Looking for a last-minute holiday gift? Support local bookstores and purchase a copy of Abandoned Cincinnati.
With 140 pages of color photos and historical context, Loveland local Sam Smith’s book is a great gift for those interested in local history, photography, and urban decay. Abandoned Cincinnati is a perfect coffee table book or addition to any bookshelf.
Dust, shards of glass, gravel, and grit coat heavy vines that spiral down empty stairs. They’re more than concrete and steel–as nature takes over abandoned buildings, they come alive. Through journalistic and experimental photographs, Sam Smith aims to capture the unique architectural character, mood, and mind of Cincinnati’s dilapidated buildings.
Discover the rich history of Queen City’s vacant structures as they rose and fell. Step inside a 150-year-old ornate cathedral, a middle school auditorium, the skyscraper office of Cincinnati’s once largest employer, and a four-story furnace room that was used to manufacture ammunition for World War I. From an amusement park to a chemical research facility turned into a chop shop, disuse has brought brevity to these abandoned structures. Experience the ruins of Queen City as they find new life through decay.
Available at the following locations
Barnes and Noble (online and in Cincinnati and Dayton locations)
Abandoned Cincinnati covers the following locations:
The U.S. Playing Card Factory
Now mostly demolished but preserved in photographs. Bicycle, Bee, and Hoyt cards scatter the factory.
Lincoln Heights Elementary School and YMCA
A basketball court, lockers, classrooms and a dark history are contained in these buildings.
First German Reformed Church
A 150-Year-Old church that has stood abandoned in the Clifton Heights area for 50 years.
Americana Amusement Park
Remains of an amusement park complete with a waterpark and rollercoasters.
Kennedy Heights Junior High School
Like archeology, remnants of student’s lives have been left behind. Crayons are piled under lockers. Auditorium curtains remain pulled and Erlenmeyer Flasks sit on teacher’s podiums.
Loveland Predestinarian Church
One of the oldest black congregations in the midwest was involved in creating this 107-year-old church. It now stands in ruins and remains an important piece of Loveland’s history.
Quantum Chemicals Research Division
A disused chemical research facility turned into a chop-shop.
The Crosley Building
This culturally important building built to resemble a radio set once held studios for what is still the strongest ever broadcast signal in American history.
Peter’s Cartridge Factory
Largely responsible for the existence of Kings Mills, the Peter’s Cartridge Factory initially manufactured ballistics for World War I.
All images belong to Sam Smith and are protected under copyright.
Prints are also available upon request. More information can be found here:
