fourth_Street_Historic_District.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Fourth_Street_Historic_District.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988869","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Fourth_Street_Historic_District_(Cincinnati,_Ohio)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7985186"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/hamilton-county/west-fourth-street-historic-district-76001443/"}