Архитектурная фирма SHP из Гамильтона празднует 125-летие и представляет ретроспективу своих проектов

Drive around anywhere in Hamilton, and SHP Architecture & Design’s work is a part of the landscape. “You see our work everywhere,” said Jeffrey Sackenheim, president of the firm. “We planned all the original buildings there.” That includes everything from the Hamilton YMCA and the former Hamilton Municipal Building to Hamilton High School, Badin High School and more. The firm, founded in Hamilton 125 years ago, is set to show off its archives this month, first as it celebrates its anniversary with a special event from 5:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, then to the public Sunday, Sept. 13. “It’s special to host it in a major civic building we designed,” Sackenheim said. The retrospective will feature production drawings — blueprints on linen and mylar — dating back to 1907, alongside modern projects, he said. “Hamilton is where we started, and hosting at the Fitton Center reflects that legacy,” Sackenheim said. Frederick Gottlieb Mueller, who was born in 1873 on Buckeye Street, founded the architectural practice at 152 High St. in 1901. “While our firm has certainly evolved over the last 125 years, we’ve never forgotten where we started: as a sole proprietorship in Hamilton,” SHP spokeswoman Cari Nicolas told the Journal-News. “That legacy lives on in the many Mueller-designed buildings that still make up the landscape of the city.” SHP has continued to work in and around Hamilton, having recently completed the Matandy Sportsplex at Badin High School, which has been a client of the firm for more than 100 years. Nuxhall Fund’s Hope Center is one of its current projects. The firm’s history is especially important to Sackenheim, who is from Hamilton. Three generations of his family went to Badin, and “the SHP” (Jim Steed, Gerry Hammond, and Andy Paul) all lived in Hamilton and were “deeply influenced by the community and its support,” Nicolas said. It has been “incredibly special” over the last year combing through the firm’s Hamilton archives to prepare for the retrospective, Sackenheim said. “The breadth of work we completed in Hamilton over the last 125 years is humbling,” Sackenheim said. “It seems like we had a hand in about every other one in the city center.” Charlie Jahnigen, the firm’s executive vice president, said SHP’s influence extends beyond Hamilton to Middletown, Oxford, Edgewood and beyond with the Boys & Girls Club of West Chester/Liberty, East Butler YMCA in Fairfield Twp., Oxford and Fairfield Lane Libraries and schools in the Ross and Lakota school districts. “Drive anywhere in the county and you’ll see our influence,” Jahnigen said. “What I find really interesting is that with a firm of our age … there’s been a consistency in the focus of our practice since those earliest years in Hamilton,” he said. “For example, our first education project was in 1906, and we did Hamilton Catholic High School around 1920 or 1921, which was the precursor to Badin High School, a client we continue to work with today. The legacy of those early projects still drives the firm forward. Many of those buildings remain significant and in use around downtown Hamilton and Butler County. Some, like the former Hamilton Municipal Building, have found new life. Originally a Works Progress Administration project built in 1936 during the Great Depression, the building is now the home of Municipal Brew Works and, soon, a boutique hotel. Or the Well House, which has cycled from a hotel when it was built in 1927 to senior living to offices, and back to a hotel. “It’s remarkable to see projects from … years ago still relevant today, “ Sackenheim said. Sackenheim said that over time, SHP’s influence extended to other areas of southwest Ohio, including Hospice of Cincinnati. “At the core, our projects support people’s missions: learning, healing, recovering,” he said. Sackenheim said the firm’s DNA can be traced back to its earliest formative years in Hamilton. “There’s a throughline of building typologies that are still the core of our business today: educational facilities, libraries, offices, community-based spaces and work for nonprofits,” he said. “We’re as committed as ever to executing work in the public realm, places that foster shared experiences and human connection, work that hopefully helps lift individuals and their communities. That’s been true since 1901.” “It’s also fun to drive through town when I come home to visit my family, pointing out all of the buildings that we’ve worked on. My kids think I’m a big nerd,” he said. The firm has grown to 110 employees and has offices in Cincinnati and Columbus, plus Bellevue, Kentucky; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Jahnigen said despite SHP’s growth, the firm maintains a core philosophy “exactly the same” as it was when it opened. “We believe that thoughtful architecture elevates human potential,” he said. “From our very first blueprints to the projects we are drawing up today, our goal has always been to design spaces that truly serve and support the community.” SHP is among the eldest 1% of architecture firms nationwide. Sackenheim attributed its staying power to “legacy and loyalty.” The firm maintained its Hamilton office until 2012, when it consolidated that office and its Cincinnati office into one at 312 Plum St. Last November, it moved to 311 Elm St. in Cincinnati, “a larger space that can accommodate future growth, as well as a building that was more reflective of the culture we’re continuously nurturing and the ways of working we’re interested in promoting.” Mueller, SHP’s founder, began his career doing residential work, including several homes on D Street in Hamilton. He lived at 420 South D Street, which would later be owned by two SHP employees/partners. SHP became one of the first architecture firms in the country to formalize its growth using structured marketing and advertising campaigns. “When Gerry Hammond, the ‘H’ in SHP, began working with the firm back in the late 1960s, architects were prohibited from advertising, per AIA regulations,” Nicolas said. “Gerry was one architect who actively pushed against that limitation, which was reversed in the 1970s.” SHP was one of the first U.S. firms to integrate community values into the design of school facilities; this methodology was detailed in the 1996 book “The Schoolhouse of Quality.” It also was one of the first firms to integrate community input into the planning and design process, and it continues to set the benchmark in Ohio for community engagement, according to Nicolas. Sackenheim said that over the last decade, SHP has expanded nationally, with its educational expertise “sought across the country.” In 2023, the SHP-designed campuses of the Winton Woods City School District earned the James D. McConnell Award, widely recognized as the most prestigious international award for school planning and design. “This was an incredibly exciting win for our firm,” Nicolas said. “SHP is known for its robust community engagement process, and the jurors highlighted the design team’s focus on student voice in the design process.” Last month, Sackenheim was in North Carolina for an SHP groundbreaking. “It’s exciting to see our evolution, starting in Hamilton, now practicing in multiple states,” he said. SHP Architecture to celebrate 125 years with event, exhibit.