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For Immediate Release: April 3, 2008
Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board Meets April 4
Fourteen Proposed Nominees for the National Register of Historic Places Will Be Considered
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board will meet on Friday, April 4, 2008, at 10 a.m. at the State Library of Ohio, 274 E. First Ave., Columbus. At the meeting, the board will review 14 proposed Ohio nominations to the National Register of Historic Places. They include:
Akron / Summit County
South Main Street Historic District, 156-222 S. Main St., 153-279 S. Main St.
S.Main St. in downtown Akron is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its association with the building booms that accompanied the rise of Akron’s rubber industry. Reflecting the city’s eminence as an industrial center, many S. Main St. buildings were designed by eminent architects. Loew’s Theatre (1929), now Akron Civic Theatre, is the work of John Eberson, famed for his “atmospheric” theatres that evoke outdoor amphitheatres, with stars and moving clouds overhead. O’Neil's (1928) and the Mayflower Hotel (1931) were designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst, & White, Chicago architects of Cleveland’s Terminal Tower. The Art Deco style Polsky’s store (1930; 1945) is the work of New York architects Starrett & Van Vleck, noted for the Manhattan flagship stores of Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue. The Akron Savings & Loan Building (1923) was designed by New York architect Alfred Hopkins. George B. Post & Sons of New York, architects of the New York Stock Exchange and Cleveland Trust Company’s Euclid Avenue headquarters, designed the Second National Bank Building (1911). Local architects Harpster & Bliss designed The Ohio Building (1916).
Cincinnati / Hamilton County
George Hatch House, 830 Dayton St.
Proposed for nomination to the National Register for its architectural significance, the Hatch House is a rare example of the work of Isaiah Rogers, one of America’s leading mid-19th century architects, who relocated from Boston to Cincinnati in 1849 after winning the commission to design Cincinnati’s Burnet House hotel. Built in 1850-51, the Hatch House is one of the first houses he designed after moving to the midwest, and one of the few Rogers houses known to remain in the U.S. Combining features of the Greek Revival and Italianate styles, it set a standard for architectural and interior design in Cincinnati in the decade before the Civil War, when the city enjoyed a period of unprecedented growth.
Cincinnati / Hamilton County
Union Trust Building, 36 E. Fourth St.
Cincinnati’s tallest building when it was completed in 1901, the Union Trust Building is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its local architectural significance. Designed by the Chicago architectural firm of D. H. Burnham & Co., it was built for Cincinnati banker Jacob G. Schmidlapp as a bank and speculative office building. It was expanded in 1914 by Burnham’s successors, Graham, Burnham & Co., and was remodeled again and doubled in size in 1931 by another successor firm, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White. Symbolically opened on the first day of the 20th century, the Union Trust Building is also notable as the first in a series of “modern” structures, including several designed by Burnham, that redefined Fourth St. and Cincinnati’s financial district in the early 1900s.
Cincinnati / Hamilton County
Verona Apartments, 2356 Park Ave.
One of Cincinnati’s first large-scale apartment buildings, the 1906 Verona Apartments is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its local architectural significance and its association with Thomas J. Emery’s Sons, who pioneered the development of apartment houses along transit lines in Cincinnati’s hilltop neighborhoods. The new apartment buildings offered convenient housing to a variety of middle- and upper-class tenants, including singles, young couples without children, women entering the workforce, and elderly and retired people. Typical of Cincinnati’s first generation of large apartment buildings, the Verona faces a landscaped courtyard, with multiple entrances, the open-air sleeping porches popular at the time, and a wealth of brick and stone details reminiscent of a fine single-family home.
Cleveland / Cuyaghoga County
Ansel Road Historic District, 1588 Ansel Rd. to 9501 Wade Park Ave.
The proposed Ansel Road Historic District is a cluster of low-rise early 20th century apartment buildings in a range of popular architectural styles of the time. The site on the western edge of Rockefeller Park reflects the eastward migration of Cleveland’s middle class a century ago.
Dayton / Montgomery County
Squirrel-Forest Historic District, Vicinity of Forest Ave., Squirrel Rd., Belmonte Park N., Homewood, Five Oaks Ave., and Neal Ave.
This subdivision is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its association with the history of community planning and development in Dayton, particularly the early 20th century use of deed restrictions to regulate development. The area’s architectural character was achieved in part through deed restrictions that determined setbacks, required homes to have a minimum construction cost of $5,000, and restricted the location of any stable or fence. Most of the homes were built in the 1910s or 1920s and reflect the influence of the early 20th century Arts and Crafts Movement or related styles such as Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival.
Lowellville / Mahoning County
Pence-Arrel House, 5076 Center Rd.
The Pence-Arrel House is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its local architectural significance. The two-and-a-half story frame house, completed c.1870-72, is an example of the picturesque Italianate style of the 1850s-1880s, which was popularized through plans and illustrations in the pattern books used by many Victorian era carpenters and builders.
Medina / Medina County
Medfair Heights Historic District, 221 N. State St.
Medfair Heights is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its history as government housing built for WWII defense workers and their families, and as an example of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) design standards for housing built under the Lanham Act of 1940.
Mount Vernon / Knox County
Richard and Ann Loveridge House, 12526 Lower Green Valley Rd.
Built c.1832, the Loveridge House is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its local significance as an example of an I-House. A type of floor plan that migrated to Ohio with settlers from the mid-Atlantic states, I-Houses are typically two stories with a symmetrical three- or five- bay façade, side-gabled roof, and end chimneys. They are one room deep and at least two rooms wide, and often have a one- or two-story rear ell, sometimes with a porch. Cultural geographers call this plan the I-House because it became widespread in the “I” states: Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa.
New Albany / Franklin County
George and Christina Ealy House, 6359 Dublin-Granville Rd.
Associated with the Ealys, a family of farmers and millers, and with the history of New Albany and Plain Township, the Ealy House is proposed for nomination to the National Register as an example of a traditional house type called a Four-over-Four, meaning that it is two stories with four rooms on each floor. Built in 1860 by skilled carpenters and masons using local stone, bricks fired on the site, and native wood, the house illustrates the transition from the Greek Revival influence of the early 19th century to the bracketed Italianate style popular from the 1850s to the 1890s. It is currently being restored by the New Albany-Plain Township Historical Society.
Port Clinton / Ottawa County
Island House, 102 Madison St.
A familiar landmark to anyone who has embarked for the Lake Erie islands from Port Clinton, the Island House was built in 1886 and is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its local architectural significance and its association with the growth and development of downtown Port Clinton. The three-story brick hotel has arched windows with stone sills and ornamental lintels, scroll-sawn brackets, and a finely detailed cornice, all typical of the High Victorian Italianate style of the 1870s-1890s. Alterations of the 1940s reflect the World War II-era prosperity of Port Clinton, when nearby Camp Perry became a prisoner-of-war camp, and local industries such as Standard Products contributed to the war effort.
Ravenna / Portage County
John F. Byers Residence, 5551 S. Prospect
A picturesque Queen Anne style house built in 1905 by inventor and local business leader John F. Byers and reportedly designed by architect Charles Henry, a family friend, the Byers Residence is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its local architectural signficance and as a reflection of Byers’ ingenuity. Founder and president of the John F. Byers Machine Co., Byers manufactured his own patented inventions in Ravenna. Trained as a stone mason, he engineered the process and equipment for making the distinctive cast stone units used to build the house, integrating a unique ventilation system for the cellar in the design.
Toledo / Lucas County
S.S. Willis B. Boyer, International Park, 26 Main St.
Proposed for nomination to the National Register for association with transportation, maritime, and industrial history, and for significance in the area of engineering, the S.S. Willis B. Boyer was launched in 1911 as the S.S. Col. James M. Schoonmaker, at which time the ship was designated the “World’s Largest Bulk Freighter,” setting the engineering standard for Great Lakes freighters for much of the 20th century. Freighters like the Boyer were essential to the success of the American steel industry, supporting the commerce that made economic and structural growth possible.
Youngstown / Mahoning County
Burt Building, 325-327 W. Federal St.
Birthplace of the Good Humor ice cream bar, Youngstown’s Burt Building is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its association with the history of Burt Confectionery Co. and Ross Radio, Inc. Between 1922 and 1926 at 325-327 W. Federal St., Harry B. Burt applied for and received the patent for the machinery and process of producing the Good Humor bar, developed the first fleet of refrigerated Good Humor trucks, and put Good Humor bars into production.
If the board finds that the proposed nominations appear to meet the criteria for listing on the National Register it will recommend to Ohio’s State Historic Preservation Officer, William K. Laidlaw, Jr., that they be forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places for her consideration.
The 17-member board, chaired by Aaron Askew of Columbus, is appointed by the governor to advise the Ohio Historical Society and the state on historic preservation matters. It includes professionals in history, architecture, archaeology, and other historic preservation related disciplines as well as citizen members. The board meets three times each year to consider proposed Ohio nominations to the National Register of Historic Places and conduct other business.
About the National Register
The National Register lists places that should be preserved because of their significance in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture. It includes buildings, sites, structures, objects, and historic districts of national, state, and local importance.
To be eligible for listing on the National Register a property or district must:
- be associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history, or
- be associated with the lives of people significant in our past, or
- embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or represent the work of a master, or possess high artistic values, or represent a significant, distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction (e.g. a historic district), or
- have yielded, or be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
National Register listing often raises community awareness of a property. However, listing does not obligate owners to repair or improve their properties and does not prevent them from remodeling, altering, selling, or even demolishing them if they choose to do so.
Owners or long-term tenants who rehabilitate income-producing properties listed on the National Register can qualify for a 20 percent federal income tax credit if the work they do follows the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, guidelines used nationwide for repairs and alterations to historic buildings.
In Ohio anyone may prepare a National Register nomination. Nominations are made through the Ohio Historic Preservation Office of the Ohio Historical Society. Proposed nominations are reviewed by the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board, a governor-appointed panel of citizens and professionals in history, architecture, archaeology, and related fields. The board reviews each nomination to see whether it appears to be eligible for listing on the National Register, then makes a recommendation to the State Historic Preservation Officer. The final decision to add a property to the register is made by the National Park Service, which administers the program nationwide.
The Ohio Historic Preservation Office is Ohio’s official historic preservation agency. A part of the Ohio Historical Society, it identifies historic places in Ohio, nominates properties to the National Register of Historic Places, reviews federally-assisted projects for effects on historic, architectural, and archaeological resources in Ohio, consults on the conservation of older buildings and sites, and offers educational programs and publications.
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Media contact: Tom Wolf: 614.297.2000 or twolf@ohiohistory.org
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