Indian Hill Historical Society
8100 Given Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45243

"Keeping Indian Hill's past and present alive for tomorrow"

Waite Smith House
(1782)

Waite Smith built this gambrel-roof house in Watertown, Connecticut in 1782, where it stood until the early 1950's when "progress" mandated that it be demolished. It was saved, moved and painstakingly erected on its present site in Indian Hill in 1953.

The style, typical of late Georgian design, was constructed with a central hall and two massive chimneys which provided for eight fireplaces. A new wing, built to conform to the style of the old house, incorporated a room end from another New England eighteenth century house. The frame of this building is oak, pegged together, and the siding is original. The structure is one of the oldest houses now in Ohio.

Georgian architecture dominated the newly settled colonies for the last half of the eighteenth century. In the North the style emphasized classical details, usually of wood-frame construction with either shingle or clapboard siding, and featured a central chimney.