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| No: 731 | Street: Miami | Name: Meurer/Cooke House |
| Family: FOR SALE | OwnerInfo: N |
| Built: 1896 | Sec: 22 | Sub: Sibley's 2nd BL 11 | Lot: 33 (32?) |
| Architect: | Cont/Build: |
| #Owners: 2F | Orig Use: Residential | Current Use: Residential |
| STYLE | Ranch: | Split: | Colonial: | Victorian: | Trans: | Trad: | Other: |
| CapeC: | Bung: | Eng: | Dutch: | Cont: | Misc: "Four Square" | ||
| CATALOGUE | Sears: | Gunn: | Pease: | BH&G: | Pattern: | OtherC: |
| MATERIAL | Siding: Y | Brick: | Stone: | Stucco: | Br&Sid: | OtherM: |
| ROOF: middle period hip with dormers. 2007 gable | Stories: originally 3, then 2 and back to 3 | |||||
| CHANGES | AsBuilt: Y | AddTo: | SubFrom: | Replace: |
| 1977 - Donald Cooke installed aluminum siding. 1986 - wrecked existing concrete deck and erected new wood deck. 2006 - Kennedy permit to add & remodel (John Koury Architects). Major remodeling so house does not look the same outside. As much inside was saved as possible. | ||||
| CurrOwner: | Date Frc: 2008 | DateToc: |
| OrigOwner: Charles A. & Daisy Meurer | Date Frm: 1896 | DateTo: |
| Owner1: Caroline Burger (a Meurer daughter) | Date Fr 1: 1957 | DateTo 1: 1958 |
| Owner2: Donald C. & Margaret S. Cooke | Date Fr 2: 1958 | DateTo 2: 1992 |
| Owner3: Herbert Stanley Cooke (son) | Date Fr 3: 1992 | DateTo 3: 2006 |
| Owner4: Paul L. Jr. & Joanne M. Kennedy | Date Fr 4: 2006 | DateTo 4: 2008 |
| Owner5: | Date Fr 5: | DateTo 5: |
| Owner6: | Date Fr 6: | DateTo 6: |
| Owner7: | Date Fr 7: | DateTo 7: |
| Owner8: | Date Fr 8: | DateTo 8: |
| Owner9: | Date Fr 9: | DateTo 9: |
| Owner10: | Date Fr 10: | DateTo 10: |
| Owner11: | Date Fr 11: | DateTo 11: |
| 1975 Owner: | Donald C. Cooke. Ir pt 31, 32, 33 Sib 2 |
| Description: | In 2007 the Kennedy's finished their remodeling of the Meurer home. They were able to keep the original footprint of the home with the exception of adding a 2 car garage and a cantilevered addition to the family room. They also restored a 3rd floor to the home. "This home is 95% new construction. Original home of famous artist Charles Meurer, the charm and original footprint has been maintained while completely rebuilding and remodeling this residence. The home boasts of 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths and 1 half bath, plus an open study and full third floor, 2 car attached garage and deck. There is a first floor laundry room, half bath, "mud room", with access to the garage, natural maple kitchen with garden window, granite countertops, stainless appliances, and an island with bar space. The floors in these areas are 16" ceramic tile. Large rooms and high ceilings with deep crown moldings grace the first floor. There are original fireplaces in both the living room and the family room, which have been rebuilt and converted to gas. The entry has two closets and porcelain floor. The family room bay windows overlook the spacious deck and outstanding view of the Little Miami River. Hardwood floors are throughout the home with the exception of the kitchen, baths, entry, and third floor. Deep and wide woodwork compliment the whole house." |
| Story 1: | 1897 resident: Charles Meurer at corner Miami & Stanton - artist. Also in 1911-12 Directory as well as Daisy F. Meurer. |
| Charles Meurer
was born of American parents Henry and Rosalia Meurer in Horb, Germany on March 15,
1865. He was one of 5 children and they all returned to the United States with their
parents and settled in Cincinnati. Later they moved to Clarksville, TN where their
father owned and operated a store. At 16 Charles and his brother, Fred, owned a
grocery store of their own but it was not what Charles wanted to do. He started
collecting drawing and painting materials to make paintings. People were surprised
at how good they were and gave him lots of encouragement. Thus he returned to
Cincinnati to enter art school and soon transferred to the Cincinnati Art Academy where he
took evening classes while he worked as a bookkeeper by day. Later he studied
landscape and figure painting in Lyon, France. Charles was 29 when he met Daisy Harvey, the daughter of a Civil War major. They married and moved to Terrace Park under most unusual circumstances. Meurer was a resident of Cincinnati when he advertised that he would trade one of his paintings for a bicycle to get him around the city. A man answered his ad, apologized for having no bicycle, but said he did have a strip of land along the Little Miami River, which he would give to Meurer in exchange for portraits of his wife and children. Another story says a real estate man answered his ad and offered a lot in Terrace Park for the painting. Meurer was evidently dissatisfied with the location of that lot but agreed to exchange three portraits for three riverfront lots owned by another resident. In 1896 Meurer moved to Terrace Park and rented a house while he supervised the building of his own home with a second-floor studio at 731 Miami. One story says the rented house was at the corner of Miami and Stanton; another story says it was 206 Stanton, at the corner of Lexington and Stanton. "He planted a large garden, acquired a flatboat for river exploration and offered friends and fellow artists an open invitation. Almost every weekend they came for meals and conversation. It was common for more than a dozen people to gather around the Meurer's long, oak dining room table for fresh bread and pastries, homegrown vegetables and chicken raised in the Meurer's side yard." One of the daughters (Mrs. Caroline Burger, for whom her father later built a home next door at 801 Miami) "remembers E. T. Hurley, the guiding force at Rookwood Pottery, entertaining them with shadow pictures. She also remembers painter Frank Duveneck praising the sketches she had made alongside her father in his studio. Of all the Meurer's 5 children, Caroline was the only one who pursued art." The Little Miami River furnished many pleasant hours of entertainment: "swimming in the summer and skating in the winter". "In the summer, after painting for five or six hours, Muerer often loaded his family onto the flat boat to go picking blackberries or walnuts or picnic on the banks. 'It was either feast or famine at our house', [Caroline said]. ' When my dad sold a picture things were real rosy. Other times it was tough.' A landscape he could complete in a couple hours. But one of his highly detailed still lifes could easily consume six months. For one of these he might earn $500. But Mrs. Meurer never complained about her husband's chosen profession. Trained as a dressmaker, she made almost all of her three daughters' clothes and supplemented the family's income by selling crocheted items. In addition, Meurer designed and built a cottage next door (729 Miami), which they rented in the summer." (from articles by Camilla Warwick in the January 1993 Village Views and by Linda Naylor in the Cincinnati Enquirer) |
| Story 2: | Charles, Daisy, William D. & Eveynor Whittaker (nee Meurer) at this address in 1953. There's an article from Stan Miller's 1950s scrapbook about William Whittaker in the TPHS archives. |
| Story 3: | Newspaper clippings and other information about Charles Meurer in the Historical Society people file. |
| Story 4: | C. K. Meurer, nephew of the artist, does black top in Remington. C. K. Meurer Corp., 33 Glendale Milford Road, Loveland, OH 45140. 831-7500. |
| Story 5: | The Cooke family (the "Bee Man") has lived in the Meurer home for many years. She died in October 1994. Article on the beekeeping & the "Bee Man" in the file (1991). |
| 1939 Map: | Meurer |
| 1942 Map: | Meurer |
| 1951/3 Map: | C. A. Meurer (died 1955) |
| 1959 Directory: | Donald & Marge Cooke |
| 1960 Directory: | '' |
| 1962-63 Direct: | '' |
| 1963-64 Direct: | '' |
| 1965-66 Direct: | '' |
| 1967-68 Direct: | '' |
| 1969-70 Direct: | '' |
| 1971-72 Direct: | '' |
| 1973-74 Direct: | '' |
| 1975-76 Direct: | '' |
| 1978 Directory: | '' |
| 1980 Directory: | " |
| 1982 Directory: | " |
| 1984 Directory: | '' |
| 1986 Directory: | '' |
| 1988 Directory: | '' |
| 1990-91 Direct: | '' |
| 1992-93 Direct: | '' |
| 1994-95 Direct: | '' (Margaret Cooke died 10/20/1994) |
| 1996-97 Direct: | '' |
| 1998-99 Direct: | Donald Cooke |
| 2000-01 Direct: | " |
| 2002-03 Direct: | ----- (Donald Cooke "The Bee Man" died 2/6/2002) |
| 2004-05 Direct: | ----- |
| 2006-07 Direct: | (Sold 2006) |
| 2008-09 Direct: |