From the editor: The Enquirer and its pipe-smoking pug have a new home

Lest I get accused of burying the lead, I’ve got some news to share: The Enquirer has a new home.

In February, we moved into our new downtown office at 312 Plum St., precisely one block west of our former home at 312 Elm St. Why the move?

A lot has changed in the newspaper business in the 30 years since The Enquirer leased five floors of a newly built office tower overlooking the Ohio River. Back then, newspapers, even those owned by chains, were self-contained business units. The Enquirer not only employed north of 300 people in its news and advertising divisions, but also staffed robust marketing, human resources, circulation, finance and production departments. Corporate consolidation brought about the centralization of those support services over the years. Even our printing is done offsite at a regional production facility in Indianapolis, as our parent company, Gannett, manages the audience’s shift from ink-on-paper to digital platforms.

As our 30-year lease at Elm Street came to an end, we looked for a smaller space that better fit our current staffing levels and the hybrid work schedules many of us now enjoy in the post-pandemic era. Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to move too far.

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Moving is a chore, especially when dealing with the pack rat nature of reporters over the span of three decades. (But I NEED that 97-page sewer rate study from 1991!) So we rolled in the dumpsters and got to work.

One of the more challenging tasks was finding a home for our predigital, hard-copy photo and clip archives, affectionately called “the morgue” at many newspapers. The Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library came to the rescue, helping us box up the historical files – some dating back a century – with plans to digitize them so they can be enjoyed by the general public. (More on this partnership coming soon from our staff historian, Jeff Suess.)

For me, the most enjoyable part of the move was coming across long-forgotten treasures. One of the more curious “discoveries” in our nearly abandoned publisher's suite was a 133-year-old painting titled “The Usurper” by Cincinnati artist Charles Meurer. It depicts a pug wearing eyeglasses and smoking a pipe in the office of Enquirer owner John R. McLean in 1890. The pug’s paw rests on a copy of The Enquirer that has caught fire, presumably from the careless canine's pipe ashes.

McLean, who also owned the Washington Post, at some point took the painting to D.C. Carefully taped to the back of the painting is the story of how the painting made its way home to Cincinnati – in the form of a letter penned in 1979 to the late William J. Keating, who had just become The Enquirer’s publisher.

Read more: Paintings from noted artists hang in Enquirer office

The Enquirer’s Washington bureau chief at the time, Richard Kirkpatrick, stumbled across the painting, which was hanging in the home of a McLean family member. From his letter:

… I was house looking and chanced to inspect the home of Mrs. Ann McLean Rogers. When I saw the painting hanging on the wall, you can imagine my surprise (not having any knowledge of the home owner). I knew it had to be related to our Enquirer so I asked to meet the owner and told her who I was, and of my interest. Mrs. Rogers was planning then to move to Florida I believe. I told her the painting would mean a lot to The Enquirer and eventually persuaded her to give me the painting.

Kirkpatrick had “The Usurper” shipped to Cincinnati, and the rest is history.

The Cincinnati Art Museum has several works by Meurer in its collection. His trompe-l’oeil (French for “deceives the eye”) still lifes are so detailed they appear almost photographic.

But if you want to see Meurer at his most whimsical, I’m not aware of a better example than the bespectacled pug who somehow survived yet another move with The Enquirer. If you’re going to be in the neighborhood, drop me a note. I’d love to show you this Enquirer treasure.

Enquirer Executive Editor Beryl Love writes a biweekly column that takes you behind the scenes at The Enquirer. Occasionally, he shares his thoughts on local issues, particularly as they pertain to a free press and open government. Email him at blove@enquirer.com. He can’t respond personally to every email, but he reads them all.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Enquirer Editor Beryl Love on office move, Charles Meurer painting