Over-the Rhine is significant in the continuing history of Cincinnati and the United States. In 1983 the district was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, in recognition of both its exceptional nineteenth-century architecture and its association with the successive waves of German immigration to America in the nineteenth century. The 1200 block of Elm Street has an exceptional group of row buildings, displaying a wide variety of nteresting architectural forms and details. Similar neighborhoods in other cities have been decimated or lost entirely.
Many buildings have storefronts on the first floor with residential space on the upper floors.
The Italianate style is the predominant architectural style in the district. Other nineteenth-century styles, including Federal, Greek Revival, Second Empire, Queen Anne, and Renaissance Revival, add to the flavor of the district. The Germans greatly influenced the character of the entire city. The neighborhood now illustrates broad patterns of our more recent past. It has provided homes to new residents who have migrated to Cincinnati from rural, southern states, and it has sheltered city residents who have relocated due to urban renewal projects elsewhere in the city.