2023 Heritage Ohio Film Festival: Historic Preservation - Community Matters

Historic Preservation is a powerful tool through which we recognize our history, and acknowledge the social culture of our communities. Too often, historic properties are abandoned and demolished, resulting in a loss that can never be undone.
St. Michael the Archangel Church, in the Lower Price Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, is a stunning example of the best practices in preservation, and how one single project can transform and lift up an entire community.
Opened in 1848, Saint Michaels is the second oldest surviving Catholic Church in Cincinnati. After 150 years, the church closed for good in 1998. It sat vacant and abandoned until 2008, when Education Matters, a local, non-profit group, bought it with plans to make it the keystone of a non-profit, social service community campus.
In 2015, the organization secured a funding package that made it possible to restore the Sanctuary, and repurpose it as a special events center to generate revenue to support the mission of Community Matters. The restoration followed the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation which governs historic tax credit projects.
The growing Saint Michael's campus is being preserved and reimagined for new uses. The former rectory, school building, and annex buildings have all be repurposed to provide space for needed community social services, continuing education, a laundromat, and so much more.
To learn more about how historic preservation can help your community thrive, contact Heritage Ohio at heritageohio.org.