In 2016, Cincinnati Art Museum launched a campaign called “A New View,” to update and beautify its entrance and wooded surroundings. In September of 2021, the museum released visual renders of its new plans.
The Cincinnati Enquirer revealed some of these computer-assisted images the day the museum released the information.
The grounds of the museum will be heavily landscaped. And new ramps will make the museum’s parking lot fully handicapped-accessible for the first time.
The new Art Climb is a stairway leading from Eden Park Drive and Gilbert Avenue up to the museum’s Eden Park location. The climb consists of 164 steps, and is lined along the walk with sculptures. The Art Climb cost $8.2 million to implement, and has been fully unveiled to the public.
The full renovation for “A New View” is estimated to cost $65 million, and the museum has already raised $55.3 million of the total cost.
Previously, Cincinnati Art Museum was only accessible from the rear. Now, the museum is creating a new road called the Wyler Family Entrance, which will curve upwards from Eden Park Drive to the front entrance of the museum, recognizable by its many grand columns.
There Will Be Two Entrances
Art Museum Drive, at the rear of the building, will continue to function. Up until now, that rear entrance involves driving past loading docks and utility hookups. That rear entrance is less scenic than the new Wyler Family Entrance from Eden Park Drive, but it will continue to be an option for museum visitors.
Chris Manning is the primary landscape architect for Human Nature Inc., an environmental planning and landscape architecture company based in Walnut Hills. Human Nature Inc. has been advising the museum since the beginning of the renovation.
The museum has always had a stunning view of Cincinnati’s adjacent hillsides, but trees had overgrown much of the sightline. Now, the art museum’s visitors will have a direct view of Cincinnati’s rolling hills – and of the seven hills for which the city received its name back in the late 18th Century.
