Riverside home featured in My Cincinnati House lecture July 14 | Arts & Culture

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s 2012 Cincinnati House series continues 2 p.m. Saturday, July 14, with the Matthew McWilliams house in Riverside at the Main Library, 800 Vine St., on the third floor in the Genealogy & Local History program space.

The house is a Greek revival temple-form house from the 1840s owned by Dave Zelman.

“The Matthew McWilliams house is a survivor of the period when Cincinnati was growing faster than any other city in the U.S. With this growth came unprecedented prosperity, and a generation of Americans that could take advantage of what the industrial revolution had to offer,” said Zelman.

“My Cincinnati home was one of a number of riverfront estates built by military officers, land speculators, and captains of industry. They built these homes to impress, to socialize, and to experiment with their agricultural pursuits.  Time passed, and many of these homes were lost or forgotten. Today, our home is a comfortable place for family and friends. As the steward of one of Cincinnati's antebellum survivors, I look forward to sharing the story of my Cincinnati house,” said Zelman.

Award-Winning Lecture Series Continues Throughout the Year

The Library’s Genealogy & Local History Department received the “We Are Much Pleased” award from the Ohio River Valley chapter of The Victorian Society in America for its My Cincinnati House lecture series. The award was bestowed in recognition of the series’ exploration and celebration of the region’s “rich 19th century legacy.”

Every other month, the owner of a beautiful house in the Cincinnati area will present a history of his or her house for the My Cincinnati House series. After the July 14 event, the next lecture will be given by Ted Ganz Sept. 8 about the Sycamore Street Studio in Over-the-Rhine.

For more information, contact the Genealogy & Local History Department at 513-369–6905.