SOM was one of six firms invited to submit proposals to John J. Emery, Jr. of Thomas J. Emery’s Sons, on how to use the rest of the site where two department store buildings would be located. SOM found that an office building could provide greater returns, but an office was not stable enough to guarantee long-term profits. They found that a hotel would provide less profit some years, but much more in others, in turn becoming a better investment for the site. Emery chose SOM because of the proposal of a hotel being the best use for the air rights above the department stores. SOM was also a favorite because they were designing in a modern style and had no experience in hotels. This attracted Emery as he “wanted a layout that contained nothing conventional for convention’s sake.” Even though Emery was not a fan of the International Style he believed that a public building should “reflect the spirit of the age and contain examples of the best contemporary art.” Early in the development of the Terrace Plaza, Emery decided that Modern art should be an important component of the design. The development team believed that art was not only desirable in its own right, but could also be used as a marketing investment.

In 1959 the Bond Department store wanted more space to display merchandise so the windows on Vine Street were removed and filled in with matching brick masonry on the exterior of the building.

Hilton Hotels Corporation purchased the building in 1956 and in 1965 the interior design was renovated with little appreciation for the Modern aesthetics.  The Miró, Calder, and Steinberg pieces were donated to the Cincinnati Art Museum in 1965, while the Davis lighting piece went missing. 

The Gourmet Room was renovated in a French Baroque style and the adjoining lounge was enlarged and opened to new views by creating a new window wall.  The Gourmet Room still remains intact on the exterior and the interior still has very significant defining features from the continuous glazing and the steel columns.

Plans from architect Robert Springer in 1968-69 show that after J.C. Penney closed in 1968 and Bond closed in 1977, these spaces were subdivided and turned into smaller shops with aluminum display windows and polished granite pilasters.

Around 1970 the original vestibule and glass entrance doors were removed to create an open-air valet parking area within the building.  The systems in the building have been updated however the original duel heating system remains and could be functional with some upgrades like new boilers, tanks and fuel pumps.

While alterations have been made, the integrity of the Terrace Plaza is still exists.   It still retains character defining spaces and materials.  The exterior still has its brick skin, cubic massing, the original fenestration pattern, the circular restaurant in the penthouse, and its terraces.  The interior of the building with the exception of the ground floor still retains its original circulation. The lobby and Skyline Lounge and Restaurant still exist on the eighth floor along with the original marble walls, terrazzo floors, stainless steel wrapped columns, and plaster ceilings with recessed lighting.  The floor plans and guest rooms are still the same except for lighting and the built in furniture.

The hotel is currently vacant however there are businesses in the storefronts on the ground floor.

The Terrace Plaza Hotel is an International-Style mixed use skyscraper with a 7-story commercial base, originally occupied by two department stores, and office space on a block long site with a stepped back 12-story hotel and terrace on top.  An additional setback at the top makes way for a 51-foot tall penthouse with a dining room.  It is a steel structure with brick curtain walls.  A band of storefronts exist at street level, and the windowless base façade is clad in terra cotta colored brick veneer.  The hotel lobby is on the eighth floor and has a continuous window wall.  The hotel above is arranged by ten foot high floors and a regular grid pattern of wide windows, ten bays in the front, two bays on each side, and eight bays on the rear with the space behind the elevator bank left blank.  The original project included 324 guest rooms, 14 apartments, 4 restaurants, 2 department stores, 3 retail spaces, offices, and back of house areas.  The Gourmet Room is located in the 51-foot tall penthouse and is noticeable on the east end of the building by the projected curved, continuous glazing.  The Gourmet Room has a small outdoor viewing platform and a stairway below to a terrace that has built-in concrete planters.

The Gourmet Room was not originally part of the original proposal or program, but de Blois was asked to come up with the architectural and interior plans for a small dining room on top of the building.  She proposed between six to eight designs and Emery liked the curved one the best.  A narrow space lead from the elevators compressed visitors, but upon entering the circular Gourmet Room after going up a short flight of stairs, they could experience views from the circular restaurant.  Slanted glass walls directed views as well as improved acoustic qualities of the space. To not obstruct views, small post columns along the perimeter support the roof while the room sits on a pedestal about six feet above the twentieth floor terrace.  The Joan Miró mural originally existed on the curved back wall however it was removed in 1965 before being replaced by the existing wood paneling.

The Terrace Plaza was a hotel of many “firsts”. It was the first to have a lobby on the eighth floor, the first to have fully automatic elevators, the first hotel to have user-controlled air-conditioning in every room, and the first use of a dual heating system that could run on gas and oil or coal.  The hotel also had moveable partitions to create suites upon request, motorized beds that could be turned into sofas, and built-in controls for radio, telephones, and televisions.  The building also included the first use of fluorescent lights for reading in hotel rooms, makeup lights in bathrooms, and filtered exterior floodlights which would enhance textures and colors.  Illuminated white glass ceilings were also used extensively in the building.

The 7-story commercial base and 12-story setback hotel block and terrace face north on Sixth Street and spans between Vine and Race Streets. Mostly low and mid-rise buildings surround the Terrace Plaza making it very visible in the urban setting.

Elizabeth Hutton Turner and Oliver Wick, ed., Calder|Miró, (New York: Philip Wilson Publishers, 204), 79.

National Park Service, Terrace Plaza Hotel, 8/21/2017, SG100001493

“New Hotel Spruces Up Cincinnati,” Business Week, 3 July 1948, 23.