Landscape Information
The fourth largest park in the city, located in the Mount Lookout neighborhood, it was established in 1911 in honor of May and Levi Ault, the former Cincinnati Park commissioner. Originally measuring 142 acres, the park has since grown to 223 acres, largely the results of ongoing gifts from the Ault family. The park was an outgrowth of the 1907 plan for "A Park System for the City of Cincinnati" by landscape architect and planner George Kessler. By 1925, Kessler’s plan, with the support of the park commission resulted in the acquisition of 70 new parks, playgrounds, and squares. Building on this initial work by Kessler, on May 30, 1930, the Ault Park Pavilion was opened to the public. Designed by Fechheimer & Ihorst, the Italianate building met the larger landscape with a generous terrace surround, cascade fountain and contiguous formal gardens designed by A. D. Taylor. Modifying Kessler’s earlier formal gardens Taylor borrowed the larger view both within the parkland and the 360 panorama of sky, skyline and the Little Miami River and the broad valley below. Taylor also designed the landscape associated with the pavilions in Alms and Mount Echo Parks.
