Custom Homes in Columbia-Tusculum, Cincinnati, OH

Columbia-Tusculum (ZIP 45226) is Cincinnati’s oldest settled neighborhood, known for the brightly painted Victorian houses on its hillside and for the flatter ground below running toward the river.

The neighborhood splits in two for building purposes. On the hillside the constraints are slope, access and designing something that can stand next to houses people stop to photograph. On the lower ground toward the river, elevation relative to flood requirements governs the foundation, the first-floor height and the insurance, a determination made by the floodplain administrator and a surveyor, and one worth having before a purchase closes rather than at permit review.