Walking Cincinnati. Danny Korman

right on Loth Street and walk two blocks north to Thill Street. Ascend the steps across the street into Inwood Park. The 20-acre scenic and rolling park, a former stone quarry, was the source for the foundation stones of many of the earliest buildings in Clifton Heights to the west of Vine Street. A granite monument (lacking its bronze plaque) commemorates Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, who founded in Germany what later became the Turner Society, a gymnastic club that doubled as a nationalist political group. The park’s most noted feature is the lake. The pavilion is one of the earliest buildings still standing in Cincinnati’s parks. Follow the footpath that veers to the right and proceed up the hill to the roundabout at Wellington Place. The top of the hill offers a great view of St. George’s Catholic Church (looking north).

      Follow Wellington Place to Auburn Avenue. On the right is One41 Wellington (2309 Auburn Ave.), a $45 million housing project that includes 60 renovated apartment units and a massive new complex that includes more than 250 units. It replaced a rare (at least in Mount Auburn) Tudor Revival building that was a commission of Samuel Hannaford & Sons in 1930. The original cast- and wrought-iron fence still surrounds the property.

      The Mount Auburn Historic District, which extends along both sides of Auburn Avenue roughly between Ringgold Street and William Howard Taft Road, intersects here. It is significant for its collection of Federal, Greek Revival, Italian Villa, Romanesque Revival, and Georgian Revival styles. The houses date from 1819 to the turn of the 20th century and are associated with the prominent Cincinnatians who built them. The district suffered a big loss in 2014 when the former Mount Auburn Methodist Church at the southwest corner of Auburn Avenue and E. McMillan Street was demolished, despite community opposition and several months of hearings with the city’s Historic Conservation Board. The site of the Gothic Revival structure remains a vacant lot. Across the street, the Elmore W. Cunningham House (2448 Auburn Ave.) faces a similar fate. Cunningham, a 19th-century meat-packer, hired Anderson & Hannaford (Samuel Hannaford) to design his home. The 1860 mansion is currently for sale as a redevelopment (demolition) site.

On the northwest corner of Auburn Avenue and Wellington Place is Graveson House, a massive asymmetrical composition with a neo-Baroque entrance. Turn right on Auburn Avenue, then turn left on McGregor Avenue, and left again on Auburncrest Avenue for a brief detour to Gorham A. Worth House, one of Cincinnati’s most important historic homes. The central section of the Federal house was built in 1819, with the wings added in about 1860. Worth was a cashier at the Cincinnati branch of the Second Bank of the United States and a poet.

Retrace your steps to Auburn Avenue and turn left. Both 2210 and 2212 Auburn Ave., with their mansard roofs and elaborate dormers, are Second Empire in style. Cross Albion Place and Gilman Avenue. On the left is the former Mount Auburn Firehouse, now the property of Christ Hospital across the street. Cincinnati architect Harry Hake designed the Georgian Revival main hospital building (1930). The glow of light from the tower is a local landmark.

Cross Earnshaw Avenue; 2112 Auburn Ave. is an excellent example of Richardsonian Romanesque. Cross Southern Avenue to reach the William Howard Taft National Historic Site, the most noteworthy of the Mount Auburn houses. A National Historic Landmark and Cincinnati’s only National Park Service site, the Greek Revival house (built around 1840) is notable for being the birthplace of William Howard Taft, born in 1857. Taft was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and subsequently chief justice of the Supreme Court (1921–1930).

Cross Bodmann Avenue. Across the street is the Adam Riddle House, set on what may be Mount Auburn’s highest point. Attorney and state legislator Adam N. Riddle built the house in 1857. The current owners have lovingly maintained and improved the condition of the Italian Villa–style house. Walk to Dorchester Avenue and carefully cross this tricky intersection where Auburn Avenue and Sycamore Street meet. Part of the race sequence in the 1993 in-line skating movie Airborne was filmed on the curve.

Across the street, the Flatiron Building takes full advantage of its location. The building has faced an uncertain future in recent years, though community leaders have helped to stabilize the structure. Built in 1857, it housed the Flat Iron Cafe in the 1950s. The Italianate Henry Martin House was built in 1870. In 1888 Henry Martin built the Mount Auburn Cable Railway, which ran from downtown up Sycamore Street, along Dorchester Avenue past the impressive cable house at 2001 Highland Ave., and then down Highland.

Follow Sycamore Street east, and turn left at Walker Street, which offers more stunning views of the valley below from a row of rehabbed homes. Walk to 1810 Walker St. and turn left on the footpath to Ringgold Street. Walk through Filson Park to Young Street. On the northeast corner is God’s Bible School & College. A mix of Italianate, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival styles are found in the buildings that comprise the campus.

      Surviving buildings in the Mount Auburn Historic District date from 1819 to the turn of the 20th century.

Turn right on Young Street toward the Young Street Steps at Pueblo Street. Descend the steps past Boal Street to Milton Street, and turn left. Milton Street is a steady climb from Sycamore Street to the west, and ground zero for the Prospect Hill Historic District, which is generally bounded by Liberty, Sycamore, Boal, and Channing Streets and Highland Avenue. It includes more than 200 buildings, which together comprise a community of architectural significance. The buildings are mostly tall brick structures with long, narrow floor plans. Among the architectural styles are Italianate, Queen Anne, Federal, and Greek Revival.

Proceed on Milton Street. Four identical Greek Revival two-story row houses (533–539) have setbacks in front for gardens and to provide some breathing room. From here, turn right and descend Hiram Steps. Turn left on Corporation Alley (more of a secluded street than an alley) to see a variety of 19th-century cottages, Italianate and Greek Revival houses, and carriage houses. Follow Corporation Alley to Highland Avenue and turn right. Ahead is the George Hunt Pendleton House, a National Historic Landmark built in 1870. French Second Empire in style, the building is beautifully situated at the summit of Liberty Hill. The house is notable for being the home of Senator George Hunt Pendleton. He and his committee met here in 1882 to draft the Pendleton Act, the start of the Civil Service Commission.

      Walk down Liberty Hill (north side) past one beautifully maintained house after another to Young Street. Just past the Liberty Hill split are two small frame houses (442 and 440), believed to date back to the 1830s. Walk past Cumber Street and Caitlin Alley to