Digital Collections

The University of Cincinnati, Design Architecture, Art, and Planning Library's Architecture and Urban Planning Collection contains a variety of images from many sources. Included in the collection are images of urban planning projects from China, Africa, Europe, and the United States. Many of these images represent research projects of the College of Design Architecture, Art and Planning faculty and students. Images of the built environment are from the Cincinnati Preservation Association, professional and amateur photographers, and from students and staff at the University of Cincinnati. These images are available to the general public. The collection is growing continually. 

Great Houses in Cincinnati Environmental artist Alice Weston photographed many of the houses in this collection in the 1990s for the publication Great Houses of the Queen City : Two Hundred Years of Historic and Contemporary Architecture and Interiors in Cincinnati, text by Walter E. Langsam, 1997. This collection of over 1400 images includes not only the photographs seen the book, but many more interior and exterior views as well as other properties not included in the publication.

The Archivision Research Library is comprised of 128,000 professional, high quality images covering architecture, urban design, archaeological sites, landscapes, gardens, and works of art. 

The Terrace Plaza Hotel, located in downtown Cincinnati, was designed by Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill and was the first building to bring widespread acclaim to that firm. When it opened in 1948 it was deemed to be the most progressive American hotel of its day. SOM designed everything for the hotel including the furniture, fabrics, uniforms, matchbooks, china, and silverware. The integration of modern art in the hotel's lobby and restaurants was heralded as wildly successful. The client, John Emery, a great benefactor to the city of Cincinnati, in addition to choosing the architecture firm, also had a hand in selecting the avant-garde artists: Alexander Calder, Joan Miró, Saul Steinberg, and Jim Davis. The Terrace Plaza Hotel Collection will grow; however initially it consists of a large set of architectural drawings that were found in the hotel's basement in 2011.

The Art Collection at the University of Cincinnati is an important resource for the University, local arts community, and for the region. Ranging from Greek and Roman antiquities to Local Icons and Modern Photography, the Collection spans a wide array of cultures, adding to and enhancing the educational and artistic resources at hand.