If you’ve spent any time in Cincinnati, you know the hulking white building with the tower on top that rises just west of I-75. In a city of architectural gems, the Crosley Building in Camp Washington stands out for its size and its neglect.
What might not be apparent gazing at the crumbling building is that a significant amount of history took place there. This podcast is the story of how a now-empty building helped change the world, and how the fate of the neighborhood around it is tied up in its construction, its boom years, its decline – and efforts to resurrect it.
A lot of things crept into the vacuum community and industry left behind in Camp Washington. While some jobs and residents remained in the neighborhood — and a stubborn sense of pride persisted there — its fortunes fell and many buildings went empty. The hulking Crosley Building was among them. But as it stood empty, it became a haven for adventurous and creative folks, including crews of graffiti artists.
"It feels almost right to have so much graffiti here."Maria Seda Reder
The neighborhood also became a haven for small, independent studio and gallery spaces as artists moved in to fill the void. Writer, curator, teacher and director of exhibitions at Wave Pool Gallery, Maria Seda Reeder, discusses the past and present of street art in the Crosley Building and Camp Washington.
"It seems almost right to have so much graffiti here [at the Crosley Building]," she says. "...Yes, it's abandoned and it's a site that multiple groups of people can come to and escape to and find some sort of sort of solace or playground; but ultimately, they're communing with each other, they're communing with the external world because [graffiti artists] are putting their message out into the public and to each other. And to me that's beautiful."
In the years since the Crosley Building became vacant, many plans have come and gone for how to repurpose the building, heal the environmental scars caused by industry in the Mill Creek Valley and lure more people back into the community. But "cleaning up" isn’t always as straightforward as it might sound. We'll talk about that in the next episodes.
Listen to Crosley at the Crossroads by subscribing your favorite podcast platforms.
