A recent article by
Preservation Magazine highlights Covington’s efforts to rebuild its West Side neighborhood, starting with the renovation of several shotgun-style homes on Orchard Street.
The magazine, which is published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, describes Covington’s West Side as, “a working-class enclave across the Ohio River from Cincinnati,” and features perspective from Sarah Allan, program director for the nonprofit Center for Great Neighborhoods (CGN). In 2012, CGN purchased three vacant properties from the city and two from private owners, all to be transformed into spaces for artists — defined in this case as anyone involved in a creative pursuit. Neighboring green spaces, complete with an urban-chicken coop, followed in short order.
“These houses were so far gone, people questioned why we would even want to save them,” Allan tells the magazine. “But with this project we were leveraging so much more than just a single building. We basically took the worst block and helped transform it. People look at Shotgun Row now and don’t even see the (individual) houses. It's like its own beautiful entity. It was definitely the most transformative project we've ever done.”
The article further details the Center’s efforts to rehabilitate substantially dilapidated historic buildings on Covington’s West Side, using grants from the Kresge Foundation.
Read the full Preservation Magazine story here.
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