LAUREL COURT

Memories of Laurel Court

My family moved from a small town in central Ohio to Cincinnati in the summer of 1953. I was 12 at the time. Everything was quite different and many things were larger than life. Cincinnati had a "real" river with long bridges and we loved to cross the river to Kentucky on the historic Anderson Ferry which, to this day, is still very much in operation.
Laurel Court
5870 Belmont 		We moved into a small apartment on Oakwood Avenue in College Hill until my parents bought a house two years later.
With my parents and two younger siblings, the little two bedroom apartment was not comfortable, especially as we had lived in a decent sized house. But we managed.
The mansion was right across the street at the corner of Oakwood and Belmont. We were told it was the Catholic archbishop's residence. That's about all we knew. We would walk past it every day on the way to St. Clare's School and I think we all wondered what it must be like inside. The only other thing I know was that sometime after I returned to Cincinnati in 1974 (away since 1958) I read where it had been purchased by local restauranter, Buddy LaRosa.
Our apartment at 5933 Oakwood Avenue.
Now, nearly 50 years after I first saw it, I know a lot more about it! I stumbled on some information on the web and one thing led to another.

About Laurel Court

Laurel Court - Interesting Facts
  • It was built in 1905
  • It was named Laurel Court after the original owner's wife, Laura.
  • It has 27 rooms and 30,000 sguare feet of floor space.
  • It was auctioned off for $1.95 million in November 1999.
  • It is part of the National Historic Register.
  • It rests on the highest point in Hamilton County.
  • It was owned by several Roman Catholic Archbishops of Cincinnati from 1947 to 1977.
  • Cincinnati Historical Landmark
Laurel Court - Interesting Links
  1. Click here to view the history of the home as seen on the ownership card at the Hamilton County Auditor's Office. For more information on the property access the database of the Auditor's Office and search on address, entering "5870" and "Belmont" as instructed.
  2. Click here for a nice history, floor plans, and a tour.
  3. Click here for a Cincinnati Enquirer article when the contents of the home were auctioned. Here are many pictures of the contents.
Laurel Court - Today

I recently found this web page titled Gardens of Laurel Court. Curious, I e-mailed the author of this website and discovered she is a cousin of the current owner. She said the pictures of the wisteria were taken in Spring 2003.

And in November of 2006 I received a personal message from Judy Moyer, current owner of Laurel Court. At that time she indicated they were working on an official website and today (01-10-2007) I discovered that Laurel Court is online and looking good! Thanks, Judy!

Watch a video of Laurel Court decorated for Christmas 2008