On April 2, I was treated to a tour of the former Clifton School and the McDonald Estate Carriage House, the future 57,000-square-foot campus of the Clifton Cultural Arts Center (CCAC).

Barbara Flick of Strata-G Communications arranged for new CCAC executive director Ruth Dickey and CCAC board president Cynthia Herrick to show me the buildings and to get some idea of their visions for the spaces.

The 4,000-square-foot Carriage House, designed by Samuel Hannaford, will offer spaces for studios, workshops, and classes and will be integrated with the art programs of the adjacent Fairview German Language School, opening this fall.

The Beaux-Arts Clifton School will feature a restored auditorium, a Great Hall, classrooms and office space and will be connected via pedestrian bridge to the adjacent Clifton Recreation Center.

A new glass-enclosed elevator will be installed on the building's western elevation to make the building ADA-compliant.

The first order of business for the center will be the renovation of the Carriage House, estimated at $700,000.

The CCAC is currently raising funds for the project and will even name parts of the buildings for gifts of $25,000 or more.

When the entire project is completed, be sure to look for the Building Cincinnati Toilet Paper Holder in the third floor men's room of the Clifton School.

A limited schedule of programming will begin in the Clifton School this fall.

CCAC partners include the Art Academy of Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Institute for Lifetime Education.

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Previous reading on BC:
Volunteers needed to clean Clifton School (1/11/08)
Clifton Cultural Arts Center meeting, 5/2/07 (5/1/07)