The Mariemont Village
Mariemont History:
In 1910, Mary Emery informed her closest
business associates of her desire to construct a self-contained
community built in accordance with the basic principles of town
planning. In this year, nearly 100,000 of the city’s 400,000
residents lived in overcrowded conditions and the lack of housing in
Cincinnati prompted Mrs. Emery to move ahead with the construction of
the new town.
The site for the new town was selected because
of its location to downtown Cincinnati, being just 10 miles away, and
its location to the industrial areas of Oakley and Norwood.
It was Mrs. Emery’s intention that Mariemont
be completely self-contained. It was her intention that Mariemont
would have its own shopping center, bank, restaurant, and grocery
store. In addition, Mrs. Emery was determined that “people of
moderate means” be given the chance of a better place in which to
live: a place of open spaces and fresh air, away from the crowded
tenements, smoke, and grime of the inner city. Housing, shopping,
schools, recreation, and work would be within close proximity to one
another. The idea was not to build the houses close together, but to
create an attractive architecture and landscaping to make the place
one of the real beauty.
The town plan also provided the
following:
- Creation of a Town Centre as the main focal
point for the Village
- Creation of a low density, single-family
residential area adjacent to the town center.
- Implementation of medium density multi-family
housing in the Norwest section of the town with its own small
commercial area.
- Creation of a large interconnected green
space.
- Underground utilities and central steam
heating.
- Restrictive covenants that would limit the
scale of single family houses to two stories and set guidelines
where the house could be built on the lot.