A 146 room French Second Empire historic hotel opened in 1882 as The Palace, the tallest building in Cincinnati at completion, restored most recently in 2018 as a Curio Collection by Hilton.
"The Cincinnatian is the city's oldest continuously operating hotel and its most architecturally articulate, a French Second Empire stack with a mansard crown, opened the year Brahms wrote the third symphony. The rooms have heated bathroom floors, which somehow feels appropriate."
The Cincinnatian opened in 1882 as The Palace, designed by Samuel Hannaford in the French Second Empire vocabulary that defined American civic luxury in the post Civil War period: rusticated stone base, double height windows, a heavy cornice, and the mansard crown that gives the building its silhouette on the Vine Street skyline. The Palace was the tallest hotel in Cincinnati at completion and held that distinction for a decade. The building has operated continuously as a hotel for one hundred and forty four years, making it one of the four oldest continuously operating hotels in the United States, and it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and as a charter member of Historic Hotels of America.
The 146 rooms and suites occupy eight floors of the original 1882 structure plus the 1980s mansard addition. The most recent comprehensive renovation in 2018 took the room product to a quietly luxurious contemporary standard, with original mahogany doors restored, transom windows kept where possible, and the bathrooms reworked with heated tile floors, double vanities in upper categories, and whirlpool tubs in the corner suites. Standard rooms are 30 to 36 square metres; the Palace Suites stretch to 75 square metres with separated living rooms; the two Presidential Suites on the top floor carry the original 1882 mantelpieces and the best skyline views the hotel has.
The food and drink offer is small and well executed. Maverick's Restobar serves a small plates and modern American menu through the day and into the late evening, with a long bourbon flight programme that is correctly priced for a city that takes its bourbon seriously. The bar is the room to drink in. Kidd Coffee, the lobby cafe, runs all day breakfast and lunch in a more informal setting. Dinner can be done within the hotel or eight minutes walk to any of half a dozen better Cincinnati addresses. Service is uniformly older, longer tenured, and uncommonly proud of the building, which shows.
The 1882 architecture is the property's defining gesture. The Cincinnatian is not a building that has been converted into a hotel; it is a hotel that has been a hotel for one hundred and forty four years, and the operating habits show that. Doormen wear top coats in November. The morning paper is at the door at six. The concierge desk is staffed by the same two people who were there in 2014. The Cincinnatian is the city's best room for an anniversary or a proposal precisely because the staging is real rather than dressed.
An anniversary at the Cincinnatian works because the building has been celebrating anniversaries since 1882 and the staff knows the script. Book a Palace Suite with a Vine Street view for the mansard windows at sunset; have Maverick's hold the corner banquette; ask housekeeping for the in room rose petal turndown that the property has been doing without irony for decades.
For a Cincinnati proposal at the most architecturally serious downtown address, the Cincinnatian Presidential Suite is the answer. The top floor 1882 fireplace is functional, the mansard window frames the Vine Street view, and the concierge desk has handled enough proposals that the only question they ask is the timing. The hotel staff will hold a ring delivery and arrange a private dining setup in the suite with one phone call.
For a corporate trip that calls for an older, quieter, more architecturally serious downtown room, the Cincinnatian is the move. The location at 601 Vine is two blocks from Fountain Square and four from the convention centre. The Palace Suite reads as a proper office during the day with the mansard window light, and Maverick's handles a deal dinner with practised seriousness.
601 Vine Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
United States
Downtown Cincinnati central business district
146 rooms and suites
Doubles from USD 165 per night
Palace Suites from USD 380 per night
Presidential Suite from USD 850 per night
Check in: 3:00 PM
Check out: 12:00 PM
Opened 1882 as The Palace; Samuel Hannaford architect; National Register of Historic Places; Curio Collection by Hilton
Maverick's Restobar (modern American)
Kidd Coffee (lobby cafe)
Heated bathroom floors (most rooms)
24 hour fitness centre
Stylish event space (1882 details)
Complimentary WiFi throughout
From USD 165 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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