Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company
About this property
The Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company is a historic commercial building in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Located along Central Parkway on the edge of downtown, it is a late Victorian structure designed by Samuel Hannaford, a renowned Cincinnati architect. Seven stories tall, it is a brick building with a stone foundation and a slate roof. Major architectural elements include an ornate cornice with heavy bracketing and its Mansard roof that is pierced by many dormers. William F. Doepke, with his first cousins, William H. Alms, and Frederick H. Alms, established a dry goods store in Cincinnati in 1865 and moved to the northeastern corner of the intersection of Main Street and the Miami and Erie Canal two years later. Starting in 1878, they erected the core of the present structure at that location; it would later be expanded in 1886, 1890, and 1906. By the late nineteenth century, Alms and Doepke had built a reputation as the region's leading dry goods firm; eight hundred individuals were on its payroll in 1891. When the company chose to expand their facilities in 1886, they hired Samuel Hannaford, who by that time had become Cincinnati's most prestigious architect. During the 1870s and 1880s, Hannaford independently designed a wide range of buildings throughout Cincinnati and its suburbs, becoming known as the architect of choice for prosperous individuals and companies of the Gilded Age. After ninety years of operation, Alms and Doepke closed permanently in 1955. Its headquarters endured after its demise; its architecture was sufficiently well preserved to qualify the building for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, along with dozens of other Hannaford buildings. Three years later, it was one of more than two thousand buildings in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood added to the Register together as a historic district, the Over-the-Rhine Historic District. The Hamilton County government acquired the building in 1993. The structure served as office space for the county's Job and Family Services and human resources departments, as it is located across Central Parkway from the Hamilton County Courthouse. On December 11, 2025, Hamilton County Commissioners voted to sell the building to a partnership of two developers for $11.2 million. Stough Development Corp., which owned properties north of the building and had "been eyeing the property for 60 years", was the majority partner, with Chavez Properties having a minority stake. The sale was part of Hamilton County's plan to consolidate its offices at the former Bon Secours Mercy Health headquarters in Bond Hill. The developers announced a plan to convert the building into a residential structure with 150 apartments, two storefronts, and amenities. HGC Construction was slated to carry out the conversion, with New Republic Architecture performing design work. The developers sought to open the redesigned building by early 2028.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company listed on the National Register?
Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 3, 1980.
What type of historic resource is Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company?
Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company?
The period of significance for Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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