Scarlet Oaks is a large and historic residence in the Clifton neighborhood of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Built in 1867,Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 665-666. it was designed by James Keys Wilson and features a mix of the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

and Gothic Revival styles of architecture. Wilson designed Scarlet Oaks under commission from prominent businessman George K. Schoenberger, a

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

native who settled in Cincinnati with the intention of opening a subsidiary of his father's iron-manufacturing corporation. Here, he became prosperous; at one point, he was one of the "Seven Barons of Clifton", a popularly perceived group of business leaders in this wealthy city neighborhood. In 1883 Schoenberger married Ella Beatty, daughter of John Beatty, Esquire, M.D., Professor of Sciences in Victoria University,

Cobourg, Ontario Cobourg ( ) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto and east of Oshawa. It is the largest town in and seat of Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is ...

., and his wife, Eleanor Armstrong. Ella was born and educated in

. After Schoenberger died in 1892, she remarried the composer

Charles A. E. Harriss Charles Albert Edward Harriss (16 or 17 December 1862 – 31 July 1929) was an English then Canadian composer, impresario, educator, organist-choirmaster and conductor. Early life and education Harriss was born in London, England, around midni ...

in 1897 and occupied "

Earnscliffe Earnscliffe is a Victorian manor in Ottawa, Ontario, built in the Gothic Revival style. During the late 19th century, it was home to Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Since 1930, it has served as the residence of the Briti ...

," a Victorian Manor house at

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. At the time of its construction, Scarlet Oaks was Cincinnati's largest house. The origin of its design is disputed: Cincinnati local tradition claims that it was modelled after a castle along the

Rhine The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...

in Germany, while later architectural historians believe that no specific house was used as the pattern. Moreover, an 1870s guidebook rejected the idea of German ancestry entirely, seeing the house as an example of French Gothic Revival architecture. Outside of Cincinnati, Scarlet Oaks quickly became widely known. One of the first issues of ''The American Architect and Building News'', published in 1876, devoted significant coverage to it, and architectural historians have seen its design as anticipating the styles of grand

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and We ...

mansions such as multiple

Vanderbilt houses From the late 1870s to the 1920s, the Vanderbilt family employed some of the United States's best Beaux-Arts architects and decorators to build an unequalled string of townhouses in New York City and East Coast palaces in the United States. Many ...

Richard Morris Hunt Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of American architecture. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 entrance fa� ...

. Wilson designed many houses, but by the 1960s, many seem to have been destroyed; perhaps in part because of its widespread recognition, Scarlet Oaks was the only extant residence that was conclusively identified as being designed by him. Since that time, at least one other surviving Cincinnati residence has been identified as a Wilson design — the

John S. Baker House The John S. Baker House is a historic house in the East Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, East Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Built in 1854 according to a design by Cincinnati architect James Keys Wilson, it was the home ...

, built in 1854. Built of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

Ohio Historical Society Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connec ...

, 2007. Accessed 2011-02-25. Scarlet Oaks is a massive two-and-a-half-

story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (Britis ...

house with many distinctive architectural features. From a distance, the house's appearance is dominated by its turret and other high towers, and the great size of the building makes it unique even among Clifton's other large residences. More than a century has passed since the house ceased to be a private residence: it was purchased by E.H. Huenefeld in 1910, who immediately donated it to local congregations of the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

. Since that time, it has been used as a group facility: after originally being used as a sanitarium, it has since been converted into a

retirement home A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Typically, each person or couple in ...

. In 1973, Scarlet Oaks was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

. Despite the difficulty of being a religiously affiliated property, it qualified for inclusion because of its distinctive and historically significant architecture. To the present day, it remains a retirement home, although now affiliated with the Deaconess Hospital.Introduction to Scarlet Oaks
Scarlet Oaks, 2011. Accessed 2011-02-25.

References

External links

Scarlet Oaks
{{National Register of Historic Places Houses completed in 1867 Houses in Cincinnati Former houses in Ohio Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Cincinnati Gothic Revival architecture in Ohio Romanesque Revival architecture in Ohio Limestone buildings in the United States Retirement communities Gilded Age mansions