The historic Mount Auburn Flatiron Building is set to gain a new tenant.
Columbus native Heather Barrow is opening the Monarch House, a coffeehouse and wine bar, inside the 131-year-old building at 1833 Sycamore St.
While Barrow and her husband, Andy, a Cincinnati native, have a background in property management, owning 20 units in the Queen City, the two were looking to expand their portfolio with a commercial space and “were drawn to (the Flatiron) building and its history and beauty.”
“We are looking forward to bringing back a sense of community and connection within the space,” she said.
Barrow signed a three-year lease in April, revealing future plans are in discussion to potentially purchase the building from its current owner, Brad Lauck of Lauck Properties.
Lauck acquired the 4,000-square-foot building in December 2025. According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, he conducted the deal through a holding company, Taft Development LLC, to buy the building out of receivership for $805,00.
When will the Moarch House be open for business?
Barrow said she plans to open the coffeehouse and wine bar in August. An exact date was not given.
The Monarch House will initially be open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with plans to expand the hours in the following months.
The Monarch House will have a variety of beverages
It wouldn’t be a coffeehouse and wine bar without various drink (and dining) options.
According to Barrow, the Monarch House will serve coffee drinks, espresso, matcha and a full bar with speciality cocktails and wines. It will also have a limited menu, consisting of breakfast sandwiches, pizza bagels, cheese boards and other small bites.
“We have a small kitchen space, so our goal is to collaborate with other local vendors to provide pastries and other snacks,” she said.
Flatiron Building is last in row of 19th-century tenements
The building is located at the intersection of Sycamore Street, Dorchester Avenue and Auburn Avenue − known as the Five Points intersection − and is known for its distinctive triangular shape, which resembles an old-fashioned flat clothes iron.
Cincinnati’s Flatiron Building was patterned after the Flatiron Building in New York City, which fills a wedge-shaped plot of land at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway in Manhattan’s Flatiron District.
The Cincinnati structure is the last remaining building from a row of 19th-century tenement buildings that stretched along the hillside in Mount Auburn, according to a post from Over-the-Rhine-based New Republic Architecture on the Cincinnati Design Awards website.
The Enquirer’s Randy Tucker contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati’s historic Flatiron Building is getting a new coffeehouse
Reporting by Kaycee Sloan, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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By Kaycee Sloan, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
