A 156 room contemporary art hotel inside the converted 1912 Metropole apartments, with a free 8,000 square foot museum on the ground floor, a Cincinnati outpost of the Louisville original.
"The 21c is the Cincinnati hotel that argues, politely but firmly, that the lobby should be a museum and the museum should be free. The rooms are quiet, the art is loud, the cocktails at Metropole are correct, and the whole property is the city's best example of a hotel doubling as a cultural institution."
21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati opened in 2012 inside the restored Metropole, a 1912 apartment building one block off Fountain Square. The Cincinnati property was the third 21c after the original Louisville and Bentonville, and it carried the same operating premise: a contemporary art museum on the ground floor, eight thousand square feet of rotating gallery space curated by Alice Gray Stites, free to walk through, open until late, and a 156 room hotel layered above it. The hotel is owned by Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown, the Louisville bourbon family who run the brand, and the curation has consistently been the best non museum contemporary art programme in the Midwest.
The 156 rooms run from 28 to 65 square metres in standard and suite categories, with original wide plank floors retained from the apartment building above and the rest of the interior taken back to a quiet contemporary brief in oak, cream linen, and Belgian wool. Each room has a piece of contemporary art on loan from the Wilson Brown collection; nothing on the walls is decorative; some pieces are loud and most guests come to enjoy that rather than tolerate it. Bathrooms in upper categories carry deep tubs and rainfall showers; in standard rooms the showers are generous and the bath products are Malin and Goetz.
Metropole, the ground floor restaurant under chef Vanessa Miller, runs a French and central European menu with an open hearth at the centre of the room and a long zinc bar that runs from breakfast through to a properly negotiated late cocktail list. The Cocktail Terrace, accessed from the second floor, is the city's best summer drinking address. Breakfast is in Metropole; service is informal in the morning and more formal at dinner; the wine list leans European and reasonably priced. There is no spa and no pool, which is deliberate: the property is a museum hotel, not a resort, and it does not pretend otherwise.
Service is friendly, knowledgeable, and unusually engaged with the art programme. Every room comes with a printed booklet of the works on view at check in; the front desk runs guided tours twice a day; the staff lean younger than the Lytle Park crowd and the energy in the building reflects that. The 21c is a Tribute Portfolio member and consistently rated among the top three contemporary art hotels in the United States. For a Cincinnati guest who wants the city's most distinct property and is comfortable with art that does not always behave, the 21c is the booking.
An anniversary at the 21c works for couples who treat the hotel as the trip rather than the bed. The gallery programme rotates twice a year, the Cocktail Terrace handles the after dinner moment, and Metropole takes anniversary reservations with a quiet table off the hearth. Book a corner suite for floor space and the original Metropole windows; book a Studio for a quieter weekend at a sharper price.
For a solo traveller in Cincinnati, the 21c is the property where a single guest is more comfortable than at any other downtown hotel. The free gallery on the ground floor, the late opening of Metropole's zinc bar, and the in room art booklet mean a solo guest never lacks for something to do. The single rooms are properly sized for one person rather than under specified.
For a Cincinnati bachelor or bachelorette weekend at the upper end of the budget, the 21c handles a group of six to eight in adjoining Studios on a single floor and runs the cocktails through the Terrace and Metropole. The hotel is comfortable with groups, the museum makes an excellent post arrival anchor before the night begins, and the location three blocks from the OTR bar circuit keeps the night within walking distance.
609 Walnut Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
United States
Downtown Cincinnati central business district
156 rooms and suites
Studio from USD 175 per night
Corner Suite from USD 320 per night
Penthouse Suite from USD 650 per night
Check in: 3:00 PM
Check out: 12:00 PM
Opened 2012 inside the 1912 Metropole building; Tribute Portfolio member
Free 8,000 sq ft contemporary art museum
Metropole (French and central European)
Cocktail Terrace (rooftop)
24 hour fitness centre
Pet friendly
Complimentary WiFi throughout
From USD 175 per night. Reserve well ahead for Bengals home weekends, Reds Opening Day in early April, and any Duke Energy Convention Center week.
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