Main-Third Street Buildings

Six commercial buildings stand together at the corner of Main and Third Streets in downtown Cincinnati, and their dates run from 1862 to about 1910. The oldest is the McMicken School of Design, an Italianate sandstone building designed by William Walter. Next to it are the Clark Sorgo Machine Co. building, the High Victorian Italianate Heister and C. E. Brockman buildings, the 1893 Anderson Building with its double pediments and triple windows, and the Neoclassical Revival Burkhardt Building on Third Street. The Brockman Building has the most elaborate sandstone facade. Many original storefronts have been replaced, though upper facades and cornices largely survive. The group was recognized because the buildings share a scale, materials and detail that set them apart from their surroundings. Such mixed commercial architecture was once common in Cincinnati but is now found in very limited numbers because of redevelopment. Uses over the years included a design school, fur retailing, a restaurant, china sales and cane mill manufacturing.