The two main buildings that comprise the CCAC campus are historic landmarks steeped in cultural significance. Their renewal is a tribute to the Cincinnati ancestors who built them, the community that upheld those ancestors' vision for over 100 years, and the contemporary urban community wishing to continue the progressive commitment to cultural enrichment and learning.

The Carriage House

The Carriage House occupies a unique setting opposite the School on what was once the palatial estate of Alexander McDonald, a Scottish native, early Cincinnati coal oil magnate and avid supporter of local arts and culture who served as Vice President of the Cincinnati Art Museum, a Director of the College of Music, and as a Director of the May Festival Association.

Designed by famed Cincinnati architect Samuel Hannaford – whose masterworks include Music Hall and Cincinnati City Hall – the 35-room estate was completed in the 1880s. The Carriage House provided quarters for the horses and the carriages of the estate on its ground level, along with a cistern and laundry for the mansion. The upper floor offered storage of feed and supplies, as well as living quarters for the staff of the estate.

The mansion was razed in the 1960s to accommodate construction of the former Clifton School south annex, which was itself demolished in 2006 to make way for the new Fairview German Language School. Throughout all this change, however, the Carriage House has remained intact, serving as a storage facility for grounds maintenance equipment and supplies belonging to the schools. Its survival is not only a tribute to its remarkable stone construction, but also an asset to the entire Cincinnati region which will benefit from its rebirth.


The 1906 Clifton School

The Clifton School is itself a work of art, constructed in the Beaux-Arts style and containing architecturally significant and historic details, including ornately tiled Rookwood water fountains. Indeed, the school's clock tower, among the most recognizable features in Clifton, marks the geographic center of one of Cincinnati's most treasured and historic communities.

The site of the 1906 School is the former location of the Resor Academy, built by the citizens of the Village of Clifton in 1870. After the City of Cincinnati annexed the Village of Clifton in 1896, the owners of the land on which the original Academy was built deeded the land to the city for the purpose of building a new school in furtherance of the original trust, mandating that the land be used "to promote the education of youth of both sexes" and to cultivate "a taste for science, literature and the fine arts."

The renewal of the Clifton School as the flagship facility for the Clifton Cultural Arts Center is an homage to the progressive character of the visionary benefactors who dedicated the school site to cooperative education in arts and culture more than a century ago.


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