OHIO HISTORIC SITE PRESERVATION ADVISORY BOARD MEETS AUGUST 4

Seven 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, August 4, 2006, at 10 a.m. at the State Library of Ohio, 274 E. First Ave., Columbus. At the meeting, the board will review seven proposed Ohio nominations to the National Register of Historic Places. They include (additional background follows below):

Akron, Summit County
First National Bank Tower
(FirstMerit Tower)
106 S. Main St.

Cincinnati, Hamilton County
Parkside Apartments
3515-3517 Jefferson Ave.

Lakewood, Cuyahoga County
Birdtown Historic District
roughly bounded by Magee Rd., Plover Rd., Halstead Rd., and Madison Ave.

Loudonville, Ashland County
T.J. and Sarah Bull House
109 S. Market St.

Marion, Marion County
Marion Township Sub-District #8 School (Linn School)
2473 State Route 4 (Marion Bucyrus Rd.)

Norwalk, Huron County
Norwalk Memorial Hospital
269 W. Main St., Norwalk

West Chester Township, Butler County
Voice of America Bethany Relay Station
8070 Tylersville Rd.

If the board finds that the proposed nominations appear to meet the criteria for listing on the National Register it will recommend to State Historic Preservation Officer Rachel M. Tooker that they be forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places for her consideration.
The 17-member board, chaired by Kathleen M. Fox 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.

• 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.

Background

The Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board will consider the following properties for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places at its August 4, 2006, meeting. Additional background on the properties is available to be faxed on request. Contact Tom Wolf, (614) 298-2000, (614) 297-2340, or twolf@ohiohistory.org.

Akron, Summit County / First National Bank Tower (FirstMerit Tower), 106 S. Main St.

Designed in 1929 and completed in 1931, the 28-story First National Bank Tower was Akron’s first skyscraper and remains the city’s tallest building. It is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its architectural significance as an example of the work of the regionally prominent Cleveland architectural firm Walker and Weeks in the Art Deco style of the 1920s and 1930s, and for its association with the industrial and economic growth of Akron during the early 20th century Rubber Boom.

Cincinnati, Hamilton County / Parkside Apartments, 3515-3517 Jefferson Ave.

Proposed for nomination to the National Register for its association with a leading Cincinnati real estate development firm, and for its unusual architectural style, the Parkside Apartments building was completed in 1897. It was built by Thomas Emery’s Sons, who developed many large, high density, upscale apartment buildings in downtown Cincinnati and suburban neighborhoods during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The choice of the Shingle Style, an architectural style of circa 1880-1910 that is always wood and is more typically associated with seaside cottages in New England, is an unusual one for a Cincinnati apartment building. Most large apartment buildings of the late 19th and early 20th century were built with brick.

Lakewood, Cuyahoga County / Birdtown Historic District, roughly bounded by Magee Rd., Plover Rd., Halstead Rd., and Madison Ave.

Developed in concert with a new National Carbon Co. factory in Lakewood in the 1890s, Birdtown is a well-preserved ethnic neighborhood of the 1890s-1930s associated with the migration of industry from Cleveland into neighboring communities. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, progressive employers like National Carbon sought to provide for suitable housing nearby as a way of attracting a solid workforce. Platted by National Carbon in 1893 with street names like Quail, Robin, Lark, Plover, and Thrush, Birdtown was the first neighborhood developed in Lakewood. Before National Carbon bought the land and platted Birdtown, the area south of Detroit Ave. was farmland. Architecturally, Birdtown is typical of the late 19th and early 20th century, though many of the churches, houses, and commercial buildings feature unique architectural elements and a high quality of craftsmanship. Most have elaborate pressed brick facades, often accented with brickwork in a contrasting color. Sawtooth brick panels and corbelled brick balustrades enliven many of the buildings in a manner unusual for Cleveland housing, said to reflect the Slavic heritage of the community.

Loudonville, Ashland County / T.J. and Sarah Bull House, 109 S. Market St.

Built in 1852, the T.J. and Sarah Bull House is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its association with the 19th century growth and development of Loudonville and for its local architectural significance as an example of the Greek Revival style popular from the 1830s-1850s. The house is associated with the Bull family. Brothers Thomas Jefferson Bull and George W. Bull were both involved in the settlement and growth of Loudonville. A prosperous business leader, landowner, and attorney, Bull lived in the house from 1852-1862, and his widow, Sarah, lived there until 1893.

Marion, Marion County / Marion Township Sub-District #8 Linn School, 2473 State Route 4 (Marion Bucyrus Rd.)

Marion Township Sub-District #8 Linn School is proposed for nomination to the National Register as an example of the 130 one-room schoolhouses that once served Marion County. The schools were located about two miles apart so that most students had to walk no more than a mile each way. Built in 1897, the Linn School served students through eighth grade. School sessions consisted of a single 72-day term in the winter. Students left school in the spring in time to work on planting the spring crops and returned after the fall harvest. The building served as a school until 1942. Subsequently used as a corncrib, then abandoned, it was purchased in 2002 by Merle and Oliver Hamilton who had been students there in the 1910s, and was restored through the partnership of the Hamilton brothers, Marion Historical Society, and Quality Masonry Company, Inc., of Marion.

Norwalk, Huron County / Norwalk Memorial Hospital (Maple City Professional Building), 269 W. Main St., Norwalk

The former Norwalk Memorial Hospital is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its history as the first municipal hospital in Norwalk and Huron County, and for its architectural significance as an early 20th century Colonial Revival style institutional building using the Kahn System Building Products created by Youngstown industrialist Julius Kahn, younger brother of Albert Kahn, an early 20th century Detroit architect known for his innovative use of reinforced concrete materials. The system utilizes steel and poured-in-place concrete. Completed in 1916, the building was designed by architect Granville E. Scott of the firm Schreiber & Beelman of Toledo, OH. The 38-bed facility served the community until 1957.

West Chester Township, Butler County / Voice of America Bethany Relay Station, 8070 Tylersville Rd.

The Voice of America Bethany Relay Station is proposed for nomination to the National Register for its association with the federal government’s international radio broadcasting programs and for its association with broadcast technology innovations. Established in the early years of World War II, Voice of America originally fulfilled the dual function of countering Axis propaganda and providing factual news updates to listeners in dozens of countries. During the Cold War, the mission of Voice of America evolved to become part of a larger cultural outreach program from the United States to other nations. The program’s emphasis on news reporting also continued. The Bethany Relay Station, completed in 1944, was one of the first three domestic transmitting stations that carried Voice of America programming across the globe; the others were at Delano, CA, and Greenville, NC. At the time it was built, the Bethany Station’s 200-kilowatt transmitting capacity made it the most powerful station in the world. The Bethany Relay Station remained in use until 1994, when the federal government decommissioned the site.

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