Months after it was denied historical landmark designation, Schulte Mansion in Price Hill has been demolished to make way for a new facility that will specialize in teen outreach.
The Schulte Mansion was built on Glenway Avenue back in 1892. According to the Cincinnati Department of Planning and Engagement, it first served as a home to Henry Joseph Schulte. It was later sold to Henry J. Radel in 1931, when it became a second location for Radel Funeral Home. It had been vacant since 2019.
The mansion was at the center of a dispute between the West Price Hill Community Council and the Greater Cincinnati Boys and Girls Club for the past year.
The community council sought to save the building, while the location was slated to become home to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati Workforce Development Center. In February, an attempt to have the building designated as a historical landmark failed after the ordinance was voted down during a meeting of the Equitable Growth & Housing Committee.
Laura Hamilton, former president of the West Price Hill Community Council, said more than 700 people signed a petition asking the structure be saved. In 2013 the community council awarded the funeral home with a plaque, designating it as an "Official Price Hill Landmark."
City council members disagreed with the building's historical status, voting down the ordinance 5-3. Vice Mayor Jan Michele Kearney and council members Jeff Cramerding and Mark Jeffreys voted to approve the building as historic, while council members Reggie Harris, Meeka Owens, Liz Keating, Scotty Johnson and Victoria Parks voted against it.
Other city planners have disagreed with whether the building qualified for historic designation.
In a report issued to the Cincinnati Planning Commission, city planners wrote, “The property is not significant and has lost all its architectural integrity.” The report does not recommend the commission and city council approve the designation.
Bill Bresser, CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati, said if the organization purchased the land on which Schulte Mansion stood, the building would not be spared.
“The plan would be to demolish the building. The building as it is would be really expensive to renovate. It’s in a state of considerable disrepair… it’s been on the market for over 11 years. It’s been vacant for at least two,” said Bresser in December 2021.
The Workforce Development Center, which will stand in Schulte Mansion's place, will sit directly across from the current Boys and Girls Clubs center on Glenway. That space is designated for all ages, with only one room set aside for teens. The Workforce Development Center will be designed specifically for local teens.
